This is our first year doing VRC and I have noticed a huge difference from VIQC. No one cheers at tournaments. Its the weirdest thing. Is this the norm? I cant help but to cheer my team on and everyone else for the matter. I was even cheering for the other teams our boys were going against. It really brings up the excitement for them.
I feel like it depends on the event, I’ve had quiet ones and “cheery” ones. Sometime it just depends on how a team’s supporters/the general crowd are feeling or if they feel bored, whatever it might be. There definitely isn’t anything wrong with cheering or not cheering. For example, worlds will be loud, but the last regional of the season might be quiet because everyone is just ready to go home, whether they’ve qualified for states/regionals or not.
Welcome back, and I’m about to break your heart.
- Baby - Baby does anything - Happy parent noises, much encouragement
- Baby first steps - Like the MOON LANDING - so much happy!
- Baby first running - Wow, look at you go Champ!
- Pre school - tons of support, yay you!
- Elementary school (your experiences) Yay TNT!! , you rock!!!, robots are hard you got this!!
At middle school, children start becoming more self supporting
- MS VRC cheers - Wow TNT this is great, you won that match!
- “Sheesh Mom, calm down some”
High school
- "Can you drop me off a block away?
and the cheers slow down.
Just wait until you are an adult, then you get “Ok Foster you didn’t screw that up, thanks”
But to close on a happy note, did a HS/MS event in the same gym, played the finals at center court and the spectators did a pretty good job of cheering the teams on. TBH, I think the hard rule about parents “coaching” from the sidelines may be a factor.
While “shoot, shoot, go get that disk, deploy it’s the endgame” can be considered coaching by the pure rules people, having 10,000 people in the football stadium yelling “throw it, throw it” or “sack him, come on, get him” is fans having a great time. Maybe a little less on the “coaching from the sidelines” calls would be helpful.
Disclaimer: So the game with the lettered towers lent “Score on D, then move to E” to be called coaching. This year with the scramble of discs, not so much. I want parents to be engaged as much as the roboteers are.
In my experience, it really depends on the competition. Bigger competitions like states and worlds will generally have more excitement and more cheering from spectators, while smaller competitions normally have less going on and not as much engagement from the spectators.
It can also vary depending on the announcer / if there is an MC or announcer, more energy from people talking = more energy from the crowd.
Overall its not as simple as “VRC has less cheering than VexIQ”, its just very dependent on other factors, where in IQ im assuming most spectators will cheer for anything their child does lol
I alway cheer for my sister teams, and exchange joke from the front row of stands while the teams prep, but during matches, it is normally quiet. After, I always congratulate the winner, but normally this is during the finals.
Most events in my state have a lot of cheering, but only for elimination rounds. And the later ones at that.
No one really cares about skills or qualifications.
But there is almost always cheering and clapping at alliance selections.