To teams who continue to save seats at competitions:
Puh-leeeze stop it!
There is room for everyone.
As 9 of my team members sat down in open seats to watch the matches at GLR, we were actually cursed at and told to leave by several members of another participating team who claimed the territory as their own. Parents on this team appeared to condone this behavior.
The offending team will be attending the National Championship, and I hope they calm down and learn to display decent behavior by then.
Out of curiosity, are you against saving personal seats? I kept my coat on my seat to save it and keep it out of the way. As did many team members. I did not think that this was going against GP. However, we did not do as you described and save empty seats. Team members who saved seats saved their own.
i think it is important that teams sit together, even if they are not all there at the same time. Some teams do not have 92387923759324 members that can site in the stands constantly. There are alot of teams on which there are only say, 10 members, that need to run in and out of the pits all day(such as us). Also, i think seats should be on a first come, first serve bassis. If your team is motivated to get up early to get good seats, then get there first and run for those prized possesions.
But there are some teams with a lot of members that block off a whole section of seats for their team. And they’re never in the stands for very long.
Or the teams that block off 50 seats for their 10 members and two coaches – but are saving the other 38 “just in case parents show up”. That’s not fair to everyone else who is already there.
Though I do agree it’s important that teams sit together, I don’t agree with teams blocking off a whole section of seats for the whole day when only a small portion of their members will be in the stands for most of the time. I think this is the problem most people deal with - not a few people leaving their coats on the backs of their chairs so they have somewhere to sit later on.
Ok, I’ll be blunt. 384 saves seats. There, it’s off my chest. But for us, we save them for our rounds. If people want to sit in our seats, they can, but we will ask them to move when all of our pit crew comes over to sit and watch. Then afterwards, they can come and sit again. We save only enough for us, and no extra. We had many people sit in ‘our’ seats, and we let them. It was GP and didn’t mind it. Plus we handed them beads and buttons, so at least they’ll advertise us too.
If people sit where your team sits then just sit around them. If you are a particularly spirited and verbose team they’re just going to have to put up with it.
But being verbally abusive to other teams is VERY dumb. What if they are a seeded team and are in the process of selecting alliance partners? They’ll remeber that your team memebers were graciously unprofessional and hold it agianst you. FIRST is as much about politics as it is about building a robot. Everything you say can be held against you and your team in the court of public opinion!
PLEASE REPORT IT TO THE JUDGE ADVISOR OR ANY JUDGES YOU SEE!!
THIS TYPE OF BEHAVIOR IS NOT TOLERATED AT THE FIRST COMPETITIONS OR LEGO COMPETITIONS.
In the pass, Teams have been removed from the award candidate list.
I remember one year a team ruined their chances at the Chairman’s award because of one parent open their mouth to an inspector in a very un-GP way.
Figure we should review the rules posted by FIRST in the manuel (please note #3, but how you choose to understand that rule is up to you):
Please read the following restrictions and adhere to them in order to promote an orderly, safe, pleasant, and exciting competition. As a group, we all should honor agreements with the venue and help promote the spirit of good partnership.
Please:
Do not bring food on the site. If you bring food, do not bring it onto the property.
Do not use noisy devices, such as floor stompers, whistles, or air horns.
Do not save seats. It is not fair to other teams or to the public guests we hope to interest as team sponsors or volunteers.
Do not deliver or ship robots directly to the site. All shipments go through the Drayage Company.
Do not arrange for Internet access on the site or attempt to connect to the internet.
Do not sell any products. This includes food, hats, shirts, or any promotional products.
Do not give out any free food products, such as candy, water, soft drinks, or fruit. You may trade team pins, however.
Do not bring helium tanks.
Do not invite or bring live bands to play in the audience. This dilutes the presentation on the playing field and is too loud and confusing for the audience.
Do not play loud music in the Pit because it interferes with important announcements. If a team receives more than a warning or two, the power to the team’s Pit Station will be shut off and/or the music confiscated.
Do not form “tunnels” during the Awards Ceremony. This can cause discomfort to those traveling through them and creates safety issues.
Do not take any FIRST signage, including the Pit/Team number signs. We use our signs for multi-event and multi-year applications. They are expensive and it is stealing.
those of us up here in the artic (NY) have to wear winter clothing this time of year
we cant pile all our coats in the 100sqft pit area
so what else can we do but put our coats on a chair?
I dont consider that saving a seat - if I get to the event at 8AM and put my jacket on the seat Im using, then get up to wander around for a while, am I suppose to carry my coat around with me all day, everywhere I go? Thats absurd
I dont think leaving your jacket or bag on a seat is ‘saving seats’ and yes, I would feel upset if I came back and someone was sitting on my jacket, eating food, spilling drinks on it…whatever.
I do think if someone is sitting in an area and leaves their stuff I would hope someone won’t come along and physically move it and sit down. That is just plain rude.
I thought this rule was meant to prevent teams from doing something like laying a banner on a whole bunch of seats to save it for the team. Do you guys believe it applies to the person like me who puts a coat on the chair? I never felt I was doing anything wrong. A chair seems like a natural thing to put your coat on while you are doing other stuff.
I just looked again and apparently a couple people just posted on the same thing. Why not have a poll?
I believe I can speak for my team in saying that we did not abuse anybody. Besides, we are not only representing ourselves, but we are representing Scouting as well since we are a Venture Crew. Doing something like that is against our policies.
I save three seats at each competition we attend. Two of the seats always have someone sitting in them. The third seat usually has someone sitting in it. They are our scouting seats. As a chaperon my students always know where to find me. The only time a seat is empty is to send a message to the pits or to take care of a personal matter.
It just dawned on me that we aren’t saving seats…WE ARE SITTING IN THE SEATS WATCHING THE COMPETITION! From this vantage point I have seen many strange behaviors:
The SAVE A SEAT SO I CAN STAND–This team saves seats so they can stand and cheer on their team during the match. I applaud your pride but the people behind you can’t see. If you want to stand during your match…go to the cheering pit.
THIS IS OUR CLOSET–This team needs somewhere to store coats, backpacks, and other items of mass destruction. Select an area off to the sides or in the higher seats.
JAIL–This is where a student is put for punishment. If they can’t stay involved, don’t bring them in the first place.
KODAK MOMENT–This person (who usually weighs in excess of 300 lbs) stands during the match to video/photograph. They are usually at least 150 feet from the playing field. Move down to the front row and stand in the way of those people who must find a seat during a match rather than waiting for the match to end.
The GYM PEOPLE–These are the people who feel the need to exercise during a match. They sit in a row of about ten people. They jump up every 30 second to shout something to someone at the other end of the row. I know that you are not interested in the match because your team isn’t playing but mine might be.
The SCRUM–This is the group of 6 to 8 people who start up the steps during a match pausing every other step looking for enough seats for all of them to sit in. Check out where you want to go before you start the climb.
MY HOTEL ROOM–These people stayed up all night and now need a place to crash. The usually stretch out over 3 or 4 seats. There is plenty of room on the sides for your nap, besides…you snore!
The PLAYGROUND–These are children between the ages of 3 and 6. If they aren’t picking up trash from the floor, they are jumping from step to step in the aisle. Of course when they fall and get hurt…well that will be another thread.
Folks, this is an exciting game. Matches only last 2 minutes. Come on up, cop a squat, and enjoy yourself but, TREAT THOSE AROUND YOU LIKE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE TREATED!
We have a large team. At the last competition we were in the same seating area for Thursday and Friday. We were a few minutes late for Saturday’s door opening so we needed to find another section to sit in. But we couldn’t get a section big enough for all of us together so we split the students and the adults. It was fine - we were only separated by an aisle - but we really like to stay together so we can cheer, etc. Does anyone have suggestions for how a large team can stay together without saving seats?
We are a team of nearly 30 people traveling. We encourage our students to stand behind our driver station and cheer like crazy. During the match. you get a pretty good view of what your robot is doing and your field team knows you are there with them.
