Wearing Your Team Colors

[JaneYoung]

When I put on my purple shirt that says LASA Robotics, I know what is expected of me. We've developed a verbal tradition that we pass down each season to the new members regarding what it means to wear the team shirt. We discuss the expectations and responsibilities that go with wearing it.

I was thinking about some of the interactions that I had at the Championship this spring and how some folks just seemed so proud of their team and the privilege of wearing their team colors/number. They glowed with pride.

Do you have any rules that go with wearing your team shirt? Are they written or verbal? Is the bar raised regarding conduct expectations when you wear your team shirt? Any stories that you'd like to share?

No special reason for this thread other than curiosity and a healthy respect for FIRST teams and the colors we wear.

Jane

[Al Skierkiewicz]

We remind team members that the shirt they wear is easily recognized by most participants and has not only the sponsors names but the school names as well. That carries a lot responsibility at events.

[Carol]

Ditto. We set high expectations for our students and anyone wearing our shirt. And make sure they know the legacy of what the shirt represents.

Before every competition the rules are read and discussed. Including the consequences of breaking the rules.

[Tetraman]

We haven't treated our shirt as important until this year, actually. It's part of a new initiative. I think the main reason our shirts were never treated as important was because we changed them year after year. Now we set on one design to keep forever (except for a major change in our lead sponsors). It's no longer a team shirt as it is a team uniform.

Imagine if a football player didn't show up to practice with a jersey to wear. Not really something to kick the guy off the team for, but it makes the player look bad enough that if a trip comes down to a player that forgot their uniform and a player that had their uniform, we take the player that remembered. So our weekend meetings are now mandatory team shirt day, and with that comes discussion on what it means to be an Arctic Warrior, what it means to be a FIRST student, and what it means to wear that shirt.

And because of that, we mentors have noticed that the kind of respect us graduates have for our team shirts has already sunk into many of the kids on the team now. It becomes part of you and part of what being on a team means and what it means to represent our school and sponsors.

So much so that we noticed some seniors and juniors taking the time to wear their team shirts from the past to our other weekly robotics meetings more often.

The rule is written as: Students are required to wear their team shirt to every Saturday meeting during build season, during competition events and at other meetings or events for which wearing the team shirt is required. Failure to do so may result in not being selected for a competition trip, other event or student leadership roles. Wear your colors and team number with respect and remember what you represent when wearing it.

[efoote868]

I think this lesson can be applied in life wherever you go, not just a FIRST robotics team.

A part of maturity is recognizing that your actions or words rarely reflect only yourself. Even from the earliest of ages, your behaviors are tied to someone or something else (e.g. parents).

When I was in high school, all my teachers knew I was on the robotics team. Because I was on the robotics team, they had very high expectations of me; they had very high expectations from any student that was associated with building a robot.

When I wear my P&G shirt in public, I'm not just representing myself anymore. I'm representing my company, the products we make and the brands people know. Even after people get to know me, they'll still associate me with P&G.

[ratdude747]

From the perspective of an alumni member with two FRC teams, I will say that I still wear the shirts from the 2009-2011 seasons (the 2008 shirts no longer fits, I grew between my frosh and soph years). There is an exception for two shirts, both of which have been autographed by woodie flowers and thus are too sacred (sharpie ink fades fast with shirt use and washing).

This has led to some odd occurances, the main one being that I found out one of my college classmates (who looked kinda familiar) had for a short time been a mentor at the older of the two teams. Now living 3 hours away (hence the new team my senior HS year), I was surprised to find him at a small regional campus. Small world...

Also, this sounds mundane, but when wearing team apparel (this also applies to event shirts, like volunteer shirts of various events) be VERY careful when eating! Getting a team shirt greasy due to an emergency repair in the pits is one thing, messing it up because you used a little too much BBQ on your sandwich is another.

Last, as stated by others, you represent what you wear. this applies to ALL shirts with a logo of any kind.

[KeatonM]

It's always been an expectation that whenever someone puts on anything with a RUSH logo, they are to be on their best behavior, especially within our community, where RUSH is well known, because we represent not only the school, but also the other people on the team.

It's more of a verbal rule, but everyone on the team quickly learns that it is important to be professional when you are representing something as well known as RUSH (at least around Clarkston!)