Petition to end things that confuse the public

[GreyingJay]

I have no problem with the "silly" things that happen at events. I think it's great that people are dancing and having fun. As someone who is, um, "coordination challenged" it takes a LOT of coercing for me to get up and look foolish by trying to dance, especially in front of large audiences. The only places I have ever felt comfortable doing that are at the summer camp I volunteer with... and FRC events. That speaks of how comfortable I feel in an audience full of friends. FRC folks are a friendly bunch.

I like the ideas for "how to explain to the audience what is going on" but ultimately I don't think it is any more confusing than any other spectator sport. I don't really follow hockey that closely and I still sometimes ask "what was that for? why did they do that?" when watching a game.

Any audience member that doesn't know what is going on can ask "what's going on?" and someone nearby will happily explain. Someone sitting near me was asking exactly that at North Bay and I explained to them what the game was about.

[GeeTwo]

Up front, let me admit that I read only OP, not all of the ones in between.

It's simply in the nature of people that anything we do together, that we consider important, will quickly become full of tradition. The Navy's full of it, the Army's full of it, the Church is full of it, and the Moose Lodge is full of it. Most of these traditions are confusing to the outside community. When we identify a tradition that is detrimental to the community, it is certainly a mark of the community's vibrancy that it can discard tradition in pursuit of its higher goals. Cutting the calls of "robot" to only those situations necessary to clear a crowded corridor was perfectly sensible.

Line dancing, on the other hand, is something we do together. As the song Dancing in the Moonlight so eloquently declares:

Everybody here is out of sight - they don't bark and they don't bite. .... You can't dance and stay uptight.

. I think it's absolutely marvelous to see hundreds of kids wearing dozens of uniforms all moving together. I can't wait until my first trip to championships where it will be thousands of kids wearing hundreds of uniforms. And OBTW - a good fraction of the people watching also know these same line dances, and are probably making the same moves in their hindbrains if not their feet. The real message that these traditions send is that yes, these kids are real kids, and many of them like to bust a move just as much as anyone else.

[April_robo]

I personally love the silly dance songs. After sitting there for most of the day scouting it's nice to have a dance break. Also for the people who don't understand the game and what is going on, most will just turn to the person next to them, who is wearing a team uniform most likely, and ask.

I was recently volunteering at the FiM Livonia district event and a UL safety advisor was sitting in the chair beside me next to the field. He politely leaned over and asked me what was going on. So I gave him a brief description of what was going on and why it was happening. Also he had his young daughter with him and when a dance song was being played the volunteers would dance on or near the field and we tried to get her engaged in the dancing too. Although she was shy she looked like she enjoyed watching us dance and have fun.

[Chief Hedgehog]

There have been a great number of ideas thus far for the FRC events. I am a person that has had a long history of competing in and coaching sports such as Football, Soccer, and Wrestling. So when I attended my first regional in 2013 I was taken aback by what I experienced. Where was the seriousness in all of this celebration? These kids just worked their arses off for 6 weeks to prepare for competition - why the joy before the final outcome?

Then it hit me - Why the joy and celebration? Because these kids have worked their arses off for 6 straight weeks forgoing lazy Saturdays in exchange for aluminum shavings and JB Weld. They have struggled, been frustrated, fought, finagled, redesigned, failed, failed, and failed again before they found a sliver of success. They have been with each other for too long... they have been with their mentors too long.

And now they compete. Whether it means the robot moves, or climbs a rung, or blocks a shot, or throws an exercise ball that clears the FTA tables - these kids did what most kids never do. Fail - time and time again. They fail in front of their peers - their teammates, and then try again. So when their robot is ready to compete - a robot that represents the collective goal of 4, 10, 20, or 34 kids - yes there is a reason to celebrate like idiots!

My first season as a FRC coach I had a student that was the most introverted of kids I have ever taught. So when he was in our Darth Maul mascot dancing the Macarena - his mom reached over and asked: "Is that really my boy? Is Zach really out there dancing in front of everyone?" She had tears streaming down her cheeks.

Yes, we do allow this in FRC. It is not for the spectators. It is for the students.

[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by Chief Hedgehog

There have been a great number of ideas thus far for the FRC events. I am a person that has had a long history of competing in and coaching sports such as Football, Soccer, and Wrestling. So when I attended my first regional in 2013 I was taken aback by what I experienced. Where was the seriousness in all of this celebration? These kids just worked their arses off for 6 weeks to prepare for competition - why the joy before the final outcome?

Then it hit me - Why the joy and celebration? Because these kids have worked their arses off for 6 straight weeks forgoing lazy Saturdays in exchange for aluminum shavings and JB Weld. They have struggled, been frustrated, fought, finagled, redesigned, failed, failed, and failed again before they found a sliver of success. They have been with each other for too long... they have been with their mentors too long.

And now they compete. Whether it means the robot moves, or climbs a rung, or blocks a shot, or throws an exercise ball that clears the FTA tables - these kids did what most kids never do. Fail - time and time again. They fail in front of their peers - their teammates, and then try again. So when their robot is ready to compete - a robot that represents the collective goal of 4, 10, 20, or 34 kids - yes there is a reason to celebrate like idiots!

My first season as a FRC coach I had a student that was the most introverted of kids I have ever taught. So when he was in our Darth Maul mascot dancing the Macarena - his mom reached over and asked: "Is that really my boy? Is Zach really out there dancing in front of everyone?" She had tears streaming down her cheeks.

Yes, we do allow this in FRC. It is not for the spectators. It is for the students.

^This^

[asid61]

Originally Posted by Chief Hedgehog

-snip-
Yes, we do allow this in FRC. It is not for the spectators. It is for the students.

I totally agree with you that students deserve the celebration. It's great for them to do that, and I hope that the dancing tradition continues (although too often I find myself in the pits when the dancing is going on...). More songs would be nice though; I despise hearing the Cupid Shuffle over and over again.
But FIRST's mission is for both spectators and students, not one or the other. To have more students inspired there must be more spectators inspired.

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by Chief Hedgehog

Yes, we do allow this in FRC. It is not for the spectators. It is for the students.

Exactly. You deserve a cookie :-)

[Steven Donow]

It's interesting to see what confuses people...my roommates stopped by the Northeastern District this weekend and I spent probably 20 minutes afterwards trying to explain alliance selection to them...("Wait, so you're picking to use another robot in the finals? Why wouldn't you use your own robot?") The game made perfect sense to them, aside from litter ("doesn't having a human player defeat the purpose of it being a robotics competition?")

Then there's my grandma who thought last year's game made the most sense out of every game she's seen (2007 onwards)

Then there's my dad who texted me after a match in Rhode Island, "Why did your ranking go down when you won the match?"

The public is just generally confusing themselves....

[BlueLipstick]

Originally Posted by Steven Donow

It's interesting to see what confuses people...my roommates stopped by the Northeastern District this weekend and I spent probably 20 minutes afterwards trying to explain alliance selection to them...("Wait, so you're picking to use another robot in the finals? Why wouldn't you use your own robot?") The game made perfect sense to them, aside from litter ("doesn't having a human player defeat the purpose of it being a robotics competition?")

This^ Of all the 'confusing' things to work on, the dances seem like the most comprehensible to the public, because it resembles other sporting events.

[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

Exactly. You deserve a cookie :-)

No, Cheesecake!