Is FIRST a Sport

[Master Dictator]

I see it as a Team but not a Sport.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Heres my opinion.

FIRST is a sport And here are my reasons. FIRST is a non traditional type sport the same as NASCAR is, where the vehicle is the 'athlete'.

Now, before you say that a person needs to be the athlete (as dictionary.com says) Take a look at Thoroughbred horseracing or greyhound racing. Both are sports but the 'athlete' as not a person but an animal. In todays day-and-age machines replace the animal, but the sport remains.

I guess it depends on your personal definition of sport (not just Dictionary.com's definition). My definition is an activity that requires skill and strategy to win a competition under a specified set of rules. FIRST satisfies my definition.

[the_short1]

physical activity: Running away from the robot stuck in autom chasing your colour shirt

yes i think its a sport!

[looneylin]

it involves the strategy of a sport and the physical exertion. so sure, why not? lol

[Martinez]

FIRST Robotics describes itself as a sporting like competition. One of its goals is to excite young people by engineering in much the same way other sports do. Its definatly a sport, but also goes above and beyond the term.

Edit:
More food for thought. Would you consider those robo puppies playing soccer to be a sport? I sure do. Course to me there is also a difference between sports and athetism. FIRST will clearly never be in the Olympics, but that doesn't make it or other simular activities any less a sport.

[paulcd2000]

I think it's a sport, partially because we come home tired each night, and at the end of the season we get to enjoy the fruits of our labor, and all the competitors unite in glorious competition. The other part is that it takes time, and practice, just like most sports. Thanks to the above reasons, i believe FIRST is definitely a sport

[pwilczynski]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

I guess it depends on your personal definition of sport. My definition is an activity that requires skill and strategy to win a competition under a specified set of rules. FIRST satisfies my definition.

I agree with Daniel that it depends on each person's personal definition. However, I also think that
A) this is a great chance to try and get to the bottom of this whole FIRST thing
and B) Just a fun little argument with a little gracious professionalism sprinkled on top

However, to counter your point about an "activity that requires skill and strategy to win a competition under a specified set of rules," I will provide the Dictionary.com definition of a 'game.'

An active interest or pursuit, especially one involving competitive engagement or adherence to rules

I think that you will agree that this places FIRST into the catagory of game/compitition. I also think that FIRST would agree itself, as it has never called itself a sport (except as a 'sport for the mind'), but has on numerous occasions called itself a competition (FIRST Robotics Competition) or a game (FIRST Game Design Comittee).

Originally Posted by looneylin

it involves the strategy of a sport and the physical exertion. so sure, why not?

I think that this statement undermines what makes FIRST different from a sport, the fact that one does not use the same type of physical exertion as sports. FIRST exertion is fatigue due to loss of sleep, of frusteration due to a broken robot, or lifting a couple of pounds of corregated aluminum. These are totally different types of exertion from the exertions required to play sports (i.e. running quickly, lifting very heavy weights (not including robots, which are normally lifter by more than one person), or jumping).

Originally Posted by Martinez

More food for thought. Would you consider those robo puppies playing soccer to be a sport? I sure do.

Perhaps a sport for the robots, as I have said FIRST is, but you couldn't argue that the people involved were using any extraordinary amount of physical activity, much like those in FIRST.


As always, my two cents

[Matt Attallah]

If you where apart of the 2003 Nats - you rember going up and down thoes ramps.

I rember it quite well - and I consider it a sport...

[indimay15]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

Heres my opinion.

FIRST is a sport And here are my reasons. FIRST is a non traditional type sport the same as NASCAR is, where the vehicle is the 'athlete'.

Now, before you say that a person needs to be the athlete (as dictionary.com says) Take a look at Thoroughbred horseracing or greyhound racing. Both are sports but the 'athlete' as not a person but an animal. In todays day-and-age machines replace the animal, but the sport remains.

I guess it depends on your personal definition of sport (not just Dictionary.com's definition). My definition is an activity that requires skill and strategy to win a competition under a specified set of rules. FIRST satisfies my definition.

I just want to say that jockeys in Thoroughbred horse racing are athletes. If you disagree, you try standing up in the saddle of a horse going 45mph and see how you take it. lol "And though they be but little, they are fierce!" haha

[EricH]

For all who think that we are belittling athletes--
There is one thing about sports that they all have in common. Training. Athletes train continuously. They work hard for days on end, trying to be the best. I think most of us have played comptitive sports at one time or another. So we know something of what they go through. Now, we can respect them for that hard work, right? But then you hear of all these drug use allegations, and it's like, Why are they doing this when they could just train harder?

OK, now that I've started on this topic, here's something else to consider. FIRSTers train and practice and prepare very hard. Driver training, building the robot, making sure the rookies know what they are doing, recruiting team members, giving blood, sweat, and tears, you get the picture. Watching the robot weight could correlate to a jockey in horse racing having to be light so his horse doen't have to carry extra weight.

All I'm saying is that FIRST has almost everything it takes to be a sport. The one thing that might be lacking is human physical activity on the field, but that's where human players come in.

[d.courtney]

Yes it was made after the sports model, but in my opinion it is not a sport, no one would ever say the DARPA chalange is a sport, this is the same. yes it is a game, but not all games are a sport. for instance, lasts years game was much like tic tac toe. is tic tac toe a sport, no but it is a game, to call it a sport is to call human chess a sport. A sport is named a sport for one thing alone, it is the physical activness by a human which has a set number of rules from which you may compare yourself to another whom is actively participating in this same event.

I wouldnt say persay it is a sport, but it is explained like a sport. I would definetly relate it to being a sport.

[Schneidie]

Originally Posted by team1591

Just curious.....how many of you believe that FIRST is a Sport?

I think it is.....just my opinion

FIRST is a sport because it is a physically challenging, mental challenge. That probably made no sense, but I'll run with it for now.