"Gracious Professionalism"

[Taylor]

To me:
Gracious Professionalism is a celebration. I will celebrate the wins of the teams around me, and the teams against whom I compete. Even those that beat me.
Because I've worked with some of these teams, and helped these teams to achieve their success. Or because I know how hard our team works, so if another team beats us, they must have worked harder/smarter/more effectively. Either way, that merits a celebration.

[class1234567]

To me GP is like a cross country race. Everyone struggles through it, but everybody encourages each other to finish, and do their best. Of corse you'll have "winners" and "losers", but everyones a winner because they already finished the hard task.

[Clem1640]

Gracious professionalism is:

Working together to come up with solutions to problems; on your own team and especially with other teams

Pointing out that loose wire or bolt on your opponent's robot while you're queued for a match

Taking time to think of what other teams may need as you pack for a competition

Realizing that you've got more students working in other team's pits than your own

Taking care and time not to make work or messes that others will need to fix/clean up

Understanding how your actions affect others and keeping this front-of-mind

Gracious professionalism is one of the aspects of FIRST which make the FIRST experience really rewarding and enjoyable. It's also really good practice for a professional career.

[itsjustmrb]

Gracious Professionalism is all of the things stated above and not taking them for granted. If you have more resources (time, money, knowledge, location, expertise, tools, parts, etc.) you should share with those that are less fortunate no matter what the circumstances may be.

[yash101]

Here's what Gracious Professionalism, and a little Good Sportsmanship is:
Keep a smile on your face (sad/neutral face can sometimes have a negative connotation)
Respect others, even if they don't respect you

Cheer for everyone, even it they are on the other alliance. I not only do that, but I wish them good luck, and ask them to play hard, especially because a close and well-played match it the best to watch

Offer Help to anyone, even if they aren't on your team. At a competition, someone was trying to move a robot by himself and nearly dropped. I gladly asked him if I helped. He didn't say yes, but I at least think he would be have a good connotation for me

Introduce yourself professionally (Mr. Forbes and others at the Tucson Tussle, please tell me if there is anything I can improve)

Listen to others. I they ask you to move out of the way, listen to them. If they ask you for a tool, put your best effort to get it to them.

Know all the subsystems of the robot and those other things, even if they aren't your field on the team. Even though I am a programmer on the team, and I love playing with sparks and supercapacitors at home , I still try to understand mechanical and those other fields though they aren't my cup of tea on the team. That can be helpful because then you are a resource for your team. You can answer any questions asked, boosting your reputation.

Congratulate others of their victory and inspire the losing teams to do better if you can or just tell them good luck

Shake hands with your opponents after the match and congratulate how they played

Don't Brag. It looks very awkwards and can be mean. (Mr. Forbes and others at the competitions, please tell me if I can improve in anything!

There are a lot more things to watch out. As a matter of fact, there are so many, you could probably write a 1000 page book and that won't hold all these thumb-rules.

And again, anyone at these competitions, please give me information about what to improve. No one's perfect, but there's always room for improvement

[DELurker]

All of the above...

Other examples:

Carry materials to events that you know you won't need but that other teams commonly ask for. Document, organize, and label these so that they are quickly available. Quickly know when something someone asks for is not available.

Be available during both Qualifications and Eliminations to lend a hand to other teams who are having problems. Have your scouting team send timely word about teams that seem to be having issues, whether mechanical, electrical, or programmatic.

Politely ask teams who are having issues if they would like your assistance. Do not assume that they want your help. If you do help, work with the team, making sure that you are collaborating with them rather than just doing it for them. When you are done, they should clearly understand what was done and should agree that it is working.

Cheer and acknowledge good play.

Treat your own team as well as you treat everybody around you. And vice-versa.

Treat the volunteers, judges, and inspectors well, regardless of what is going on.

Above all, have fun and work to make it possible for everyone else to have fun, too.