From a Newton Volunteer

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by MysterE

#1 - Screaming at the pedestal does not make it light up.
#2 - Screaming at the referee closest to your side of the field does not make the pedestal light up.
#3 - Screaming at the ball handlers on your side of the field does not make the pedestal light up.
#4 - Screaming at the human player from the other team on your alliance does not make the pedestal light up.

I will preface my response by saying that the volunteer staff on newton was one of the best that I have ever interacted with at an FRC event. The FTA was simply Amazing at his job, and understanding in ways that I don't know if I have the words to explain. The field reset volunteers I interacted with (usually those on the field) were all amazing and seemed to say the right thing at just the right time before or after a tough match, which I am extremely grateful for, and from what I can remember, other than one incident, I didn't see any issues with the pedestals, or the balls being cycled into play. The queuing staff, especially the lead on the blue side was simply amazing, and had the patience of saints.

With that being said, I believe that we were guilty of yelling at the pedestal, in the direction of the referees, in at least one instance, specially in our second (?) semi final match, where 971 cleared a missed auto ball through the low goal, but the ball just sat at the goals exit without being removed.... No one seemed to notice it, and our pedestal did not light, at which point we did everything in our power to get someone's attention. Thankfully the FTA walked into the driver's station and said very calmly "stop, just stop. Take as much time as you need to reset your robots, this is a field fault." I have never seen someone so calmly diffuse a situation like that in my 9 years of FRC, and am still in awe. In this case, making those on the field aware of the issue may have saved us a semi-final exit, or a least a full replay.

With that being said, if we were one of the offending teams (I know we were in the incident above) then I sincerely apologize. Our intent is not to belittle anyone's efforts through yelling or talking at a high volume, but in the heat of the moment, when a missed ball could be the difference between ending a season and not, mistakes are made.