[FRC BLOG] This isn't a Robot, Housing, and Throwing Things

[Siri]

Originally Posted by EricH

If it's noticed that there are paper airplanes (etc.) in the air, someone notes where they're coming from. It is then announced over the PA that "Will the team(s) in Section XYZ please stop throwing paper airplanes and clean up the mess" down here. (Team numbers used if they can be determined from long range.) Send a couple crowd-control volunteers (or venue staff) up there.

In addition to my worry of whether and how HQ will attempt to enforce the rule, I'm also concerned with the difficulty of actually determining origin. This would depend heavily on the lighting at the time and how many people are still throwing. Having been on the receiving end of some absolutely unreal "extreme littering" events on Einstein before, it's downright overwhelming in the dark. And from the stands in the dark, particularly with the critical mass of "everyone's doing it", I expect it feels pretty invincible to the participants. The number of crowd controllers it'd take wouldn't be as many as for saving seats, but it wouldn't be a trivial commitment if teams ignore it as much as they do saving seats. (I hope the visibility of airplanes would stop that, but I've been hoping that for a long time.) On the other hand, if those crowd controllers are judges, the ratio might drop some...

In addition to announcing and enforcing the rule, I still suggest some carrot with this ostensible stick. In addition to the logistical difficulties of that stick, I've found very little that compares to taking kids who've run on full afterburner for days and just had awesome, life-changing runs at key positions in qual/elim matches...and then boxing them into seats for hours to squint down at long speeches and scattered matches. For a number of personalities/temperaments I've worked with over the years, everything seems boring at that point. I've seen kids who would normally play video games or chat for hours go absolutely stir crazy. Sanctioning a specific event that lets people walk off some energy and try a paper airplane contest would seem nice. And perhaps more importantly, let us know when it is, so we know how long we can walk around without missing anything even if we don't go to the contest. (Schedule control and announcing has gotten better lately, but I always want to throw this in.)