I've heard a lot of people say a lot of stuff about Inspiration.
"More teams at two Championships will inspire more kids!"
"Splitting the playing field will be less inspiring!"
We can argue about this until we're blue in the face (and we have), but I think a lot of people are missing another letter in the FIRST acronym...
Recognition. A huge part of FIRST is that it
recognizes excellence, whether it's on-field accomplishments, or designing a cool thing, or coming up with a neat way to program your robot.
Recognition means giving the Top Teams the stage they deserve to compete and show off what they've been up to. That's the Championship (or at least what it's evolved into).
Recognition means cheering when you see your robot included in an Event Recap video (bonus points if your robot was actually doing something).
A big part of Inspiration is Recognition. It's not just discovering that you can do this thing, but it's that other people can see and appreciate what you do. As a student, and as a mentor, the moments I saw my fellow competitors at their most excited was when they got their first medals. It's more than just the robot, and winning; it's the recognition of all the work you've done. If your robot moves, you've probably put in some serious hours to make it move. Who cares if we're not as good as 1114 or 2056 or whoever? We worked our butts off for six weeks to build something and now we have a tangible symbol of our success around our necks. We can bring these medals to school on Monday and show everyone and be just as big a deal as the basketball kids or the football kids.
Recognition is good. Recognition inspires. Recognition builds champions (and not just on the field).
The challenge with Recognition in regards to the Championsplit is that we're basically in the same basket as with Inspiration.
"Two Championships means more teams can be recognized for their accomplishments and dedication."
"Two Championships means that the winners are robbed of the true recognition they deserve."
Oi vey, here we go again. Except I think there's another level of recognition we're missing.
The Recognition of Science and Technology in the general population.
Some people have said that splitting the Championship follows the format other high-school sports follow, like football and basketball. There aren't any High School National Championships, so FIRST doesn't need them either! Except football and basketball aren't really lacking in terms of widespread recognition, are they? FRC is a niche sport (so niche that some people here won't even call it a sport at all!), so let's look at another niche sport that celebrates excellence and intelligence: the Spelling Bee.
I mean, how dramatic is a Spelling Bee? It's a bunch of kids standing up, staring into space, trying to remember how many Ds are in rhombidodecahedron. And yet, the Spelling Bee is so recognized we have
Hollywood movies about it. What does FIRST have? A documentary that aired once or twice on PBS and is basically just a Black Eyed Peas concert with some robots tacked on to it? I want a Robert Downey Jr. movie where he builds a robot just to stomp on the teacher who failed him in Grade 10 Science like two decades ago!
In my opinion, the next step FIRST should tackle is continuing to Make FIRST Loud. Making FIRST Loud means making it more attractive to the general public. Why is the National Spelling Bee televised nationally, and Einstein isn't?
Making FIRST Loud means more Recognition... for Everybody! Tell me, is
your high school basketball game televised nationally during Prime Time on ESPN? Well,
my robot was. That's what I think we should work towards. When ESPN starts airing FIRST alongside the National Spelling Bee (I just googled it - they even air the preliminaries!) and the World Poker Tournament, we can go back to focusing entirely on Inspiration. When TSN starts airing event highlights from the Waterloo Regional, we've done our job.
The question that hasn't been asked (and we should ALL be asking) is:
How does the Championsplit impact the R in FIRST?
In my humble opinion, the Championsplit will make FIRST quieter. Big Media doesn't give any time to us with one event, and now we have to convince them to give us time for two? If you think that's easily doable, then I have a set of Toronto Maple Leafs playoffs tickets to sell you.
Don't think we need Big Media? I think we really do. FIRST is about changing the culture, and obviously we've done amazing things, but really, we have a long way to go. Ask anyone, and they probably at least know of the Spelling Bee, or the World Poker Tournament. But have they heard of FIRST?
Competitive Speed Walking is better well known than FIRST. It
is an Olympic sport, but still...
Eric obviously knows his history, and I want to thank him the amazing read. I haven't been around FIRST for as long (2007 Waterloo), but I've noticed some things. I've noticed Dean pushing teams to be recognized in their community and in their school and in their media. I've noticed three words repeated ad nauseum: "Make FIRST Loud." I remember hearing about Will.I.Am and thinking "whoa, people might listen to us now."
In terms of Inspiration, the Championsplit makes sense. Or it doesn't make sense. It's a bit of a wash and the jury is still out. But in terms of Recognition? FIRST is taking a big step back. Actually, I think they're flat out running the other way.
Don't get me wrong - Inspiration is a huge part of FIRST. It is! FIRST has inspired me in so many ways, and I'm not even remotely interested in a career in Engineering, or Science, or Math. But so often, we put Recognition in the corner to give Inspiration the spotlight, when both should get curtain calls.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go watch Jason Bateman swear at some kids and try to win a spelling bee. And if you've managed to read through this whole thing, then you deserve to join me. I'll grab the popcorn.