A few thoughts on gracious proffesionalism by a rookie mentor...

[Cappeh]

As much as FIRST pushes gracious professionalism, there are always teams that play just to win. Most people won't admit it, but I've seen teams that are rude and unpolite; it's usually not the entire group, but two or three individuals that bring down their reputation for being a gracious team.

I agree, though, in the sense that some teams don't show gracious professionalism- however, playing hard defense doesn't mean that they're being ungracious. When it comes down to it, many teenagers see this as a game to play and win- it still is just a game, afterall. I do respect your opinion, however.

I believe that this year was intended to be a year for rookie teams to do just as well as veteran teams; there are many rookie teams that do not have the expertise or ability to make a highly-offensive robot. Keeping defense in the game gives them somehting that not just rookies, but any team can fall back on if their robot doesn't function properly.

Woody says that gracious professionalism is "acting how you would if you grandmother was watching you"... some people must have some really crazy grandmothers. (:

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Cappeh

As much as FIRST pushes gracious professionalism, there are always teams that play just to win. Most people won't admit it, but I've seen teams that are rude and unpolite;

I saw a case of this in FTC one time. My son, a 4th-year veteran, was nearly apoplectic. When the team in question figured out their error (it was during a match) and did the GP thing, the audience cheered. I think the lesson was learned, for at least one team.

There's a thread going on now about "would you give your time out to the other alliance if they needed it." I'm frankly stunned that any FIRST team would answer "no" to this question. I haven't been to or watched nearly as many FRC tournaments as some old-timers, but I think it happened in about half the finals I've seen.

[feliks_rosenber]

First of all , the defense is the best offense.

GP does not necessarily mean not using defense as a means of improving the alliance score.
This has always been part of the game, part of the world of sports.

GP can be practiced in so many other ways.
Helping other teams, even your opponent alliance is just one to mention.

Many FIRST teams do know the meaning of GP.

However, every team can take action and become a role model by conveying this important FIRST value.

[martin417]

Originally Posted by feliks_rosenber

First of all , the defense is the best offense.

GP does not necessarily mean not using defense as a means of improving the alliance score.
This has always been part of the game, part of the world of sports.

I do not agree that defense is the best offense. I believe that one can (and should try to) score more points than can prevent points from being scored.

Also, as I said earlier, I didn't mean to imply that ALL defense is bad, but that the MAIN goal of the game is offense, and that I observed several instances of "excessive", non GP defensive tactics.

[kborer22]

GP is an ideal that everyone should try and follow as best as possible, but being sort of an abstract thing, with an evolving meaning, it's hard to starndardize it. Most teams are not out to intentionally damage other robots but it is something that happens. Unless there is a plan on cloning Woody and Dean and giving a set of them all teams, opinions on GP are going to differ. I was on (MORT 11 in HS and now 125) and in both cases have experienced non-GP. We have been picked for alliances where we have been told this is what your doing and thats that, by an adult on the team, and we knew our strategy was better but there was nothign we could do about it.

I am on a college team in the Boston Area and can see how things could get out of hand quickly at an event. If a new team is completely inexperienced and has no idea how the are supposed to interact with the other teams, then things are going to happen. We mentor about 6 teams directly and another 9-10 indriectly, and one of the things we give them advice about is what its like on the field. Hopefully through our mentoring they will see how teams should be run and help others (we have our problems like everyone else) and how to carry themselves. But if a mentor wants a team behave in a certain way/let the kids do whatever they want then we may make a suggestions as to what they need to change, but in the end it's how they want to run it.