Is FIRST a Sport

[GB330033]

Originally Posted by Bharat Nain

Since:
According to Google: Athlete - A person possessing the natural or acquired traits, such as strength, agility, and endurance, that are necessary for physical exercise or sports, especially those performed in competitive contexts

Yes, you are right.

To add:

The countless hours of skill and hard work it takes to design and build a robot for a competition.

The hours of driver practice and skill it takes to COMPETE.

The STRATEGY required to win matches.

FIRST applies the same concepts sports does - persistence, practice, skill, competence, adaptability, commitment, intelligence, talent, precision, creativity, dedication.

There is also Fantasy FIRST. If FIRST was not a sport why would Fantasy FIRST exist?

Why do we celebrate when we win competitions and matches? When we win other awards?

I am thoroughly convinced FIRST is a sport. Convince me otherwise.

By that, anything could be considered a sport. My sitting here and typing this could be considered a sport. I have a goal, it takes skill and practice to learn how to use a computer and type well, etc. This is why people are able to say "If _____ is a sport, then so is FIRST!" Because some people have so distorted the idea of a "sport" that nearly anything can be classified as such. Just because you see it on ESPN doesn't mean it's a sport. ESPN just as much Entertainment as it is Sports, just look at the name.

It seems to me that most of you want to classify FIRST as a sport to add some sort of value to it, to qualify it, or something, but that's not needed. Remember what Dean said at kickoff? FIRST borrows from sports, but it's something different, something better. "It’s not an accident we are built on the sport’s model, but there’s a big difference, it’s an important difference."

Classifying FIRST as a sport similar to baseball, basketball, etc, detracts from what makes FIRST special. By doing this you also detract from the athletes who choose to play those sports, because you're saying that you are equal even though the most you do in competition is move a joystick or throw a ball. This isn't saying anything bad about FIRST, but claiming that you are equal to a marathon runner is just as much of an insult to them as it would be for them to say "Your robot is nothing, I could build that easier, and better," to you. FIRST borrows from sports, but builds upon them to make something better. They're two completely different animals, just with similar characteristics.

Edit: An afterthought...

I still challenge you to ask people if robotics/FIRST is a sport, and see what they say. I imagine most will either ask "What's FIRST?" or say "No"