Do any schools recognize their FIRST teams as sports?

[Joe Menassa]

If our FIRST team was recognized as a sport we would get so much more from the school but they do not even want to consider it. All we want is a little more attention.

Our *school* refers to our team as everything but a sport...positive and negitive...ive heard our team refered as "the smart kids of the school" but yet i have heard a student refer to us as "snobbish jerks".....i wonder how many teams get those responses...

Thats what I get for posting at 12:30am

[Carolyn Duncan]

My high school team was refered to as "the nerd club" by just about everyone. We weren't recognized as anything but that.

[mnkysp6353]

I wish my school considered our FIRST team a sport. I asked the athletic cordinator for the school if we could place any trophies or metals in the schools trophy room and he said no.

[Joe Menassa]

We have a ton of trophies and we have no where to put them.. there are all these trophie cases in our school and the one time we actually got them in one they were there for about a week then they gave the case to $@#$@#$@#$@# chorus.

[OtakuRob]

After we won New England Regionals we hung the banner in the gym, with all the other banners.. Of course, the sports teams, particularly the football team, rioted.. Guess what?? It's still there.. and if you look at the numbers, the next closest year next to a banner from a 99 winner for male sports( most of the trouble was the males, go fig..) is a whopping 1984..

Besides that, we get a small display to act as our trophy case.. And we rotate some trophies as the local libraries..

::sigh:: We may not be a sport, but nuts to that, we deserve recognition!!

[Katie Reynolds]

Yea, people in our school tend to think of our FIRST team as an extremely exclusive club o' nerds. It kind of sucks but... This year is the first year you can get a letter for being in FIRST, so that's pretty cool! If you can get a letter for being a manager of the basketball team you should be able to letter in FIRST - look at how much more time is put in!

[Wayne C.]

At our school Raider Robotix has become well known and reasonably well recognized.

Yes, we are still known as the "nerd kids" but considering the enlightened source those comments come from it is hardly worth bothering with them.

Anyway, we display our banners and trophies in what I fondly call "The FIRST Shrine" We have two 8 ft high display cases at the opening to the quad for our science wing and we simply took them over. The group made a backdrop of red and blue fabric and we plastered the walls of the display with photos and plans from each of the past six years' robots. Each year we put some spare part or remains of that season's robot to add to the collection and we use the glass of the case for posting notes to the public for dates and such. Among our most cherished trophies on display are a Buzz smiley face signed by the teams of the 2000 alliance, the remains of the first Mr. Volcano hat, the ball arm from our 99 robot Navarone which was a great idea poorly executed, and a ball from the 2000 Nationals signed by our California alliance partners. And, of course, each season when we get a new Hawaiian shirt design for the year we hang one in the case so our shirt sellers can show potential customers.

Our school never received National acclaim for anything until we won in 2000 and at the time we were applying for Blue Ribbon School Status. It all came together at the right time and the team has enjoyed a lot of local recognition for it.

Now if my advisor's club stipend was the same as the football coach's who works half the time for three times the money and less results...... Oh well, I'll have fun anyway...

(PS_ see the shrine next November at The Brunswick Eruption- local FIRST mini competition at NBTHS)

WC anything

[Wayne C.]

And by the way- our sponsor Bristol Myers Squibb has a similar display case right in the lobby of their visitor's center fully stocked with trophies, apreciation plaques and photos from the team. It generates a lot of interest and has spawned several new teams from visiting potential sponsors.

[Joe Menassa]

you guys are so lucky

[Wayne C.]

Hey Joe-

Maybe it's luck but you also need to realize that we have been around for 6 years and FIRST is a full time club with us. We've worked hard to get where we are today and look forward to an even better future.

One way you might get more support from your school is to have your faculty advisor contact the local papers and let them in on your projects. I find that once the public sees great things happening in the school the administration has no choice but to recognize it and give support.

Remember- most people never heard of FIRST. YOU tell them with enthusiasm and energy. Take lots of pictures. Make a press packet and send them out to the local newspapers. Rally the community behind the team. A part of our team is dedicated to just this job ( also helps with fund raising).

Elected officials (like school boards) love to look good for the voters, especially if it costs them nothing.

A word of caution- when dealing with the public ALWAYS keep a positive attitude and always credit your sponsors. Newspapers love to find controversy and they can ruin you as easily as help you. (This is a hard learned lesson from a guy who occasionally loses his cool- especially this year being on an ODD team)

Good luck- and if we can help let us know at Team 25

WC

[Joe Matt]

Our school refers to it as an extracuricular activity, but not a sport. I guess a sport is something where you have to physicaly compete and exerting some type of activity (running, jumping, throwing, etc.) other than mooving the robot and a joystick. But out principal and super intendent recognises FIRST as something bigger than a sport.

[GregT]

My school is nothing but trouble to my team.

Greg

[Jon Lawton]

Our school had us listed as a club last year... but this year we are a "class." Yes, that's right, we get "Elective" credit for taking part in robotics. For what that's worth...

Don't even get me started on the whole sports-in-the-high-school thing. Yuck! (Can you tell I am *NOT* a sports person?)

[EddieMcD]

Don't even get me started on the whole sports-in-the-high-school thing. Yuck! (Can you tell I am *NOT* a sports person?)

Dean would be proud of you.

Anyhow, Wayne, we've been around 7 years as prettymuch a club. Despite the competitions we've won, and on 3 consecutive occasions, coming very close to taking the nationals, the school very rarely recognizes us. We at one time had a shop teacher, metals teacher, and the head of the Science Dept. working with us. We never got much attention. And it will be a while before we get the deserved attention. You are right; it's a moving process. Publicity is the major thing, and despite numerous attempts to educate non-FIRSTers about the competition, it very rarely does anything for us. You know what's sad? If someone from our school entered the Battlebots competition and got eliminated the first round, they'd probably get more attention than us. It's all a publicity thing.

"It's really something when a FIRST team does much better than the football team." -forget who said that, but it's true

I guess FIRST will remain "Middletown High School's best kept secret".