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Originally Posted by Tiki
Well, in my team now, its kind of taboo to play with and/ or come into any kind of contact with any other member of FIRST who is not on our team. This is because of this one jerk on our team who doesnt do ANYTHING but just sit around and play cards with kids from other teams, and the last person we want to be like is him. When we were in the hotel and were going for our important scouting meeting in one of our rooms, that kid didnt come, instead, he played with the other teams and played halo 2. So, naturally, any kind of interference caused by another team is really not welcome among my team. As a matter of fact, if they find out that I'm actually posting on Chief Delphi, they will probably compare me to the one that i will only call "Andrew".
But anyway, it shoudnt happen again, and its probably because of the glass, and the noise the freshman portion of our team was making. (Yeah Im a freshman, but I bunk with the older kids.)
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The hotel incident aside, your team should be very worried about this "taboo" about coming into contact with any other member of FIRST who are not on your team. There is a reason there's a Sportsmanship award where the judges go around asking teams about other team's good sportsmanship, and why mentoring other teams is encouraged. It is not the intention of FIRST to build isolated teams and vicious rivalries, if that was the case, the game would most likely be one robot against one robot, not two against two, or three against three with constantly shifting alliances.
I hope this "taboo" attitude is only on the part of the students and not the mentors and I hope even more that it can be changed. Chief Delphi is one of the most amazing sources for FIRST that you will come across, and I truly believe that teams that do not have at least one member as a regular poster here are missing out on some great opportunities. After my first year volunteering, I belonged to a robotics team. After my fourth year volunteering, I now have a whole robotics community, and am so much richer for it.
And as for "Andrew", maybe your team leaders (students and adults alike) need to ask themselves why they have not been able to reach this student to engage him in more participation. And if this is such a bad situation that if affects the whole team the way it appears to, then they need to establish rules to prevent this from happening again.
I'm sorry your team may be blamed for something they possibly didn't do. Misbehaving teens is a risk all teams face when traveling, I know this because I've heard the stories from students who are now alumni, and I am so very, very grateful I did not have to chaperon them and I've seen some bad behavior (our students are pretty good now, but they still cause an occasional grousing).
Heidi