Behavior at the competitions

[delsaner]

Originally Posted by Dancin103

I have also seen this same behavior, and this really floors me and honestly saddens me, while the national anthem is being played.

Wow... that's all I can really say to above statement. =/

Originally Posted by Dancin103

I have also seen this same behavior, and this really floors me and honestly saddens me, while the national anthem is being played.

Now THAT is behavior that would get the student a stern talking to after the anthem was finished.

[Alex Dinsmoor]

On my team, after experiencing a few competitions last year where people were very fond of their gameboys, we put a no games rule for the pits and stands. In the stands you are there for two main things; scouting and cheering. If you aren't doing either than you best find something productive to do.

In the pits we have an even stricter rule of no electronics (besides the robot of course ). The only laptop we have is the scouting laptops, and besides that the only electronics we may have is a phone.

The reason we don't completely ban phones is because they simply haven't been an issue. The majority of team members at an event are there for the competition, and do not feel like texting persons while there. If a text is to be sent it is to be done discretely.

So far I have not seen any phones or other electronics this year


Although this policy may change after seeing my drivers out on the field right before a match texting!

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Dancin103

I have also seen this same behavior, and this really floors me and honestly saddens me, while the national anthem is being played.
Cass

This goes hand in hand with Beth's statement about respect.

[scarletrain]

Originally Posted by CraigHickman

No offense, but Dean's speeches aren't exactly the most thrilling. They deliver incredibly relevant content, for a very good cause, but they're boring.

Just because another team does not value FIRST as a "life changing experience" like you does not mean they intend disrespect.

I agree. They aren't the least bit exciting and it seems like he says the same thing at each competition. I mean, it would be a little more respectful for them to put the games down for a few seconds and try to pay attention, but I don't think they deserve disrespect for playing video games. It can get boring there and I don't really have a problem with it.

[Dancin103]

Originally Posted by CraigHickman

Now THAT is behavior that would get the student a stern talking to after the anthem was finished.

Yeah it would. I was absolutely appalled.

Cass

[JaneYoung]

A lot of this can be avoided/headed off at the pass with forethought and a plan in place. The plan involves spending time teaching the members of the team and those that travel with them, the rules of conduct and expectations that go with wearing a team shirt, affiliating oneself with the team, and participating in the events. If the event is already in process and the team doesn't have a clear understanding of who they are and what they represent - then don't be surprised when people embarrass themselves and the team. Nothing can be taken for granted in today's culture where self-respect and respect for others is ignored and discounted. Mr. Martus is right - image is important. Self-image is very important. It's up to the veteran team members to impart the importance of conduct and respect to the members from the very first day. Dean Kamen and Dr. Flowers are going to have a front row seat when observing the teams who show respect and the teams who do not. The teams that show disrespect will have the opportunity to stick out like a sore thumb in the stands - pretty much like they do on an elevator in a hotel.

Jane

[ALTrammell818]

Originally Posted by Duncan Macdonald

I am going to disagree. There is a time and a place for spirit. When people are making speeches they shouldn't have to be holding a T-shirt cannon to hold the crowd's attention.

The issue here is just a matter of respect. I have tuned out during long speeches and visuals do help but I do try to pay attention and often enjoy the presentations.

I was talking about during matches. We have several members on our team who don't watch unless we are playing, and even then some do not care. It is sickening to me. I find every moment of the competitions to be extremely exciting.

I agree that a lack of respect is the cause for not paying attention during speeches. Then again I have also quit paying attention during Deans speeches. However it was due to the fact that at Traverse City the system was screwy and you couldn't understand a word he said and at Detroit it may have just been me but it seemed too quiet and the screen was too dark.

[Leeebowitz]

This year my team has had similar experiences with being on DSs and phones and whatnot else. I was in the queing area during Dean Kamen's speech at the Midwest Regional, so I am not sure if members of my team were specifically doing that during one of Dean's speeches. I must say that my team shows frustratingly low amounts of energy, enthusiasm, and team spirit which I admire greatly in other teams.

My personal opinion about such behavior is that as someone who has little to no control over most of my team's behavior (believe me, I tried), I wouldn't like to be the "uptight jerk" who takes away your DS, but I also would like it if my team and other teams with this issue showed a little excitement about what are, in my humble opinion, the three greatest days of every year.

There was a student on my team who played his DS through all of the elimination matches. When I told him to just watch the finals without his DS, he refused and afterwards told me that he had payed attention through the entire match. I was almost tempted to walk over to another team's area in the stands and cheer with them after that.

On the other hand, one of the alumni from our team who graduated last year returned as a volunteer this year. Before Friday morning was over, he had Dean Kamen's signature on his forehead and his volunteer shirt. How I wish he were still on the team...

Originally Posted by ALTrammell818

I was talking about during matches. We have several members on our team who don't watch unless we are playing, and even then some do not care. It is sickening to me. I find every moment of the competitions to be extremely exciting.

Honestly? Sickening? Seeing someone who has different interests than you sickens you?

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by ALTrammell818

I was talking about during matches. We have several members on our team who don't watch unless we are playing, and even then some do not care. It is sickening to me. I find every moment of the competitions to be extremely exciting.

I happen to hate competitions, I don't like watching matches. I attend between 3 and 7 events a year and only watch a handful of matches. Different folks have different interests, for some of us matches are not that interesting.

Eric, actually, some of us just enjoy the challenge of building the robot. Yeah, seeing it compete is nice but I would rather be going through the pits learning from what everyone else built.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by CraigHickman

Honestly? Sickening? Seeing someone who has different interests than you sickens you?

I don't think that it's seeing someone who has different interests. I think it's seeing someone who has different interests, but pretends that they have the same interest, then when they're where they want to be (or don't want to be), they show that they don't really care. If you're not going to care, why go to the trouble of joining the team, building a robot for 6 weeks, and traveling to the event, just to display your not-caringness to the world?

Not watching your own team's matches while you're at the event is, well, like traveling to your favorite sports team's biggest home game, getting a seat in the stadium, and then not watching the game, only the mascot(s) and other stuff of that nature. You may as well be home paying the bills or mowing the lawn or shoveling snow.

[Basel A]

Consider that people these days do stuff like livetweeting, texting, dynamic communication, and internet reference lookup on their phones and it'll look a lot less bad. I'm sure if someone looked at me at Kickoff and saw me typing a tweet about it, it wouldn't look the best.

Disregarding during ceremonies or in the pits, I will often be engrossed in electronics. Why? I update the team twitter constantly. I have the latest standings and scores before they are updated at the competition itself. I text friends at other competitions to ask how it's going. I have scores from other competitions, keeping track of specific robots. While usually this might not look very good, it's useful for us as a team to have someone connected, and I honestly don't see a big problem there.

[Tetraman]

When I was a student, I was so on my gameboy during speaches/opening ceramonies/closing ceremonies. I don't do it anymore.

I don't resent those students that chose to not care about the speaches and discussions. And I don't know how to combat it. Telling students to "stop that, put that away" only makes it worse. It has to be something you deal with ahead of time.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

Eric, actually, some of us just enjoy the challenge of building the robot. Yeah, seeing it compete is nice but I would rather be going through the pits learning from what everyone else built.

That's true. However, if you're in the stands during your team's match, you obviously aren't in the pit. I don't mind missing matches if I'm in the pit--especially if I'm working or talking to teams.

But if you're in the stands and you aren't watching matches that your team is competing in, then I think you have a problem. You at least want to see if it works, right? If you don't want to watch the matches in the stands, then you may as well stay in the pit area and keep talking to other teams, if that's possible (read: mentor may say, "You will watch all of our matches"), instead of going to "watch" one of your team's matches and instead not-caring it.