Thoughts after Harvard Invitational (HUSO)

[antoine_ego]

Some context:

Our coach had to go back home quickly, and he could not leave the team there, as doing so would likely get him fired. Upon getting back to school, a group of us immediately hopped in a car and ran back as fast as we could to try to get to the ceremony.

We had no desire to disrespect anyone. In fact, we were quite upset we missed awards. We tried to get back in time, but alas, we only managed to get the tail end of the ceremony. I'm sorry if you felt insulted, it wasn't our intention and really wasn't in our team's control.

[mastersuperfan]

Unfortunately sometimes it's one executive decision that's made usually by the coach to go to awards or not. Individuals who might want to stay for awards could get overruled by the coach, and even if they want to attend, they can't.

To clarify antoine_ego's post, this is exactly what happened.

[EastStroudsburg13]

The not-going-to-awards part, I'm okay with. I get that. I've never been overly fond of Awards Ceremonies. I like knowing what I got, and how my school did, but there's a lot of tension, and I'd much rather see the scoresheet in one go. If not for post-awards hangouts, I'd most certainly not go to Awards Ceremonies (especially when my school gets boo'ed at some of them every year). I also never valued medals, because they're redundant. If my mom didn't make me take them home after each tournament, I'd probably have lost half of mine since they...all...look...the same......

I think the tension is why I value awards ceremonies so much. I suppose that at Troy there is more pressure to perform, whereas at a school like mine where we had no chance at ever going to nationals, it was more of a celebration of the people on our team that did well. I think that's why I valued medals more as well, as they were a bonus, rather than an expectation. Perhaps that's why most teams want to stay, as the majority of SO teams are closer to my alma mater's caliber than Troy's. Anyway, interesting to see the perspective of someone at a level completely different from mine.

Also, re: booing at awards ceremonies, I know that this sometimes happens across the country. Unless that team has done something terrible, like confirmed cheating or sabotaging other teams, there's never a good reason to boo a team. I understand it's frustrating to teams when one team monopolizes all the success, but booing them at a time of celebration of their success is uncalled for. If you've simply had bad interactions with people on that team, or you view a team as being arrogant or obnoxious, just don't clap or say anything.

[PM2017]

Also, re: booing at awards ceremonies, I know that this sometimes happens across the country. Unless that team has done something terrible, like confirmed cheating or sabotaging other teams, there's never a good reason to boo a team. I understand it's frustrating to teams when one team monopolizes all the success, but booing them at a time of celebration of their success is uncalled for. If you've simply had bad interactions with people on that team, or you view a team as being arrogant or obnoxious, just don't clap or say anything.

From my experiences, Troy tends to get booed when they don't get a gold.

This doesn't change the fact that it is still completely distasteful and in violation of the spirit of Science Olympiad (Indeed, of science as a whole.) I don't understand why people hate Troy so much -- you put in the effort, you reap the rewards. I get that they completely demolish most everyone else, but it's still not acceptable to blame a team for completely outworking everyone else.