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Unread 23-06-2002, 23:06
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Eating lead in 2000

Posted by michael bastoni.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Coach on team #23, PNTA, from Plymouth North High School and Boston Edison Co.

Posted on 5/31/99 9:00 AM MST



I just wanted to keep this thread going so I brought it back to the top....

We've got to start asking better questions. Not questions about how the venue will be
in Disney next year...or what the game will be....or how many prizes we can give away
in an effort to inflate the feel good factor, artificially...These questions distract us from the
important central tennents of FIRST.

We need to ask questions like

1. WHAT IS THE BEST FORMAT FOR INSPIRING THESE KIDS ?
2. HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH MONEY
3. WHAT DO THE STUDENTS WANT and
4. WHAT DO THEY NEED TO GET OUT OF THIS PROGRAM THAT WILL
HELP ENSURE THEIR SUCCESS IN COLLEGE AND BEYOND?
(remember it's about them not us, what we want is not the point)

Essentially we have to find a real common ground when we answer the question

WHAT IS THE FIRST PROGRAM ESSENTIALLY ABOUT ?

After reading this page since it's inception...it is clear to me that WE do not
share a common response to this question...and this leads us wide of the mark
when decision time comes around...

Let me point out here and now that if all we're doing is inspiring kids...then heck we
are shooting small game with heavey artillery.....WE CAN BE DOING SO MUCH MORE
while simultaneously inspiring kids we can also be developing leadership skills, communication skills
and about 36 other specific skill sets that will significantly enhance their chances of success in
college and beyond....

AND WE CAN BE INSPIRING THEM TOO...thats the easy part...getting students to internalize the experience
and take full advantage of the ten's of thousands of dollars we expend...now that's a challenge
worth all our expertise and focus.

So.....


We need to play the game alot......it's the preparation to playing time ratio and costs that I wish
to address at this moment.

A minimum of 10 weeks prep time (building the machine, the animation, the CA, the FFL, the
fundraising, the 'Community Events' (I so hate that term)...all for what....FOR 1 or 2 brief
moments of thrilling excitement and INSPIRATION.?

Think about this good people....tens of thousands of dollars, weeks of planning preparation,
and fabrication....for 1 or 2 events....for 18 minutes of machine running time?

It borders on insane.. why do you think it's so hard to recruit teams ? Please ponder the
ramifications here....please think about this simple fact for a day, a week, and then present the
remedy you would offer?

Here's mine.

PLAY WITH THE DARN MACHINE MORE.

(Did you know that high school varsity and JV sports programs have an average of 3:1 practice
days to game days?)
Our musical band program is a year long class whose average is 10:1 practice days to performance days!)
This year my students spent over 100 days preparing, fundraising and promoting FIRST...for only 3 chances to play
their robot in a competition....LESS THAN ONE HOUR out of 400 hrs dedicated to FIRST.....

This simply HAS to be addressed...it's time.


Simple...that's it.....PLAY WITH THE MACHINE IN MORE EVENTS....and they could be in a cornfield in Idaho
as easily as they could be in Disney....It's the game, not where it is held that's important....
we just get distracted from the important stuff when we bring Disney into the mix....
It's about all of us, the kids and THE GAME. Not where the nationals
will be held or who will go...but where will the next game be held...and are we ready?


The perfect robot game is an illusion and we are 'Tilting at Windmills' if we persue the holy grail
of the PERFECT GAME...It ain't there...what is there is a game these kids like to play,
to be a part of....let's accept a game, modify tweak it, make it incrementally better...and PLAY IT.

Make PLAYING THE GAME MORE, our central premise and good things will
happen, I'm sure.


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