What makes FRC a sport?

[JoshWilson]

Originally Posted by marshall

To say that all those who play sports must be "athletic and endure physical punishement" completely dismisses the role of teamwork that is so fundamental in most sports, particularly ours. It is also denigrating to the role of coaches, strategists, and engineers.

It takes teams of engineers to make bikes out of carbon fiber for The Tour de France. The best teams have customized equipment that has spent many hours in wind tunnels at great expense and if anyone doesn't think those engineers didn't put blood, sweat, and tears into their work then they've never laid up carbon fiber.

How about the time spent engineering Football helmets so they can absorb impact and the players don't crush their spines? How about the never-ending playbooks that are meticulously crafted by coaches for soccer and hockey teams? Think these don't matter in sport and that a team is entirely dependent on just the players to carry them? Think again. Championship winning teams combine all elements into an all-inclusive package.

There is also a link between mental stress and physical health. Ask any FRC drive team that has played in eliminations/playoffs about the link between the two. It is very real. Being hyped up on adrenaline is one thing but knowing how to control your actions while in that zone is a whole different ball game. Formula 1 and NASCAR drivers put themselves through physical training regimens that rival those of triathlon athletes (and some of them even compete in those too!). FRC drive teams would not be amiss in having their drivers healthy and fit as well and there are teams that do this.

My personal heroes of sport aren't the guys most likely to be captured on film and in the media stories written about the events. They are the coaches, the strategists, the engineers behind the scenes making sure that every piece is lined up to perfection and that the players know their parts and are so well rehearsed that the act of competition, despite being special in every way, is just another day at the office.

Now THAT is what I call a good argument!

[T3_1565]

Originally Posted by marshall

My personal heroes of sport aren't the guys most likely to be captured on film and in the media stories written about the events. They are the coaches, the strategists, the engineers behind the scenes making sure that every piece is lined up to perfection and that the players know their parts and are so well rehearsed that the act of competition, despite being special in every way, is just another day at the office.

As a long time coach for Martial Arts and someone who takes all of my studies and techniques for coaching and apply them to FRC students as well as fighters, I appreciate this post greatly.

[cmrnpizzo14]

copying what I said in another post.....


Woo! My time to shine!

About me: I am currently a division one rower at a highly competitive university (top 5 in the US), studying mechanical engineering and computer science. I rowed all through high school while being on my school's FRC team. I was founding member of the FRC team, eventual captain and would like to consider myself one of the most dedicated people we had. I was also the captain of my rowing team.

I'll use a couple different standards of comparison here, I'll try my best to compare these without too much bias either way!

TIME:

Personally, my rowing team took more time in high school. I know that our FRC team did not meet as much as other teams. We only met Tuesday/Thursday for 3 hours each and then Saturday 9-5. Obviously during the end of the season it stepped up and we met more but generally my rowing team would practice 2.5 hours a day for 6 days a week.
Additionally, rowing was in season during the fall and the spring with offseason training in the winter while FRC only had regular meetings during winter and throughout our competition season.

EFFORT:

This one is pretty equivalent. I would say that rowing is much much more physically demanding while it requires very little mentally. Obviously robotics is the exact opposite here. I think that designing a system for the bot versus training towards a goal time isn't a very fair comparison here. One is a very long term goal that requires months of effort while another is a very short term but pretty stressful process. This one I can't confidently compare.

ATMOSPHERE:

To clarify here, this is just how the team feels. This one is definitely different. I think that both teams are close. I had best friends on both of my teams in high school. I would have to say that my rowing team as a whole might have been a little bit closer but that would just have come from spending more time together. Additionally, the sports team bond is actually kind of close to what is depicted in movies. You all share in the misery of training and losing and the euphoria of winning. At times this feels stronger than that on an FRC team because training is putting yourself through quite a bit of physical pain where as the design process is (in my opinion) still pretty fun regardless of the outcome! I think that I would have to sum up my relationship with my FRC teammates as being slightly more on the professional side where as I might have actually been closer with my rowing friends.

Summary: I would say about equal in all things except time! This will vary team to team but in my experience my sport took more time.



EDIT: Looking at the post that started this discussion again... you're high school swim team practices 25 hours a week?? That seems a little exaggerated to me. Also the reason that practices aren't longer is it physically is not beneficial past a point. What good is a football team that can't walk onto the field because they have beat themselves up too much in practice. Even weight training before Junior or Senior year of high school can be very detrimental to an athlete. No one has ever injured themselves by thinking too much about their robot.

[bobjones227]

Originally Posted by cmrnpizzo14

copying what I said in another post.....


I would say that rowing is much much more physically demanding while it requires very little mentally.

I myself row, and I personally find that you have to be mentally strong to keep rowing during a race or hard workout. It takes a lot to push yourself to your full potential, even after you've rowed 1500m, and you're arms feel like jelly, and your legs ache. It just takes mental strength to completely zone in on the race, and to continue pushing yourself, in my opinion.

[Sperkowsky]

I should keep a drive doc with standard responses for these recurring threads.

[cmrnpizzo14]

Originally Posted by bobjones227

I myself row, and I personally find that you have to be mentally strong to keep rowing during a race or hard workout. It takes a lot to push yourself to your full potential, even after you've rowed 1500m, and you're arms feel like jelly, and your legs ache. It just takes mental strength to completely zone in on the race, and to continue pushing yourself, in my opinion.

I think of it as being a different type of mental exertion. I consider the mental exertion in rowing to be more of an exercise in "how little can you think?" or "how much can you ignore what's happening around you?" where as FIRST is much more of a standard mental exertion where you are trying to create things within your mind.

[T3_1565]

Originally Posted by cmrnpizzo14

I think of it as being a different type of mental exertion. I consider the mental exertion in rowing to be more of an exercise in "how little can you think?" or "how much can you ignore what's happening around you?" where as FIRST is much more of a standard mental exertion where you are trying to create things within your mind.

pushing past physical limitations through mental exertion I would argue is much more difficult then your saying it is. Its very hard to overcome your bodie's instincts. Takes a lot of practice.

That being said, Creative exertion is just as difficult. They are just two different sides of the same coin. Both equally taxing on your mind when pushing your limits.

[cmrnpizzo14]

Originally Posted by T3_1565

pushing past physical limitations through mental exertion I would argue is much more difficult then your saying it is. Its very hard to overcome your bodie's instincts. Takes a lot of practice.

That being said, Creative exertion is just as difficult. They are just two different sides of the same coin. Both equally taxing on your mind when pushing your limits.

Having done a lot of both, it just seems different. With pushing past physical limitations, the key is to never let yourself slip up and allow yourself to quit. Once you do that, it's almost impossible to push past that point again. With design, it's the same struggle of never letting yourself get pigeon-holed or too attached to your idea at any stage. If you can't separate yourself from your idea, then you will never look at it honestly and logically during evaluations.

[T3_1565]

Originally Posted by cmrnpizzo14

Having done a lot of both, it just seems different. With pushing past physical limitations, the key is to never let yourself slip up and allow yourself to quit. Once you do that, it's almost impossible to push past that point again. With design, it's the same struggle of never letting yourself get pigeon-holed or too attached to your idea at any stage. If you can't separate yourself from your idea, then you will never look at it honestly and logically during evaluations.

Absolutely, that's what I mean by two sides of the same coin. They are different. But both are equally difficult.