Being Proactive About Paper Airplanes on Einstein

[natejo99]

As a student who has attended champs twice previous to this year, I was slightly upset when our drive coach made the announcement that our team would not be partaking in the airplane throwing this year.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is the most responsible decision we could make about the issue.

Thinking back on the amount of paper (not necessarily in airplane form) and other trash on the dome floor and in the stands in 2014 and 2015 that had been thrown from the upper levels of the stands, I understand that cleaning that up must have been an absolute nightmare. I understand that some people may consider it "innocent fun", but it stops becoming that when airplanes are hitting people, the field, and even robots out on Einstein. There are plenty of better things to do to occupy yourselves in the stands while waiting for Einstein matches to start, and those options are much less disruptive and much more respectful than throwing garbage from the stands.

I did notice that the amount of airplanes (that I saw at least) thrown this year was much less than the past 2 years. The issue hasn't ceased, but it's getting better. As much as I would like to think that the FIRST community would realize that throwing paper airplanes is disrespectful and dangerous, I think that the only realistic way for this to stop is to have Dean make an announcement that the practice is no longer acceptable, which is an announcement that I think should be made next year.

[Gregor]

I had a student proudly tell me that he had thrown 127 airplanes made from pages of the guidebook of the event...

I do hope people realize the shear quantity of planes that are being thrown.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I have two things to say here, then you decide.

Does FIRST really have to tell you to stop doing something that you know is damaging, detracts from the overall experience and litters the floor of the very goal (division finals or Einstein fields) all of you are trying to achieve? Does someone have to tell you not to cheat to keep you from doing it? Does it really take someone pointing out to you that you are doing something less than professional for you to recognize that maybe you should stop?
I am on the field during all finals matches. We were seeing airplanes made out of one of those big venue maps made with heavy paper. These missiles were nearly 18" long and with the velocity they were achieving from upper seating areas were making it to the scoring tables on all fields. One hit a volunteer in the back of the head and nearly knocked him over. If you made this device, don't you think you owe someone an apology?

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Does FIRST really have to tell you to stop doing something that you know is damaging, detracts from the overall experience and litters the floor of the very goal (division finals or Einstein fields) all of you are trying to achieve?

Hey Al- While I certainly agree with your point and the reasoning behind it, wouldn't FIRST simply stating "Please DO NOT throw any materials from your seats" go a long way in extinguishing this practice?

The few people on this thread who have supported the practice start by saying (paraphrasing) "FIRST doesn't tell us not to do it, and they if it mattered to them, they would say so."


So while morally, I completely agree that no one should have to tell you to not do something damaging/silly - I do think a very simple statement would go a very long way. I agree with many people that when we were told to turn off our WiFi, a simple statement of "Stop throwing stuff" would've fit right in.

-Brando

[Jessica Boucher]

Airplanes aside, please don't throw other things at the volunteers. I had multiple people on the floor tell me they were hit by non-airplane things (water bottles and other trash).

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

I saw planes being thrown during speeches and matches. If people are bored by these than why are they in robotics in the first place?

Probably the same reason there are kids up in the stands playing on their laptops and handheld gaming devices. Some kids might only be in it because it gets them out of school

In terms of the planes though, they need to stop. I've yet to see a good justification for why someone throws them, but plenty of terrible reasons why someone "thinks" it's a good practice.

[barn34]

I'll just add to this with my own personal experience from this weekend.

There were several times throughout our Einstein run where we were legitmately concerned an airplane would find it's way onto the field and cause a field fault in one of those matches we were working to incredibly hard to win. Having something like a paper airplane, only thrown for the sole reason of personal selfish entertainment from that random individual, potentially impact such a monumentally important moment of ours was terrifying. There were airplanes making their way to the scorers tables and over the field several times.

I'm relaying this in hope that the next time anyone has a compusion to throw a paper airplane from the stands in the future they first think about how they would feel if their team was fortunate enough to be playing on the field and a random airplane thrown from the stands caused a field fault that costed your alliance a critical win while trying to win a world championship. That feeling should immediately cause you to unfold that airplane, place that piece of paper back in whatever place you took it from, and then have that initial compulsion transition to one of trying to persuade anyone around you from throwing anything, as well.

Thank you.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Brando,
Maybe but I don't think it would help very much. However, I don't think FIRST needs to repeat something your mom already told you. It is appropriate to throw paper airplanes in a paper airplane competition, not so much in a robot competition.
My late mom and Italian grandmother still whisper in my ear. They taught me gracious professionalism before Woodie named it.

(I still remember the meaning of "If everyone in the world jumped in the lake...". Thanks mom!)

[Rangel]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

Hey Al- While I certainly agree with your point and the reasoning behind it, wouldn't FIRST simply stating "Please DO NOT throw any materials from your seats" go a long way in extinguishing this practice?

The few people on this thread who have supported the practice start by saying (paraphrasing) "FIRST doesn't tell us not to do it, and they if it mattered to them, they would say so."


So while morally, I completely agree that no one should have to tell you to not do something damaging/silly - I do think a very simple statement would go a very long way. I agree with many people that when we were told to turn off our WiFi, a simple statement of "Stop throwing stuff" would've fit right in.

-Brando

Agreed. It won't ever come close to ending until FIRST makes it very clear they don't want it to happen. Most teams I bet don't even realize it is discouraged and others just think some think it is only grumpy people on CD that complain about it and hate fun. Just the general feelings I have gotten when talking to others about it.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by TheModMaster8

Last year a high ranking official from the United States Air Force complimented this activity and even when so far out to take the ones on the stage with him to remember FIRST by. I don't know about you but That man obviously saw something you all did not.

What he saw was a well-constructed and well-thrown paper airplane that reached the area beside the stage. What he did not see from that vantage point was the uncounted hundreds of airplane-shaped wads of paper, ball-shaped wads of paper, and pieces of just plain unfolded paper that hit people in the head.

This year I didn't see anyone dumping piles of unfolded paper over the railings, and I didn't see anyone intentionally throwing their airplanes straight up so they'd have more velocity when they landed on the people nearby. But I saw someone a few rows away from me repeatedly fold the same flawed shape and throw it in the same awkward side-armed way a dozen or more times, getting the same three-foot-forward-then-nosedive result every time. I think he only stopped when he ran out of pages in his program to rip out. I got hit in the back of the neck three times with pointy paper darts by kids of approximately FLL age sitting behind me before I turned around and told them to stop throwing trash at me. I watched people intentionally trying to land paper airplanes on top of a couple of mascots before the parade.

Paper airplanes are fun to throw. They are fun to watch if they are made well and thrown well. But they are distracting and disrespectful when thrown during speeches or robot matches, regardless of quality. And they are just plain dangerous, whether due to hitting people or by causing a slip hazard.

[XaulZan11]

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

I saw planes being thrown during speeches and matches. If people are bored by these than why are they in robotics in the first place?

This is probably a topic for another thread, but between the 2+ hour break, speeches, sideline interviews and dance breaks, I find Einstein boring most of the time.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

This is probably a topic for another thread, but between the 2+ hour break, speeches, sideline interviews and dance breaks, I find Einstein boring most of the time.

I thought the interactive tweet thing this year was pretty cool and felt they should have done more with it.

[waialua359]

As a team that got good seats watching Einstein, it sucked getting hit constantly by them.
I may be an outlier here, but when those beach balls were being thrown around while I was trying to listen/watch matches and speeches, I simply grabbed them and popped them. Sorry for being a party pooper, but it was very irritating and I wanted to watch the show.
Its why I came to FIRST Worlds!

[MooreteP]

As a volunteer who has worked on the floor of Einstein for the past 5 years....
...this year, there were significantly fewer paper airplanes.

I would like to thank this thread and its "crowdsourcing" ability that CD has shown as a major contributor to ameliorating this activity.

[Anupam Goli]

Originally Posted by XaulZan11

This is probably a topic for another thread, but between the 2+ hour break, speeches, sideline interviews and dance breaks, I find Einstein boring most of the time.

We foresaw that being an issue with our team, so we had the leadership set up a betting ring and structure. Everyone of our kids was so caught up in discussing over/unders and series bets that the gaps between matches seemed very short for us.

(Note: they only bet with candy, no real money was involved)