Is It Possible to Take FIRST too seriously?

[David8696]

Originally Posted by Briansmithtown

Never. FIRST is love, FIRST is life.

Holy mother of old thread

[Briansmithtown]

Originally Posted by David8696

Holy mother of old thread

I brought it back from the Dead Thread!

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by Briansmithtown

I brought it back from the Dead Thread!

Bringing it back would be adding to the discussion in a meaningful way. So far after you posted in it, 3/4 posts have been about you posting in it.

[Charles Boehm]

Crazy is what lazy people say to describe the dedicated.

[dubiousSwain]

Is it possible to revive threads that are too dead?

[Kimmeh]

Can we seriously talk about this subject instead of making posts about how a dead thread was revived? Please?

This thread was started right before the 2007 season. Approximately 1300 teams competed. It was the year that MOE won Chairman's. At the end of 2014 season, over 2,700 teams competed and Team RUSH earned a HoF spot. Between the time this thread was first posted and now, we've gone through EIGHT seasons. Enough time for a full turnover of students. Twice.

In that time period the number of competing teams has doubled. We've seen the introduction of districts. Almost every team bags their robot now. They're no longer at the mercy of when FedEx shows up. Un-bag windows and withholding allowances are standard. Practice bots are aplenty. More and more teams are playing at least two events. The increasing number of districts alone makes that a reality.

I've heard many mentors complain about some of these changes. They feel like build season no longer lasts just 6.5 weeks. Even if you "finish" your robot in six weeks, you can always still improve. And because you've got the withholding allowance, why shouldn't you? Instead of taking a break, you should be making spare parts or fine-tuning the manipulator you withheld. We've made it easier for teams to compete, but have we also made it harder for students and mentors to have life outside of robotics?

I understand that FIRST is very much "real life engineering". You don't have enough money, you're under-staffed, you're not quite sure what the customer wants, requirements change, and they want it yesterday. And by yesterday, we actually mean last week. And sometimes, you have all of those problems at once! Many of our mentors deal with this at work. And then they mentor a team where they're juggling FIRST, work/school, and a home life. (We're quite the masochists, aren't we?)

Are we taking FIRST too seriously? Spouses joke about losing their other half for a few months every year. In high school, my parents and I joked about changing my address to our build site because I spent far more time there than I did at home. And for some, it isn't really a joke. Between school and robotics I left my house at 7:15 and didn't get home until at least 9:00pm, if not later. Students and mentors alike get sick because they're not eating or sleeping properly. Grades drop. If someone isn't on the team or with you at work/school, you don't see them for a while.


I would like to us to examine why we let ourselves get so caught up in FIRST. FIRST is so much more than a "high school competition". Trust me, I get that. Are we truly taking it too seriously? I'm sure than to an outsider (or some parents/spouses/friends) our time investment and level of commitment is absolutely insane. Is there a breaking point and are we approaching it? Alternately, for those of you who have been around for a longer time: have you found yourself/team less invested? If so, why? If you maintain what you consider to be a healthy balance between robotics and not-robotics, how do you manage to do so?

[bigbeezy]

Originally Posted by Kimmeh

Can we seriously talk about this subject instead of making posts about how a dead thread was revived? Please?

Thank you...

I started in 2005 and FIRST sure has grown. Its really awesome how big its become. However, when I started it was just 6 weeks, then we met maybe once a week to prep for competition. Now its basically 4 months solid (not to mention off season).

For me I lived and breathed FIRST in high school, especially as a junior and senior. The only break I would take was for the golf team in the fall. Fall semester we mostly did fund raising so things weren't quite so "go-go-go" for those months. Spring semester however I was just like many others, at school from 7am til after 9pm. Similar jokes were said in my family of me just taking a cot and living in the shop (there actually were showers nearby too).

The best thing that happened to me was going to college where the nearest FRC team was 2.5 hours away. While my freshman year I missed being apart of a team, but it forced me to focus on school. I learned that there is a lot more out there other than FIRST. My time away let me grow up. I am really glad that I'm now able to come back as a mentor, but school, family, and career must come first. I've seen way too many people not finish school or take much longer than necessary because they want to stay with FIRST. Also I have spoken with mentors who have lost marriages and families over the amount of time spent with robotics...this is sad and should never happen.

I guess my question back would be, how much time would someone truly dedicated to a sport (football, basketball, baseball, etc) put in? My guess is it would be about the same. How many hours per week do high school football coaches put in in comparison to an FRC mentor?

[JamesCH95]

Pursuing your interests with passion and vigor is an admirable trait and should be encouraged. Allowing a single pursuit to dominate your life will stunt your development in many other areas and is probably unhealthy.

[Steven Smith]

My cheeky answer is that I don't think it's possible to spend too much time with FIRST... just too little time on other things

Seriously though, if you allow much of your life to revolve around FIRST, but you draw in the other VERY important things like career, family, health, etc... then you can have a life that appears to be very FIRST centered, without neglecting the remainder.

For example, my dad is coming into town this weekend. Typically, we might hang around the house, watch TV, etc. This weekend, we're going up to the school and moving our build space to our new classroom. So I'm "doing FIRST", but also getting to spend time with my dad (who is an engineer and gets a kick out machine shops). Many of my friends are my "robot friends" so I'm not choosing FIRST over them, I'm choosing FIRST with them. Same thing with my job... my employer values the exposure of FIRST and the personal development opportunities I get through it... so they don't see the excessive robotics time as a downside in the long run. Yes, if a project is due in February and I can't work 80 hrs a week to knock it out, they might grumble, but I also tried to shift loads this year to avoid missing any key deadlines at work b/c of FIRST. I'm also really looking forward to some day raising my own robot kids, and potentially using my maker hobbies as a way to bond with my own children.

So yes, if you have poor health, low grades, loss of friends/family... and at the same time spending a lot of time in FIRST... and think additional time would fix your problems, cut back. FIRST should amplify the rest of your life, not overshadow it.

[gblake]

When you ask the question, you already have your answer.

[rees2001]

Just look at the names of the people who posted back in 2006 when this thread started. How many of those people are still working with teams? How many have gone on to college, a career, and come back to FIRST. Helped start multiple new FIRST teams. Won the World Championship.

Really read the thoughts of the people that posted then and are still around today. I bet they have all grown in huge ways but still feel the draw to FIRST.