UNgracious UNprofessionalism

[bEdhEd]

Originally Posted by MrJohnston

So, my point? FIRST, if we always assume the best of others, we won't see ungraciousness where it may not be. Second, FIRST is all about learning Gracious Professionalism and if all our students had it down, they would not need FIRST. Third, when another team's students are struggling with Grace and Professionalism, recognize that their mentors most likely realize there is an issues and are working on it behind the scenes - just don't expect them to lambast their kids publicly. All of our teams, at some point or another, have (or will have) moments of which we are none-too-proud. Heck - even the mentors will. (Personally, I said some things to an Expedia agent that were neither graceful nor professional when trying to make flight reservations for my team last week.... )

So, what to do about YouTube comments? Graciously and Professionally let it go.

I agree. GP is something some students, even mentors have to learn in time.
As for pushing 84" robots into the auto zone to get fouls, it's just a strategy that is completely fine in the spirit of FIRST. If the bot can be pushed in the auto zone, it's a flaw of the design and the drivers, and is nothing against the opposing team. We had to do that at our latest regional so our full court shooter could score. Usually, the fouls were not even on purpose, but consequential since the only way the opposing blocker was ineffective was if it was out of the auto zone