From a Newton Volunteer

[MysterE]

Hi all -

Since our team had a Dean's List Finalist but did not qualify for Championship, we decided to take a number of our junior and seniors up to St. Louis as volunteers. Most of us were field reset and four of the students were even able to volunteer on Einstein. I wanted to make a few comments on the whole experience.

First - if you have been part of a FIRST team and have not yet had the volunteer experience, I highly encourage trying it out. As field reset, I got the opportunity to watch nearly every game on the Newton field as well as getting a prime seat for Einstein. While the hours were long, being able to hang out with so many amazing people both on the field as well as during volunteer lunches and such was more than amazing. One thing that it showed me, above all, was that FIRST volunteers are some pretty amazing people. This is especially true of those that play pivotal roles such as Volunteer Coordinators and the like. These people continually demonstrate why FIRST is such an amazing organization. Take some time next season and volunteer. You won't regret it.

Second - my job on field reset involved standing behind the drivers, trying to keep a barrage of balls from killing anyone. . . especially Libby Kamen as she zipped by on her stylish Segway. I have some things that I learned from this position that you may be able to take into off-season events.

#1 - Screaming at the pedestal does not make it light up.
#2 - Screaming at the referee closest to your side of the field does not make the pedestal light up.
#3 - Screaming at the ball handlers on your side of the field does not make the pedestal light up.
#4 - Screaming at the human player from the other team on your alliance does not make the pedestal light up.

Beyond that - I was both uplifted and disappointed in turn at the demonstration and lack thereof of gracious professionalism demonstrated by drive-teams. I saw a number of amazing drive-teams who dealt with both rookie and veteran teams alike in a way that was exemplary. I loved every time I got to watch the Citrus Circuits and Simbotics Drive Coach coach their alliance to a victory. They were always gracious yet energetic. They encouraged rather than discouraged even when odds looked dim.

I was also saddened by the actions of some coaches - especially adults - who felt that they had a right to yell at their drive-team and other drive-teams. I saw clear examples of bullying that left me speechless and saddened. I saw rookie teams treated horribly and watched FIRSTers throw temper tantrums. I even heard coaches cursing out other teams - adults and students alike.

To those I say these simple words: Grow up. While I may be preaching to the choir here on CD, there is never any excuse to yell at anyone while on a FIRST field. I don't care if a ref missed a call or if the Human Player misses the pedestal light for a fraction of a second. I don't care if you lose due to someone else's mistake. You do not have the right to act like a jerk.

Anyway - as a whole - I think that FIRST continues to impress. The volunteer experience brought our team to a whole new level of understanding and I believe will help us next year as we continue to live FIRST loud.

Best -
Daniel

[Carolyn_Grace]

Originally Posted by MysterE

To those I say these simple words: Grow up. While I may be preaching to the choir here on CD, there is never any excuse to yell at anyone while on a FIRST field. I don't care if a ref missed a call or if the Human Player misses the pedestal light for a fraction of a second. I don't care if you lose due to someone else's mistake. You do not have the right to act like a jerk.

Thank you. I respect you for writing this and appreciate the way you did it.

[mathking]

Daniel that was a very well written post. I refereed this year (at Queen City) and it was the first time in a few years I had volunteered at an official FIRST event. I had forgotten how different the perspective is when you are in a volunteer role and your team is not there. I gained new insight not only on how to play this game, but on practices I would like my team to emulate.

As for the negative interactions, alas those are a pretty consistent fixture. I have found that the number of people who act like jerks is still pretty small compared to the total of participants, but that probably makes their behavior stand out all the more. I am much more willing to forgive and forget when it is kids, but adults need to know better. While we should all try to remember that individuals are not their teams, teams should always be aware that their individual members' behavior affects how others see the team. And that one or two negative interactions take a long time to get over.

[dag0620]

Thank you for this. I unfortunately saw teams yelling in all of the fashions you mentioned, ALOT, this season. It's sad and unnecessary. Once cursing is added in, especially from adult MENTORS, I am disgusted.

I understand that you've all put so much work into your robots and seasons, but unless it's a life-threating emergency or immediate safety issue, there's never a reason to yell. This goes for students, mentors, and volunteers. Yelling won't fix the issues, but keeping a cool head and working through things will.

As the OP said, as we go into the off-season, and next year, lets try to keep the yelling and cursing out of FIRST.

[AllenGregoryIV]

I wouldn't go as far to say there is never a reason to yell at an FRC event.

There is a way to yell that still is respectful and gracious to other teams and volunteers. It's very easy to get carried away and I have done that in the past but sometimes you just need to make sure you are heard in the drivers box.

Notifying the referees of a dead ball or a unlit pedestal can be a valid time to raise your voice. Sarah Le was the head ref at Dallas this year and she is a good friend of mine. There were several times I was yelling at the top of my lungs to get her attention, once for a dead ball and once for a unlit pedestal that ended up being a field fault. I am pretty sure she thinks that both cases were appropriate times to do this.

No one should be disrespectful and everyone should enjoy themselves but saying all yelling is a bad thing is way to far. All sports involve yelling because you have to be heard over a large distance it's not always a bad thing. Yelling can also be used to emphasis a point or as motivation. It's when it becomes disrespectful and negative that we have a problem.

[PayneTrain]

Coming from someone with "in a complicated relationship with the Red Pedestal at hthe Virginia Regional" I did start to ask it questions after it wouldn't light for 15 seconds...

In all seriousness, there are differences in "yelling". If there is something that needs to be addressed i nthe very loud chaos of a match, I will yell. Not out of frustration, but because there is no adequate way to communicate it. In the first match on Archimedes there was a very bad field fault causing nothing to properly illumniate and we would have sat their for the whole match if coaches from both alliances weren't waving down referees on the corner to tell them somethign was up (we were already there for 50 seconds).

[MysterE]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

I wouldn't go as far to say there is never a reason to yell at an FRC event.

There is a way to yell that still is respectful and gracious to other teams and volunteers. It's very easy to get carried away and I have done that in the past but sometimes you just need to make sure you are heard in the drivers box.

Allen,

I do agree with this - I generally tend to use shouting for that form of loudness - though I guess in the end its both the same terminology. I saw many teams raise their voice to get over the din of the crowd as well as to get the attention of the refs. That was fine. The problem came about when others would raise their voices in a belligerent fashion.

I will say that Drive Coaches need to be careful though. I saw a number of teams who ended up driving more sloppily because they got distracted by a Drive-Coach who shouted when they weren't used to it. It really depends on the situation at that point.

The good news is that Spectrum has a pretty awesome drive-team and I didn't notice you yelling at them too much, Allen.

[popnbrown]

I think our first or second match the pedestal wasn't lighting up and after 5 seconds, I was yelling upwards, because I didn't want to run to either side and "yell" at a referee in case I got in the way of our Human Player. So I just yelled to the FRC gods watching us, to reduce the delay. Our Human Player thought it was hilarious.....my voice currently doesn't think so.

I agree with the general sentiment of your post. It's hard to pull yourself away from a competition, it gets your blood pumping, but as a referee in FTC/Judge/General Volunteer, getting thank yous and having teams just come up to you and chat post-match, makes you know that it was just a 2 minute change of personality.

So even if you yell at other drivers or volunteers, and you think you're "appropriate" be sure to just give them a high five or shake their hand and show them your appreciation. Being on the field for the first time ever, I got the competitiveness, I totally understand, and I got carried away at times, but just be sure to make sure everyone's friends at the end of the day.

After all, staring at a blue banner isn't fun, but working with other teams and winning a match by 10 points, the in-the-moment feeling is really where it's at. Make sure you share that excitement when you're there and you're feeling it, trust me (as a volunteer/ref and now as a coach) I get it too and love to share it with others.

[Bob Steele]

As a participant on Newton this past week I would really like to thank all of the volunteers on Newton. We had a terrific time and everyone was very helpful and friendly. It was nice to put our name on the Newton sign and I hope someone got to take it home as a momento.

I want to specially thank the FTA's who were particularly helpful and cordial in getting everyone connected to the field. You were terrific and it was nice to know when our team took the field that you would be looking out for us and for all the other competitors so we could perform on the field.

Thank you so much for spending your time helping all of us to have such a great time and compete like crazy!!! It was exciting and it was a great experience for everyone! We love you guys!!

[Jon Stratis]

Unfortunately, I had to try to answer a question from the students on my drive team this year: "Why can mentors be drive coaches?" The team had very bad experiences with several mentor drive coaches from other teams - they felt disrespected, belittled, and ignored. That's something that should never come from a mentor involved with FIRST. We all want to go out there and win, but we should never be doing so at the expense of one of our alliance members.

I will say that poor interactions much less severe than encountered this weekend have caused my team to cross highly ranked teams off our pick list at past events.

[Oblarg]

4464 would also like to thank the Newton volunteers for a fantastic experience this year - everything went very smoothly for us and all of our interactions with event staff were pleasant.

I'm saddened to hear of bullying and cursing on the part of FRC drive coaches. We all have to remember that, ultimately, FRC is not about winning the competition. It is about inspiring young people to pursue careers in difficult subjects and forging greater cultural appreciation for those subjects. That sort of behavior is actively detrimental to these goals.

Fortunately, we did not have any such encounters. All of the teams we participated with were friendly and gracious, and we hope to see them again next year.

[cadandcookies]

As someone that tends to come across as rather cross when I yell to (not at!) people, it is very, very easy to have "communication" yelling misinterpreted as "angry" yelling. Which definitely isn't to say that during my brief stint as a human player during the 2012 season I didn't notice a select few coaches and drive teams that dealt with each other and our drive team in a manner that didn't seem particularly gracious or professional.

So, from an observer's perspective I think it's really easy to misinterpret yelling, especially when there are some people that are genuinely being problematic.

[Steven Smith]

As a mentor coach (and former driver), I strongly disagree. At 4464, we've decided on mentor coaching precisely to lessen the stress on the students; if a match goes poorly, it's the coach who takes the criticism, not the drivers. We do not feel that it is best to have a student in that position.

Good point. We had a specific instance of our freshman driver getting picked on by one of his friends because he "lost the match". Keep in mind, we're a young team and this was more out of ignorance by the student than malice. Even though, in any instance of criticism by the team due to driving or strategy issues... I would take the blame for inability to implement strategy, or the lack of practice time given to our drive team.

This year, because most of the driving was done by a single driver (the freshman), we let our senior act as a "Jr. Coach", whereas I was basically there for support a few feet behind. He was quite a bit more vocal than me, and we actually had a few instances where I needed to tone him down where he was a bit too aggressive when speaking to volunteers or other teams. Amazing kid, but a lot more emotionally invested in the win as a senior that is graduating, than me... who was more concerned with development of driver and HP as well as projecting a positive image of our team.

Once again, there is no right answer to this question. I think we all agree on what behaviors are ideal in this situation, and each team can work however they choose to achieve it. For all the other mentors out there observing this (including myself), let's not be passive. Don't just make a blacklist of teams quietly on the side, which is basically passive aggressive... be big enough to go talk to that coach afterwards. You don't have to be a jerk back, but let them know that in their passion for (winning, getting the ref's attention, keeping the rookie from doing auto, etc) you think they really hurt a student's feelings. Encourage them to apologize or to watch for it in the future.

99.9999% of FIRST'ers are good people with good intentions that make mistakes. Maybe they won't do the right thing, but at least you can sleep better at night.

[coalhot]

Having been a coach in both a student role, and a mentor role, there are advantages and disadvantages to both. It's easy for a mentor coach to walk all over a student on their own team, or a different team. There are a few overbearing mentor coaches here in MAR, and I've had to deal with a few of them as a coach (sorry, don't mean to insult you guys in any way).

One thing I've noticed is that a good mentor coach can also protect his/her drivers against other, possibly overbearing coaches. This is not an idea situation, and really should never happen, but often is the case.

Guys, this is a friendly competition. Not little league. When winning matches trumps everything, we start going away from what FIRST stands for.

[KSwartley]

The issue of adult coaches who are inappropriate with their students or other teams is a concern for FIRST. One of the most important benefits of FIRST is the opportunity for students to interact with and learn from adults. These adults must always be conscious of their behavior and realize that they are role models and being watched at all times. If adults are putting winning ahead of gracious professionalism, they have missed a big piece of the importance of FIRST. It does not matter if it is their own team or another team, inappropriate language and ungracious behavior is not something that should be accepted.

FIRST Team 525 had a great experience at the Championships and really enjoyed working with lots of great teams on Newton. At the same time, we experienced some of the inappropriate actions first hand. Our drive team took turns wearing a go-pro for matches so others could get a view of what they were experiencing. Unfortunately, we will have to edit out sound from one of the matches due to the inappropriate language of an adult coach. I fully intended to discuss this issue with the coach involved but regretfully did not find a good time and place to do that. We all need to help hold each other accountable for our behavior in order to maintain the high standards we all expect as part of FIRST. Thanks to the OP for bringing this issue up.