FIRST FCC: A Sport or Not?

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by JesseK

Sports involve cardiac exertion, where blood gets pumping and the mind has to focus in spite of the limbs screaming for no more.

The 1st few years I did FIRST I lost over 40 lbs. I went from being quite overweight to pretty good shape. My activity level was so high I was eating everything in sight. In 2007 when the Chairman's photo was being shot on the competition floor I remember my pants barely wanted to stay up from some much exertion and weight loss. And my legs were absolutely killing me from all the running around.

When I'm not doing FIRST I'm gaining weight like a washed up retired football player. When doing FIRST I can barely keep any weight on. And if you do robotics and team activities all year long then there isn't any chance to regain the weight.

Combined with a healthy diet and exercise, FIRST is a perfect complement to a weight loss plan !

While not strictly in the same class as cross country or greco roman wrestling FIRST can be very physically demanding.

A co-worker of mine is a member of NASCAR and is a pit crew member. That is very demanding also !

[JackG]

FWIW, I've been playing chess for a number of years now. Every now and then some discussion about whether chess is a sport pops up in the chess community. Even though chess has been on ESPN (Kasparov vs X3DFritz), there are still very few who would actually consider chess a sport.

Soooo, let's remember that FIRST isn't the only competition trying to gain some momentum and gain some publicity. But calling it a sport is not a good way to do that. Anyone who defines FIRST as a sport is opening up a can of worms for stuff like chess to be considered a sport. And that's an argument that can't really be won.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by JackG

FWIW, I've been playing chess for a number of years now. Every now and then some discussion about whether chess is a sport pops up in the chess community. Even though chess has been on ESPN (Kasparov vs X3DFritz), there are still very few who would actually consider chess a sport.

Soooo, let's remember that FIRST isn't the only competition trying to gain some momentum and gain some publicity. But calling it a sport is not a good way to do that. Anyone who defines FIRST as a sport is opening up a can of worms for stuff like chess to be considered a sport. And that's an argument that can't really be won.

Poker is on ESPN more than Chess is. It still isn't a sport.

Or rather, if poker is a sport, with little to no physical exertion, then can you tell me why FIRST isn't a sport?

[Debbie]

Team 1023 made this video to convince our school to allow us to give varsity letters. We compared FIRST to sports in it. I do feel it fits the dictionary definition of a sport!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8-CVg0QAyg

[vhcook]

It's a sport. Here's how I get there:

Horse racing is a group of sports in which a team of people attempt to pair an optimally designed (or bred, if you prefer) horse with a good driver (jockey).

Horse and carriage racing is a group of sports (harness racing, or if you go back a bit farther, chariot racing). To compete you need to have an optimally designed horse and carriage, and a good driver.

Car racing is a group of sports. For this we get to dispense with the horse, and the carriage gets a bit more complicated. You still need good design, and good driver, and you add in a pit crew to make adjustments during breaks in play (i.e. pit stops) for the types of car racing that last long enough to have them. The people designing the cars, building the cars, maintaining the cars, and driving the cars are all considered part of the team.

If you look at FIRST, it looks a lot like car racing (particularly in 2008 ). We have a designed and constructed vehicle, a driver, a pit crew, and the intervals between matches are very much like pit stops. We even have the same sponsorship issues, if on a different scale.

As a side note, the International Olympic Committee recognizes both chess and billiards as sports. Non-Olympic, sure, but so is baseball.