Lessons learned 2005: The negative

[AmyPrib]

Originally Posted by allyphant

While watching the final matches from the balcony, I noticed that Team 45 Teknocats was sitting in front of us and that everytime an award was announced, the entire team was required to stand up and applaud. As polite as this behavior was, they completely obstructed the field of view and spectators sitting behind them could not see what was going on on the field or which team was recieving the award. Several people politely asked them to sit down but they replied that they would "get yelled out for being rude". I agree that applauding another team's achievements is polite and courteous, however, a repetitive and forced standing ovation becomes increasingly meaningless the more frequently it occurs. Soon it becomes a mere mechanical motion, completely devoid of meaning. Next thing you know, teams will have to light fireworks with their barehands, do sommersaults and backhand springs in order to express their appreciation.

Perhaps some of the younger teams have not yet recognized the importance of applauding others achievements. It's called GP. It's called, not being a sore loser. It's called, being proud of other teams when they succeed. With your role titled "Leadership", you might consider instilling this type of behavior within your team. Personally, I was appauled at the lack of applause from the balcony section, let alone standing O's. It borders on showing disrespect for others accomplishments. It shows that they don't care others do well. If you were concerned about not seeing the 2 representatives receiving their awards, perhaps you could stand up and cheer for them, as we only stood for maybe 20-30s each award. Team 45 has the utmost respect and consideration for other teams and I don't see how this could even be turned into something negative.

The TechnoKats are not going to refrain from applauding others when they do well, or standing up to do it. The teams that win these awards deserve a standing O. How would you feel if nobody stood up or applauded when you received an award? I have noticed that if the veteran teams don't do this, the arena will be silent. There are some younger teams that do it, but I see many younger teams sitting in their chairs with their hands at their sides. That's sad. There were 3-5 teams from the whole balcony we saw stand up to applaud - the rest only stood up for the wave.

If you think that repetitive standing O's and applause become devoid of meaning, you are sorely mistaken. Sure, maybe there are some people even on the TechnoKats that haven't figured out why we do it.... but they will. They are not "required" to stand up. We encourage it. We do it because we are truly proud of those successful teams and try to encourage other teams to show their support also.

If anything, the Lessons Learned Negative here is that many teams don't show their support for others successes, and that is the negative.