Gracious Professionalism of 498, 696, & 80

[Penny]

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THANK YOU to 498, 696, and 80 and the head ref! Your show of gracious professionalism at the AZ regional was incredible. You much deserved the Sportsmanship Award!

For those who don't know, 330 developed problems with the controller after the first match in the final round. Some of our team did an incredible job in swapping in a new one in an extremely short period of time -- but we had exceeded the 6 minute time-out period. We were up and working just after the announcer had explained that our alliance would play with only 1 robot (what are the chances of a 3 robot team having 2 malfunction at the same time?). The ref could have disqualified us from competing in that match, but he allowed 498, 696, and 80 to decide if we should play or not. They allowed us the chance to play and their show of gracious professionalism demonstrates the spirit of FIRST.

The chance to win or lose on the playing field and not due to technical difficulties is competition at its best. Thank you for the chance to show what Beach Bot could do!

Penny Ross
Vice Principal of Hope Chapel Academy and Beach Bot Mom (team 330)

[Courtneyteam330]

Yeah that was absolutely awesome what you guys did for us and I don't think we will ever forget what awesome grace you showed. We are soooooooo thankful! :) I hope to see everyone in LA or at Nats!!!!!!!! It would be awesome to play with you guys there! :D

[ChrisH]

I was personally overwhelmed by your gesture. There have been many instances of good sportsmanship over the years in FIRST, but this was one of the finest. It is due to become one of the "legends" of FIRST.

[xKLzKobE08x]

thanx for all the compliments
i'm really proud that our team, 498, and 80 made the decision we did
good luck to all in other regionals and nationals. :D

[Amanda M]

Wow! This was amazing! I wanted to say, on behalf of Team 60, that this was an absolutely amazing show of Gracious Professionalism. I am very proud of the three teams that participated. You definitely did the rest of the FIRST community good.

I am floored that the competition has moved passed winning and losing and into doing what's right. This is definitely what FIRST is all about!

Amandy

[xKLzKobE08x]

not only 498, 696, and 80 showed gracious professionalism
but i believe all the other teams did.
phoenix was awesome!

[tenfour]

When I heard my team make that decision, I was very proud. My thoughts are that winning by playing a partial match is the cheapest trick in the book.

Our team is about going out there and playing hard, not about messing with a little 2 minute technicality. When we win finals (notice I say when), it will be the hardest played, most exciting match in history!

Thank-you to our alliance partners for a nice run. Also, thank you to all the teams at AZ for a good time. TO TEAM 60: I DRIVE A FORD, SO BEATING YOU WAS A SAD DAY.

[Cactus_Robotics]

Your all so welcome! On behalf of team 498 we like to thank team 80 and 696 we all worked great together, and for the winning alliance Congrats! You played tough and we hope to see you at nationals.