Here’s the complete conversation with John Loney, Rushford-Peterson High School Athletic Director, looking ahead to the possibility of spring sports. No question, there’s a lot of uncertainty right now.
Spring sports in Minnesota have been put on hold, just as many other sectors of the state have, due to the coronavirus. Just as spring sports athletes across the state were getting underway with practices they’ll have to take a short break. The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) suspended all activities between Wednesday, March 18, through Friday, March 27.
Because of the Emergency Executive Order signed on March 15 by Governor Tim Walz, there will be no MSHSL activities and athletics at any of the member schools. That includes training, practices, scrimmages, and contests. Rushford-Peterson Athletic Director John Loney says students won’t have any organized practices with coaches after Tuesday, March 17.
Spring sports like baseball, softball, track, and golf are all on hold in Minnesota, thanks to the coronavirus. As of right now, they’re tentatively scheduled to resume on April 6. (photo from kfilradio.com)
“As of right now, we’re scheduled to return to school on March 30,” he said. The activities association says we can resume spring sports on April 6. I’m sure they’ll be gathering information and monitoring the situation leading up to that date.
“The one thing we have going for us here is the spring activities we offer are all outside,” Loney added. “They are also not quite as physical as basketball and football, where kids spend a lot of time running into each other.”
Loney is concerned about the fact that the recommended number of people in group settings keeps getting smaller to help control the spread of coronavirus, which could be a challenge for getting spring sports contests going once school resumes. Loney is still hoping to get at least some games in so the seniors can end their high school years on a positive note.
There’s a new sport coming this month to Rushford-Peterson school and it doesn’t involve any kind of ball, hockey puck, or brand-new bat. It’s called competitive robotics and it’s a real thing. The new sport is coming to Rushford-Peterson school for the first time, thanks to second-year science teacher Mike Mulholland.
Students in competitive robotics work during the season as a team to build a robot. The kids are assigned a “task” for the robot to do, such as shoot a basketball. The robot that performs the task the best wins the competition. (photo from NPR.org)
Minnesota saw its first two high school competitive robotics teams compete back in 2006. That number has grown rapidly in recent years. The competitive robotics competition involves teams building robots to complete specific tasks that are different every year. Past tasks including building a robot to do everything from shoot a basketball to throwing a frisbee. All teams work on the same assigned task during their season.
“We’re going to get started on Saturday, Jan 5,” he said.
“We pick up the building kits and get the information on what game they’re
doing this year. We get a new game (objective) every year. The overall theme
for this year is ‘Space Exploration.’ The competition is set up with rules,
ways to score points, and we have to design a robot that will be best able to
score points and win the match.
“This year’s competition is called ‘Deep Space,’” he said. “Teams
will be competing in groups of two alliances of three to apply security hatches
and fill cargo bays to both rockets and a cargo ship before time runs out.
There is a beginning section of 15 seconds that requires teams to control their
robot by either automation or onboard camera. After the first section, teams
freely control their robots for 2 minutes, 15 seconds. After time runs out,
points will be counted and the team with the highest score wins that round.”
He said it’s hard to describe what the robot will look like.
The finished product typically has four wheels, as well as different mechanisms
that can grab on to or lift something, helping it to perform a specific task.
“Each competitive robotics competition usually has six teams that are going at the same time,” he said. “There are three robots on each side, one is ours and the other two from the team we partner with. They’ll switch up teams for each match, so our partners in one match could be opponents in a future one, and vice versa.”
“We’ll find out what it’s like when we go to a local competition over in La Crosse (Wisconsin), in April” he added. “We’ll be competing with a number of other schools coming in from all over the region. There’s also a Minnesota state tournament coming up, too. It’s run by the Minnesota State High School League.”
Here’s a fantastic example of what a robotics competition looks like:
The one big challenge to robotics participation is the cost. Equipment kits can run several thousands of dollars. Many schools around the state rely on sponsors to help defray the cost. Mulholland said the R-P Competitive Robotics Club would love to have some area sponsors of their own to make it easier to participate in what’s been a growing sport around the state as well as across the nation.
“Because of the cost of the kits, there are a number of
opportunities for sponsorships by different organizations,” Mulholland said.
“We actually have a couple of sponsorships already. We also got a $ 6000 grant
from NASA to help pay for the fee from First Robotics (the organization behind
the robotics league). We also have some other organizations that have pledged
support and financial aid.”
The kits that they pick up before the season contain the
same basic parts. They can buy or build additional parts, but that’s where
sponsorships come in to help defray some of the extra cost.
Mulholland is excited for the first season of robotics
competition. Both students and administration officials wanted to get this
program off the ground. He’s already had several meetings with interested
students to get the robotics program organized. Mulholland says there are
between 12 and 15 kids between seventh and twelfth grades that seem to be
serious about the activity.
“I was student-teaching at Southland, and they had a
robotics program,” he said. “However, It was a different program than the one
we’re involved in at Rushford-Peterson. I helped out with that a little and
that’s where I got interested. It’s my first kind of go-around with a program
like this, so I’ll be learning right there with the kids.”
The Seven Rivers Regional Robotics Competition is April 4 through April 7, in La Crosse.
Here’s a neat video that the Edina, Minnesota high school robotics teams put together last year talking about the impact that robotics can make at the high school level.
