Dealing with the Pressure - Southern CO Regional Tournament

There are so many life lessons whenever we endeavor to do another FLL year. This year, it was about how you act when under stress. It's tough to see these pre-teens and teens have to worry about their robot or be stressed out about being judged on their projects. However, what the kids learn about their reactions and how to deal while under a lot of pressure is invaluable.

During the chaos of robots not working, kids not all the way prepared and batteries at the wrong levels, one of the parents said, "Now you guys can win this whole thing, but if you do it and hate each other at the end of the day, it's not worth it." SO TRUE! There was a lot of negative energy throughout the morning of our regional tournament held a few Saturdays ago. Things just weren't going right and it wasn't any one thing that you could easily solve. The kids had to be taken aside and calmed down. They were frustrated, confused, angry and everything in between. What to do? What to do?

Since we're a Christian group of homeschoolers, we prayed together. We didn't pray for a magic formula, we didn't pray for all the other robots to blow up. We just prayed for us to do the best we could and regain some sense of peace during such a hectic day. This was how they got things in perspective. It didn't solve all our problems immediately, but gradually things got better during the day. Attitudes slowly got readjusted, strategies were redeveloped and the team really pulled together and supported one another. Yes, there were problems, but how a kid learns how to deal with them is a lesson much more memorable than what trophy you got. They learned where to go when things get tough!

During their 6th and final robot run, the kids, on their own, huddled up as a team and said one more prayer for the last of the days events. Now I don't know what was said, but that picture alone made me feel so proud of the kids. They knew what really mattered on a day like today. They ended up with their best robot run of the day and it shot them up in the rankings to get the 3rd Place Robot Performance Award. After their run, they Tebowed.

What is Gracious Professionalism?

FIRST made up this phrase "Gracious Professionalism". Their definition is:

It's a way of doing things that encourages high-quality work, emphasizes the value of others, and respects individuals and the community. With Gracious Professionalism, fierce competition and mutual gain are not separate notions. Gracious professionals learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process.

We went to show our robot and share our project idea at the Cool Science Festival last month. There were hundreds of people coming and going. As they passed, the Maniacs were more than happy to share what they had done with the robot already. Being an educational event, there were plenty of kids. It was no surprise to us when we had kids here and there say they were also a part of another LEGO FLL team. So these kids coming up to our table knew exactly what we were trying to accomplish in terms of the robot game.

I was impressed when our kids talked strategy with them and we all shared our ideas even though these kids would be our competition within the month. This is an example of Gracious Professionalism. The Maniacs were happy to share what they had learned about the robot game. I was proud!