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Posted by Chris.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Coach on team #308, Walled Lake Monster, from Walled Lake Schools and TRW Automotive Electronics.

Posted on 1/13/2000 12:16 PM MST


In Reply to: Declawed games posted by Marc DeSchamp on 1/12/2000 11:04 AM MST:



The games getting 'kinder and gentler' is fine by me. What really bothers me is the concept of scoring for the other team. I HATE this. It's feels like I'm point shaving for the Mafia or something. The engineering world is about competition and having the best design / product / service/ etc. win. Where in the world does one company help another out? Never, except for certain synergy type agreements, but never between two companies in direct competition. If we want to teach kids about industry and the real world, intense competition should be one of the lessons.

Going to a competition and losing stinks. I've been there and it's not nearly as much fun as winning. Getting blown out stinks too. But I would rather lose a hockey game 7-2 than have the other team dump a few goals in at the end to make the final score 7-6. It would make me feel bad thinking that the other team thought so lowly of us that they would score for us. That's more emarrassing than getting blown out.

I've read a lot in this thread about the competition not being about winning or losing but about the lessons learned. I still say that winning and losing hold lessons. Winning teaches you how to handle the pressure of everyone shooting for you. It also teaches you that you can be knocked from the top with just a shread of complacency. Losing teaches you how to handle adversity and how to regroup, work hard, and come back.

Without winning and losing, there is no drive to be the best. Without the drive to be the best, most of the good lessons (like hard work and perserverence) get lost through complacency in the teams. Trying to be the best makes people work harder, learn more, get more involved, and be more creative. It is within one's competitive nature that cause this to happen.

In summary, go ahead and take away the tipping and the banging. But please keep the games so that the best team wins and that we are all motivated to try to be the best. All of the truly good lessons of this project are attained, directly or indirectly, through the pursuit to be the best.