Quote:
Originally Posted by Edxu
In terms of protecting seats, we're as guilty as anyone other team that fields a large group (45 students, we usually put bags on seats etc), but we've tried to change our "seat culture" recently to offer and encourage non-team members to sit in our stands. In fact, I made a few friends that I still keep in touch with today at CMP because they asked to sit in our stands and we obliged.
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I think this snippet suggests a good compromise that we can hopefully adopt while waiting for FIRST to come up with the miracle cure.
I want to emphasize that team "culture" around the many things, such as how to accept loss, how to be inclusive to all members,
what to do with seats in the stands etc. comes from the top down. I have noticed that problems in the stands stem from mentors and senior members telling younger kids to reserve seats, and the younger kids trying to do what their teammates suggested. Usually there is some level of miscommunication, and the rookie team member may end up fighting tooth and nail to save a spot because they think someone wanted them to do that. In reality, the mentor or parent would not have condoned or wanted that behavior to save a seat.
Clearly in some cases team leadership is actually suggesting that members should fight tooth and nail, but I think that is the minority. I dont think people are intentionally trying to be rude, my guess is that there is some level of miscommunication.
Taking a second to think about mindset like Edxu suggests can go a long way. Thanks for maturely handling the situation at champs! I hope teams can have a quick sit down with their members and go over these expectations. I will have that chat with your team at a competition in the stands in front of everyone else, but I'd much rather teams did that on their own time