Cheering, standing ovations, and required team actions during matches and awards

[Kevin Kolodziej]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

If you find me at a competition and my grandma is sitting behind me, please take the time to kick me in the butt. I would not have my grandma sitting behind me. That would be rude. I would make sure she had a great seat, where I could sit next to her (when I was not pulled away to responsibilities), and where she would not have to sit behind someone who wanted to stand up and cheer. It would be my job to find her an appropriate seat, not inconvenience others in front of her to ask them not to cheer for their team.

Also... if someone I did not know had a grandma (or a person who had a physical limitation in getting up and down) who sat behind me during an awards ceremony, I would turn around and say to this person: "Our team will be standing up, cheering for the other teams who win awards. If you don't like this, I will offer my services to find you a better view to watch the ceremony. You can even sit in the front of our section. By the way, what would you like to drink? I'll buy."

In my opinion, I think that it is more gracious to stand and cheer for your fellow FIRSTers in comparison to obeying the people behind you who simply don't want to stand and cheer. If they don't like the view, then they can move to a better seat.

Andy B.

Unfortunately, not everyone is Andy Baker. If everyone had this mindset, there would be far fewer problems.

I fall into the "Go nuts during awards, sit during matches" category.

At every event we've been to, my father sets up his video camera at the top of his tripod in the top row of seats (so its height does not block anyone because anyone behind him would be standing on the mezzanine) in an attempt to see over the rest of the crowd. Usually it works alright, but not always.

My parents are fairly able to stand if necessary, but they've been sitting with elderly spectators many times this year. At Midwest, there were a couple incidents where both students and mentors ignored their polite requests for a clear view. I believe Atlanta was much better.

At EPCOT, there were two set-ups that I remember: A) Team cheering area at the front of the stage for teams competing in that match, standing, with a raised stage. B) Team cheering area at the front of the stage for teams competing in that match, kneeling, with a non-raised stage. Option B was painful because kneeling on AstroTurf isn't fun, but the staff ensured that you knelt or you were tossed out (bad memories of incidents around me...). Option A seemed to work very well. With this in mind, I present the following solutions:

1. Reserve the front section of seats for elderly people and other video-tapers that do not have access to the field. Scouts can be to the sides of them (since they need in and out access) or behind them. I'm talking about the front 4 rows all the way across the stands...that should be more than enough space and doesn't put teams back that far.

2. Give teams access to the floor and provide bleachers of some sort against the seating wall. That way, its below the seating level of view, is directly in front of the field for clear views, and gives everyone a chance to go on the floor of the dome (its a big deal to some!).

Personally, I love the second option, but there are a few problems. Increased team movement is the biggest, but there are typically 3 minutes of dead time between matches, which is more than enough for 6 teams to move out and 6 to replace them. Maybe there can be an "on-deck" seating area off to the side behind the reserved seating mentioned in "1". Another problem is more staff in the aisles and seats to keep teams moving. Give them a seat, however, and it shouldn't be much of a problem.

Sorry for the long post,

Kev