Is a FIRST Team equal to a traditional sports team?

[thatnerdjack]

I should also probably mention that her main argument was that they don't have the same "atmosphere". Meaning that the people on her rugby team were closer than the people on my FRC team are.

[RamZ]

Our school is pretty small (about 350 kids total), so we have no sports teams, other than Team 4. With almost 20% of the school population on the team, we are the sports team!

[cmrnpizzo14]

Woo! My time to shine!

About me: I am currently a division one rower at a highly competitive university (top 10 in the US), studying mechanical engineering and computer science. I rowed all through high school while being on my school's FRC team. I was founding member of the FRC team, eventual captain and would like to consider myself one of the most dedicated people we had. I was also the captain of my rowing team.

I'll use a couple different standards of comparison here, I'll try my best to compare these without too much bias either way!

TIME:

Personally, my rowing team took more time in high school. I know that our FRC team did not meet as much as other teams. We only met Tuesday/Thursday for 3 hours each and then Saturday 9-5. Obviously during the end of the season it stepped up and we met more but generally my rowing team would practice 2.5 hours a day for 6 days a week.
Additionally, rowing was in season during the fall and the spring with offseason training in the winter while FRC only had regular meetings during winter and throughout our competition season.

EFFORT:

This one is pretty equivalent. I would say that rowing is much much more physically demanding while it requires very little mentally. Obviously robotics is the exact opposite here. I think that designing a system for the bot versus training towards a goal time isn't a very fair comparison here. One is a very long term goal that requires months of effort while another is a very short term but pretty stressful process. This one I can't confidently compare.

ATMOSPHERE:

To clarify here, this is just how the team feels. This one is definitely different. I think that both teams are close. I had best friends on both of my teams in high school. I would have to say that my rowing team as a whole might have been a little bit closer but that would just have come from spending more time together. Additionally, the sports team bond is actually kind of close to what is depicted in movies. You all share in the misery of training and losing and the euphoria of winning. At times this feels stronger than that on an FRC team because training is putting yourself through quite a bit of physical pain where as the design process is (in my opinion) still pretty fun regardless of the outcome! I think that I would have to sum up my relationship with my FRC teammates as being slightly more on the professional side where as I might have actually been closer with my rowing friends.

Summary: I would say about equal in all things except time! This will vary team to team but in my experience my sport took more time.


I'll post more later but I have finals to study for!! Please reply with specific questions if you have them!

[highlander]

Originally Posted by thatnerdjack

I should also probably mention that her main argument was that they don't have the same "atmosphere". Meaning that the people on her rugby team were closer than the people on my FRC team are.

This would definitely depend on the type of team (frc and sport). I see a huge variance of atmospheres on sports teams and FRC teams. For what it's worth, in my experience the average FRC team seems to be more tight-knit, but to be sure that suffers from undercoverage bias.

[themccannman]

It's a tough comparison to make. We don't work year-round and there's no reason for an athlete to practice for 16 hours in one day so there's some stark differences. Depends how you want to define hard work, and from Karthik's presentation it sounds like 1114 easily works as hard as we do.

[PVCpirate]

Originally Posted by thatnerdjack

I should also probably mention that her main argument was that they don't have the same "atmosphere". Meaning that the people on her rugby team were closer than the people on my FRC team are.

If this is the argument, I would say the core group of most FRC teams is definitely comparable to a sports team. My FRC team was very much like a family, and we had a very close group of dedicated students. The main difference was you didn't have to try out for our FRC team, we let everyone join.

[The other Gabe]

Originally Posted by thatnerdjack

I should also probably mention that her main argument was that they don't have the same "atmosphere". Meaning that the people on her rugby team were closer than the people on my FRC team are.

this being the main point would make FRC and most sports very similar, in that some teams have disharmony, others are the party team, while others work perfectly together, with only minimal issues.

That being said FRC is not a sport. there is not enough physical exertion during the actual competition, and the majority of the team technically does not compete (but instead plays some sort of support role to the 4 that do). Most sports require a specific skillset to be successful on the team, but in FRC there are many different skills that are of use (I spend a comparatively small amount of time on the robot, but I help a lot with strategy development, chairmens and scouting). FRC is something wonderful in and of itself, but a sport it is not- I think it is better than a traditional sports team, but that might be a bit of a personal bias

[MikeE]

Originally Posted by thatnerdjack

I should also probably mention that her main argument was that they don't have the same "atmosphere". Meaning that the people on her rugby team were closer than the people on my FRC team are.

Based on my rugby playing experience I tend to agree with your friend. There is a particular bond that develops in a team where everyone has a specific specialist role which directly contributes to success of the whole. Add in both the physicality of a hard contact sport and the continuous nature of the game, and a very close team atmosphere is the norm not the exception.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by MikeE

There is a particular bond that develops in a team where everyone has a specific specialist role which directly contributes to success of the whole.

Does that not also apply to FRC?

[MikeE]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Does that not also apply to FRC?

That part does.
Physical contact sport doesn't (possible exception of 2014 game).

[piersklein]

Even by any definition given on this tread, FRC qualifies as a sport.

Time:
For background, I sail for a varsity sailing team which is top 5 in our region and likely top 15 in the country. We have practice for 3.5 hours a day and 9-4 weekend meets. On the other hand, with FRC, we easily can go for 6 hours a day and 8-10 on weekends. In terms of time, FRC wins easily.

Skill:
I think we can all agree that FRC requires just as much if not more skill than whatever sport you play.

Physical Exertion:
Locktite in a bolt ever? Or have to bend metal with a hand brake? Or carry a 120 pound robot on and off the field and position it? There is some physical exertion there. Maybe it doesn't match sports, but it is there.

Atmosphere:
There is a close bond that forms on a sports team, one that a whole FRC team does not get close to. However, the bond between team leaders or the drive team who spend seemingly every waking moment together is something that sports, for me, has never compared to.

However, FRC is not widely recognized as a sport. That is a problem, for everyone involved. I have had arguments about what constitutes a sport many times not even including FRC. And have been told crew, sailing, and FRC are all not sports. The arguments always end up not being about what constitues a sport but rather about the problem humans have with acknowledging the effort and achievements of others. It is somehow threatening for someone else to work harder than you or to have more success than you.

Ninja Edit: Forgot Physical Exertion category