Hi There Everyone! I had a question.
Do you think putting your teams awards on the back of team shirts and sweaters against gracious perfesionalism or is it just being arrogant?
Thanks!
I see no problem with it. You won the awards fair and square. I do not feel arrogant with my signature.
You might be thought desperate if you are reaching back a few years to fill the spot.
I agree with you, however signature and team’s shirts/sweatshirts are different. Your just showing off here on Chief Delphi and not at the regional. However, I feel like you deserve the right to feel proud of your team’s accomplishments!
I certainly see no problem with it.
I just have to question the design though. At competition, shirts should generally be eye catchy and get their point across quickly. Generally a team shirt has sponsors on the back or something that can be picked up via a quick glance…I’m not sure if past awards are the best thing that should go back there.
If it’s a big award, by all means go for it. If it’s a team-presented award, probably not the best idea. I’ve seen it done by some very professional teams, on top of their sponsor lists.
After winning the 2005 Championship, my team made hoodies the next year with our team logo on the front and “2005 FIRST World Champions” on the back.
Our team makes “IRI” shirts each year with a saying on the front, either relating to the season or just nifty, and on the back is a graphic including every award and competition we’ve won.
Teams have a right to be proud of winning awards, they wouldnt hand out trophies if they didnt mean anything.
Just out of curiosity,
Our team has won the Regional Chairman’s Award, Regional Finalist Award, Regional Champions, Rookies All-Stars Award, Highest Seeded Rookies Award and the Rookies Inspiration Award; all in the past 2 years. Would it be against gracious professionalism to have these awards posted on our team’s sweatshirts?
FIRST awards are something to be excited about, and many teams show off their awards on their shirts, even awards of years and years ago. It’s self-promotion and a good feeling to know you have some hardware in your trophy case. Some teams can be inspired by an award, and some are inspired by teams who have long lists of awards.
The only time showing off awards on shirts/in robot pits/on websites and so on would be un-GP, is if you brag about it to the point where it becomes distracting.
Awards given to you by teams are generally not something you show off on a T-shirt, but all FIRST awards are fair game.
No it is not against “GP.” Gracious Professionalism is not a tool to measure the actions of others by. Feel free to do so if you are proud of your accomplishments.
When it comes to style, usually if you have to ask the question, “Is it in good taste to do ________.” then the answer is no.
Of course a team has earned their awards and has a right to be recognized for that success. There is nothing wrong, per se, with listing the awards whenever and where ever desired. It is definitely within GP to list awards and celebrate past successes… on a .sig on a shirt, in your pit area, etc.
But the fact that you felt the need to ask the question suggests that you might be just a little uncomfortable with the idea of splaying a long list of awards on your team shirts for… as you put it… risk of appearing arrogant.
Why take the risk?
Remember that it’s not what is on the outside of the shirt that matters, it’s what is on the inside. Awards don’t make your team good… its what you did to earn those awards that make your team good. If you keep doing whatever you did to win the awards, then you’ll find that listing the awards is really kind of redundant.
Jason
P.S. Those of you who have listed awards on your shirts, please note… I’m not saying it is wrong or arrogant. You can bet that in the highly unlikely event that we walk off Einstein this year in a barrage of confetti this year, that our team will be doing something to mark the accomplishment… I’m just saying that if you wouldn’t feel 100% comfortable with a list of awards on your shirt, then don’t put them there! There’s lots of other good places to list awards.
“Against gracious professionalism” is a very odd phrase to me. I don’t think your question is one that can be answered and every time I see one of these discussions I wonder if it’s really that hard for people to internalize what Woodie means/has meant. If you’re spending your time wondering what/how other might view you/your team/its actions I think you’re missing the point altogether.
I’ve ranted on about this before so I’ll stay brief here. “GP” isn’t a gauge, it’s a target. It’s more about culture and feel than anything else.
I would like to make a simple observation many seem to have overlooked. Those shirts are going to be worn by newcomers who didn’t earn those awards. I see no problem with displaying your own accomplishments proudly. However, I would suggest making it so that it is worn by those who accomplished it. I would not feel comfortable wearing a shirt listing accomplishments I wasn’t a part of.
Rather than seeing these as accomplishments of certain people, I prefer to view them as accomplishments of a team. Every member who was ever on said team contributed something to the team and deserves to celebrate the team’s accomplishments.
A recent discussion on whether or not current team members deserve to be recognized for past team accomplishments, specifically the *FIRST *Hall of Fame, might be a good resource for more discussion on the topic.
This is why I severely dislike the term gracious professionalism more and more because people have decided to use it as a measuring tool to judge others.
GP is overused and maligned.
There is a very simple way to interpret the intent of Woodie when he invented it. Compete fiercely, help others compete against yourself, and do it with honor and ethics.
To learn by example just look at the egregious behaviour of a couple of things that happened just in the past few weeks in sports. Both of these were covered extensively by ESPN.
- the Georgia / Florida eye-gouging incident. The level of acceptance on both teams and the coaches is stunning.
- the New Mexico / BYU women’s soccer incident. Seems to be resolved.
Those events were absolutely nauseating.
Avoiding that type of behaviour and encouraging teams to help others is the intent of GP.
Putting the stuff on the shirts isn’t something I’d recommend but there is no great harm. It isn’t really a GP issue but one of decorum.
Have we become so wrapped up in the words “gracious professionalism” that we’ve forgotten what they really mean?
Have we become so opposed to possibly offending anyone in the slightest way that we downplay our own hard fought accomplishments and achievements?
There’s a stark difference between bragging and taking pride in your work. While “Ha ha! We’re better than you! We won seventeen regionals and you didn’t!” would clearly fall in the former, listing your achievements would definitely fall in the latter. Your grandmother certainly wouldn’t be offended if you told her your team won your regional.
If people are getting offended at seeing other teams list their accomplishments, maybe they should spend less time whining and more time doing things to make their own team win.
People like to dedicate things. People like to list their accomplishments. People like to show everyone else when they were successful. People like recognition. People like taking pride in their work, their favorite sports team, their alma mater, and their home country. It’s always been that way, and always will be.
When I first read this thread I immediately jumped to the idea that the team might be wearing their shirts during meetings with potential sponsors. A team that can only afford one tshirt per student would then by necessity have these awards printed on the shirt to gather notice of these potential sponsors. At that point GP doesn’t enter into the decision.
I am definitely not opposed to a team highlighting their accomplishments. My prior comments had to do with the intent of GP, not displaying earned accomplishments.
I was thinking about how awards mentions are displayed in football/basketball stadiums with the signage.
For $ 40 bucks you could do a very nice 20x30 sintra sign that would list the accomplishments and sit very nicely on an easel at public displays or corporate presentations, and in its spare time live on the wall at school.
Keep in mind that information can become dated very quickly.
The awards that have been garnered in the previous season become dated when the current season begins. Listing those awards on your team shirts is costly and will remain current for only so long. If that is not a problem with your team budget and short-term or long-term plans, then it is fine.
I love to see the Hall of Fame teams tell us that they are HoFs on their shirts. It’s cool and is never outdated.
I think your question is valid. The bottom line is in how your team conducts itself and how you promote your achievements and your efforts as a team. I’ve seen some great team pits where teams have taken the time to lay out and organize their pit so that it is efficient, productive, and promotes the team in an effective and professional manner. People pay attention to that.
Good question, stargirl. Good luck to you and to your team in 2010!
I don’t think it is either, not arrogant and not ungracious (especially in good taste)… At IRI last summer, the HOT team was wearing tye dyes with “2009 National Champions” on them - but they were on the winning alliance at Einstien and they deserved to advertise that fact. That is a great marketing tool for award winners to use for drumming up support, I don’t see it any differently than a football team advertising that they won a championship or rivalry!
My .02,