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Originally Posted by JVN
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Thanks for the post JVN.
At the end of the day, every adult in FRC (Mentors, Inspectors, Judges, Refs, RD's, Frank) needs to ask themselves why they're here. Why are they volunteering their time to this program. If they're answer isn't FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) then you will likely have groups of people that actively work against teams, refuse to give teams the benefit of the doubt, and make decisions like some of the "strangeness" at Dallas.
I come across a wide spectrum of FRC Volunteer quality every year. Consistently, the best volunteers put the teams first and bend over backwards to make each teams experience incredible. Conversely, the worst volunteers actively find or seek out ways to punish teams for either imaginary offenses or minor mistakes. I argue the former understand why they are there. The latter do not.
I wish FIRST did more QC on this, especially at the Key Volunteer level. But honestly, with incidents like SVR and Orlando last year, it seems even HQ tends not to put teams FIRST.
I look forward to playing in Michigan some day. I talk to key volunteers and organizers in that region. Each of them has a "Teams First" mentality. Guys like Rob Jenkins need to be cloned for the entire FRC community. Volunteers like him truly "get it".
If Frank ever sees this, I hope they consider adding a section to their Key Volunteer training. It would be titled "Putting Teams FIRST".
Until then, prepare for even more disappointment and confusion. Glad both 148 and 987 will be at CMP, but sad their third bot will not.
-Mike