From a Newton Volunteer

[robobandmom]

I'm just a FIRST fan/sponsor this year since my kids that were in FRC have moved on and my mentor husband has had to take a break from FIRST due to work requirements.

I was at a regional event this year and saw a mentor coach who appeared very mad, and was yelling/shouting and actually banging on the driver's station "glass" during a match. I was shocked and saddened.

I have attended 12 official FIRST events in the last few years and probably 6 off season events, and have NEVER seen anything like it. The team we were a part of was pretty set on student coaches; the mentors didn't want to take a drive team spot away from a kid that had poured his/her heart and soul into the team. That decision served this team well, but I realize each team is free to choose what works for them.

I do not know the circumstances behind this mentor/coach's actions, but unless he was fearful for someone's safety, (which didn't appear to be the case,) shouting and banging on the driver's station glass should get you removed from the event, and maybe even from FIRST all together.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by robobandmom

I'm just a FIRST fan/sponsor this year since my kids that were in FRC have moved on and my mentor husband has had to take a break from FIRST due to work requirements.

I was at a regional event this year and saw a mentor coach who appeared very mad, and was yelling/shouting and actually banging on the driver's station "glass" during a match. I was shocked and saddened.

I have attended 12 official FIRST events in the last few years and probably 6 off season events, and have NEVER seen anything like it. The team we were a part of was pretty set on student coaches; the mentors didn't want to take a drive team spot away from a kid that had poured his/her heart and soul into the team. That decision served this team well, but I realize each team is free to choose what works for them.

I do not know the circumstances behind this mentor/coach's actions, but unless he was fearful for someone's safety, (which didn't appear to be the case,) shouting and banging on the driver's station glass should get you removed from the event, and maybe even from FIRST all together.

For what it's worth, banging on the glass was actually a suggested method of getting the referees' attention during matches in few specific instances. I did not see exaclty what happened in your experience but it might have been for that.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by robobandmom

I do not know the circumstances behind this mentor/coach's actions, but unless he was fearful for someone's safety, (which didn't appear to be the case,) shouting and banging on the driver's station glass should get you removed from the event, and maybe even from FIRST all together.

Again if it was a dead ball or a unlit pedestal it seems pretty reasonable. Again no reason to curse or be disrespectful but unless I have some other way of telling the head ref that we need a new cycle banging on the glass and shouting was the only real option this year. Refs have even said to do that at driver's meetings during the season. I'm not defending this action because I don't know the details but again things may seem a lot different from the stands then they do on the field. The volunteers are doing their best but sometimes they need a little help to get a faster cycle, it's often not meant to be mean. I have a lot of friends that ref this game and it's incredibly hard, if I was a ref, I would want to teams to help me get them the most efficient matches we could, that includes banging on the polycarb and shouting if it is needed.

I'm a VEX ref and I have students and mentors yell at me to count pinning and other things, sometimes they are right and I'm thankful because the other option is I miss a call which I never want to do. Sometimes they are wrong and I politely tell them that's it's not pinning. Rarely do they ever say anything offensive.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Justin Montois

With a couple exceptions, I have to say the Volunteer crew on Newton was awesome, especially the FTA. He was running around like crazy tracking down balls and was instantly at your driver station if your robot had an issue. Does anyone know his name or could tell me how to get in contact with him?

The FTA that I saw doing the majority of the on field monitoring on Newton posts here under the name alectronic and is one of the people who developed FRC District Ranking System which was used by the PNW District to keep interested parties up on the points teams have earned and what they earned them for.

[Carolyn_Grace]

Originally Posted by Mr V

The FTA that I saw doing the majority of the on field monitoring on Newton posts here under the name alectronic and is one of the people who developed FRC District Ranking System which was used by the PNW District to keep interested parties up on the points teams have earned and what they earned them for.

That's Alex: good guy! Rob Jenkins was the lead FTA of Newton and the one people saw running around like Superman. They seemed to work together great!

[physics_guy47]

As an FTA I rarely post on the forums. We are in a difficult position where we want to avoid speaking officially as lead FRC volunteers so it is generally easier to remain quietly in the background.

That being said, one of my closest friends told me I needed to read this thread last night and once I did I had to say something. The outpouring of thanks, appreciation and respect was really amazing. During the event I had multiple people thanking me for my efforts. I just want to say that this wouldn't be possible without all of the incredible volunteers I was lucky enough to work with on this field. Also, the group of teams that made up Newton was fantastic - everyone played hard and really showed a lot of class and grace under pressure. The amount of effort and hard work that it takes to make it to the World Championship deserves at least an equal effort on our end. I hope that I was able to provide that this weekend - the volunteers and teams that I had the honor of working with on Newton (and all season for that matter) were inspiring to say the least.

Congratulations and a huge thank you to everyone that helped to make Newton 2014 a success. I hope to see everyone back in St Louis again next year!

Sincerely and gratefully your FTA,
Rob Jenkins

[MysterE]

Originally Posted by physics_guy47

As an FTA I rarely post on the forums. We are in a difficult position where we want to avoid speaking officially as lead FRC volunteers so it is generally easier to remain quietly in the background.

That being said, one of my closest friends told me I needed to read this thread last night and once I did I had to say something. The outpouring of thanks, appreciation and respect was really amazing. During the event I had multiple people thanking me for my efforts. I just want to say that this wouldn't be possible without all of the incredible volunteers I was lucky enough to work with on this field. Also, the group of teams that made up Newton was fantastic - everyone played hard and really showed a lot of class and grace under pressure. The amount of effort and hard work that it takes to make it to the World Championship deserves at least an equal effort on our end. I hope that I was able to provide that this weekend - the volunteers and teams that I had the honor of working with on Newton (and all season for that matter) were inspiring to say the least.

Congratulations and a huge thank you to everyone that helped to make Newton 2014 a success. I hope to see everyone back in St Louis again next year!

Sincerely and gratefully your FTA,
Rob Jenkins

You rocked it, Rob! You were a definite inspiration for me to maintain my energy level throughout the event.

[TomWx]

It's either really dusty in here or someone's cutting onions. I LOVE MY VOLUNTEERS!

-Tom

[Adrienne E.]

Originally Posted by dsmoker

I was a volunteer on Galileo, and I want to say the our FTA Liz was also amazing, fixing every issue and tracking down balls as well. It was my first time volunteering, and I met so many incredible people. Liz is on the top of that list.

Seconded. I thought Liz did an amazing job! The best FTA I have ever seen on a field. In general I thought that Galileo ran very very smoothly and I had good interactions with everyone.

[Justin Montois]

Originally Posted by Adrienne E.

Seconded. I thought Liz did an amazing job! The best FTA I have ever seen on a field. In general I thought that Galileo ran very very smoothly and I had good interactions with everyone.

Liz is fantastic! She's done FLR for years recently and this year was a huge help at the inaugural Tech Valley Regional and now can been seen at an event just about every week.

She is definitely one of the best!

[Ben Martin]

I have join the others here in commending Liz for her efforts. In addition to being our FTA on Galileo, she was also our FTA for MAR Champs and at the Greater DC regional. She did a great job of making sure field issues were taken care of, pedestals were lit after cycles, and that balls flying out of the field were given right back to human players. An amazing job all around, all season.