POLL: Friday-Sunday events vs Thursday-Saturday events

[EmileH]

I'm happy that we had a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of events in NE this year. Several teams, notably 1519 for NE, do not compete on Sundays do to their religious background. However, many other teams prefer Friday-Sunday District Events so that they don't miss as much school. I personally don't mind either, and I think that the decision comes down to the priorities of the team members, and having the choice is best.

[smitikshah]

Originally Posted by PatrickSJ

I'm very happy that FiM uses the Thursday-Saturday event model, or else I would have never been able to join robotics. Missing one day of school every other week wasn't really ever a problem at my school. If FiM had run the Friday-Sunday model, my parents wouldn't have been ok with me joining, and I would have missed out on all the awesome experiences I have had in FRC. I can definitely understand that Friday-Sunday would be much easier for a lot of people, but I am very grateful they don't use that model in Michigan.

Sorry this is a bit hard to follow. Did you accidentally mix up the event types?

[asid61]

I voted Friday-Sunday before realizing that it was ok for me to miss school for events, and I can't retract my vote.
After considering that I would rather have the Sunday off. That also lets traveling teams have a bit of wiggle room.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by ratdude747

One one hand the F-Su layout is better in terms of how many vacation days I destroy per event. However, that also means I miss a week of Church, which isn't a major issue since it's usually no more than two weeks lost (and I have a backup for my church role as AV operator). Pro's and con's both ways.

At least you HAVE a backup! Count your blessings. (I technically have a backup on lighting, but that means I'm pulling from the streaming, sound, or multimedia crew, so somebody else has to be filled in for.)


If I have a robotics event on Sunday, I take Monday off of work. I need that gap day to recover, refocus, and take care of stuff I normally take care of on weekends. I've noticed when I don't have that... So I prefer Thurs-Sat events. Vacation time, neutral; dealing with other "stuff", it just works better that way.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Originally Posted by smitikshah

Sorry this is a bit hard to follow. Did you accidentally mix up the event types?

No; Thursday is a Load in/Practice day here in Michigan. Friday is the only school day missed. Because districts.

No school would be missed in a Fri-Sun model, but FiM does not do that.



I also prefer the Thurs-Sat model because I need a recharge day before I start the work week.

[Dibit1010]

100% Friday-Sunday. Teachers give more tests on Friday (at least at my school) so I just have to make up the test, not new material.


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[ASD20]

I had voted Thursday-Saturday, but I've actually changed my answer. The former student in me preferred TFS events because, well, missing school, but the college student in me looking to volunteer really prefers FSS because it will make it a lot easier for me. I will say that the day of rest from TFS events is not just nice, but really important. I've found that if I don't take the one day after the event to recover, I will need to take that time eventually and it will usually become a lot more than one day.

[Chris is me]

Friday - Sunday is strictly better to me.

Even though going to work Monday morning after a Sunday event is terrible, I can just take Monday off if I need that day to recover. Friday-Sunday events force less time off if you don't need the day after to recover, and they require the same amount of time off if you do. So I don't get this "I need a recharge day so let's do Thursday - Saturday" - is it just that you feel guilty about taking a day off when there isn't an event, or something?

I understand religious reasons people prefer not to compete on Sunday, so some events have to stay Thursday-Saturday to accommodate them. But I hope at least half of events eventually become Friday-Sunday events.

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I understand religious reasons people prefer not to compete on Sunday, so some events have to stay Thursday-Saturday to accommodate them. But I hope at least half of events eventually become Friday-Sunday events.

It's also worth nothing that Sunday isn't the only holy day. Some religions have it Friday, others Saturday.

[ASD20]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

It's also worth nothing that Sunday isn't the only holy day. Some religions have it Friday, others Saturday.

And there is exactly one competition in the entire world that does not include Saturday (also true for Friday depending on how you count day 0) and its in Israel.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Even though going to work Monday morning after a Sunday event is terrible, I can just take Monday off if I need that day to recover. Friday-Sunday events force less time off if you don't need the day after to recover, and they require the same amount of time off if you do. So I don't get this "I need a recharge day so let's do Thursday - Saturday" - is it just that you feel guilty about taking a day off when there isn't an event, or something?

For me, not missing out on Thursday helps with my productivity at work, and I'm not one to always be looking for excuses to ditch work But having had supportive managers in the past, I haven't always had to take vacation days for my volunteering. So the option between a "free", fully paid day to volunteer versus a vacation day (that could be used for other things, like visiting family) for recovery is a pretty clear one. It has nothing to do with guilt!

[rwodonnell]

Originally Posted by EmileH

I'm happy that we had a 1/2 and 1/2 mix of events in NE this year. Several teams, notably 1519 for NE, do not compete on Sundays do to their religious background.

I agree that that mix would be ideal. Unfortunately, of the 10 NE district events, only 3 were Thu-Sat, and two of those were the same weekend (Easter weekend). It makes me wonder if those would also have been Fri-Sun in a year when Easter is after competition season, as it (almost) is in 2017 (April 16th, 2017 - only the 2champs are after Easter). In NE, only the Pine Tree event was Thu-Sat on a "normal" weekend, and because of the double on Easter weekend, had to be the 2nd event choice for teams needing a Thu-Sat event. I hope next year there are a couple more Thur-Sat events to choose from in NE.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Friday - Sunday is strictly better to me.

Even though going to work Monday morning after a Sunday event is terrible, I can just take Monday off if I need that day to recover. Friday-Sunday events force less time off if you don't need the day after to recover, and they require the same amount of time off if you do. So I don't get this "I need a recharge day so let's do Thursday - Saturday" - is it just that you feel guilty about taking a day off when there isn't an event, or something?

This. Not every major volunteer needs a day off, and if you need it, take it. Also realize that the sample on CD will be biased toward active volunteers and taxing jobs. Friday-Sunday is much better for filling the many shorter- and smaller-job volunteer slots, not to mention attracting other community engagement. I certainly understand the religion-based desire for some Thursday-Sunday events in each region, but that doesn't mean they should dominate for that reason. Just given the churchgoing habits of the entire United States, it should be significantly less than half, and that's assuming all those who report going weekly would be unwilling to miss a couple for this. (Unless there's reason to believe the FRC population is more churchgoing than the country at large.)

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by Madison

For me, having a day before the work week to recover and rest is far better for my health and productivity than the negative impact of missing another day of work.

Originally Posted by HelloRobot

I think I have to vouch for the Thursdays-Saturday competitions. Whether you're part of a team or a volunteer, you NEED a "gap day" before heading back to school or work! These competitions are exhausting (especially if you have to travel)!

What about taking the Monday off as a rest day instead of missing the day of work the week before?

[Andrew Schreiber]

This is a fairly complicated question for me. If it's Fri-Sun I probably take Monday off. Otherwise I take Friday off to attend the full day.

So, either way I'm taking a day off work if I attend the full event.[1] The hard part for me is if it's an a actual day of competition I can use what's called Civic Time and not use vacation whereas if I take Monday off I can't [2]. But there's also the option of simply flexing the time across our time reporting window. Which is entirely dependent on when in the billing period the event falls.








[1] I'm in the District system so the first day is typically after work anyway.

[2] There's some fairly restrictive rules around when I can use Civic Time but I'm really glad my employer is so supportive.