Winning Multiple Regionals

[Beth Sweet]

Originally Posted by DanTod97

I just think its rediculous that people actually consider teams going through and winning sometimes three seperate regionals, what on earth is going through their heads as they take that third win? I just dont see how that can be helpful or inspiring in anyway, even if you want to argue that it can be inspiring to some people, I think there are much better ways to inspire people than to dominate them after completing 6 weeks of hard work. Its just unnecessary.

Edit: this is almost a seperate argument, its unnecessary weather it has to do with student mentor ratio or not.

I do hope that you aren't indicating that it is anti-GP or uninspirational to win. If that is the case, please see my post here

If you are not inspired by excellence, are you thus inspired by mediocrity or inferiority? You're saying that it's bad to go to 3 regionals and win them. Is it problematic to go to 3 regionals and lose them too? Would you say that "good/superpower teams" should not be allowed to go to multiple competitions because they may win? I don't understand how you cannot be inspired by the best.

I'm gonna take a long-shot and give you a sports reference. There are a lot of kids who play football from a young age. Most of them want to play 1 position: quarterback. And who do these people look up to? Brett Favre, Peyton Manning... the best.

You ask what is going through their heads as they take their 3rd win. I was on the HOT team in high school. We won a lot back then, from awards to regionals. What goes through your mind when you win that regional? "Ahhhh! All of that hard work, blood, sweat and tears, they've all paid off!!!"

As to your opinion on the student-mentor ratio, thank you for sharing it. Please note, it is your opinion. It is not right, it is not wrong, because until FIRST clarifies their position on the ratio, there will be no correct answer. I'm sorry that you feel that another team is doing things wrong. I normally try to be polite, but in this case I'm going to be frank; get over it. There is no ratio. This is not a science fair. The entire reason that FIRST is what it is, is that we have mentors to work with. Whether that means the work is split 50-50 or any other percentage, it's all legal and legit. I've seen kids who had 0% in the building of the robot. They gave ideas and drove the robot. And guess what, that convinced them to go to college and get off of the streets in the inner-city. I've seen teams that are 100% student built. They also had excellent inspiration of their students.

Inspiration works differently for different people. Please, I beg you, open your eyes and look at other viewpoints. Your way may work best for you. Other ways work best for other teams. Please, do not degrade the accomplishments of another team because their business plan does not suit your standards. What they are doing is not violating any requirement, nor any rule. Look through learning eyes, not through jealous eyes, it makes the whole FIRST experience better.