Likewise, I do not understand the desire to make FRC an athletic competition.
I do know that in some states/school districts “Lettering” is reserved for sports only. But, the Letterman jacket isn’t the status symbol it used to be.
A. To get out of gym class.
B. Because the team deserves as much (or more) recognition as a sports team. They work harder than many sports.
C. Robotics helps people more than a normal sport.
Robotics should have just as much recognition as a sport, and the only way for that is to get it recognized as one.
Because a lot of our students are overwhelmed by the “you must do 4 years of sports in high school so it looks good on the resume” idea. Thus, this leads to us (robotics) fighting with other sports to get our students. Female students that do sports are more inclined to softball and/or basketball so they typically do not have the extra time for robotics after (required practice, games, etc).
No, you don’t get out of gym class for playing a sport (at least not our school). In fact you must participate in gym, not fail the class, in order to practice/play for that day.
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Depends, in Michigan you do
Here in MN, it’s all about recognition. I’m sure all that stuff others mentioned comes into play, but the recognition is really the impactful part, for a couple of reasons:
- Explaining the whole concept of champs can be difficult (Think about it… 2 separate events, hundreds of teams, multiple fields, alliances, etc). Explaining the MSHSL State Championship isn’t, because it’s the exact same thing every other competitive activity in the state does - you say “we’re going to states!” and everyone knows what you mean without any other explanation. Winning MSHSL gets teams the exact same trophies that others get. That can be a HUGE deal for these teams, and a large status symbol for them within their school and community.
- Being officially recognized by the MSHSL has had a net positive impact on the support that schools give their teams. Think about it - schools pay for football and soccer fields, basketball courts, tracks… all for those other sports. Shouldn’t they be doing the same for us? It’ll take a while, but the first step towards that is getting on even ground with those other activities. Something as small as getting the school to help with busing, the same as they do with the football team for away games, can be huge.
- Coach positions for most competitive activities include a stipend. Having robotics recognized by the MSHSL makes it easier for schools to include that same consideration for their robotics teams (note coach!=mentor). These coaches are under a lot of stress and put in a lot of time - they deserve to be recognized and compensated for that, and doing so will help with coach retention, and that helps with team longevity.
Part of the key here isn’t thinking about it as “sports” vs “other activities”. Our school no longer has an athletics department - it has a competitive activities department. This small change in nomenclature has a huge impact in how different activities are perceived and treated, across the board, and is something we, as a community, need to pursue if we want competitive robotics to be as mainstream as so many other activities.
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I’ve heard rumors that WV is going to pay the teachers who mentor robotics teams the same that they pay the football and other sports coaches. Unfortunately, we aren’t a school team, but an area team (hence Mountaineer Area Robotics)
Playing Devil’s advocate here, but think about this - if something suddenly becomes a sport, why would people change the way they think about it? It’s still the very same thing that it was before the label changed, no?
Maybe this philosophy class I’m in right now is messing with me, but I think this is an interesting thought experiment.
(maybe my psych class is messing with my brain too…) something something hindsight something bias happening in the past… reminds you of negative things… you dont like it. (not even sure i used the term correctly/ used the correct term… 
)
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