For any teams in NJ, are you classified as a sports team in your school? I’m trying to get my team classified as one so any other teams that already are would help my case.
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As an FTC team, at our school we are classified as a team. We are the only non-sports team at our school. We were finally upgraded from club to team this year, but there is no way that we would ever be classified as a sport; robotics is not a sport, just like chess is not a sport. (We’re from Northern NJ)
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Actually, I’d argue that it is a sport, but that’s neither here nor there.
“physical activity engaged in for pleasure” - definition of sport by Merriam Webster Dictionary
Can we not word-lawyer and see about helping OP?
@risho900 This is probably going to vary from school to school. I would suggest meeting with your principal as a team to a. show off why robotics is cool and then b. talk about being classified as a “normal” team.
You might also want to look at teams that have varsity status, whether or not they’re officially considered sports. I know 1676 and 3142 have varsity status, and there are others in NJ I can’t think of off the top of my head.
What is your goal in getting classified as a sport? More recognition? Better mentor stipends? More flexibility in travel? Something else?
I believe 11 retains varsity status, as far as I recall they had varsity letters after I graduated. I’m assuming 11/193 count as a sport?
Regardless, those teams have a ton of school & district support, so the sport status may not matter.
Are you trying to accomplish anything specific by gaining sport status? As @jgerstein mentioned, there are benefits to it.
1672 members get 1 math credit per year which contributes towards graduation. This is the trade off over being given varsity status since you cannot have both. Varsity status is preferred since the students get to drop gym for a study hall if they are on a sports team.
The main reason is so we can have freshman on our team. With the way our school district is, freshman cannot join high school clubs (8th and 9th are in the junior high) but they can join high school sports.
It also comes with better compensation for our advisors which is always a bonus especially considering one of ours is currently having some potential health issues.
Also raises the status of the team from a bottom tier club (as in meeting once a month for 40mins the entire year) to a sports team which is much more in line with what we do.
A way to truly be recognized as a sport in NJ would be to have robotics affiliated with the NJSIAA (https://www.njsiaa.org/). School districts can individually decide to award varsity status to its activities as they choose.
Feel free to PM me so we can hash out some of the difficulties you might be facing at your school. I can also get you connected with locals who can offer more advice about how to self advocate in New Jersey.
As far as I can tell, you have a 501c3 established which will give you a lot of wiggle room that most school affiliated teams don’t get.
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