Canadian supremacy
 

Canada reigned supreme on an international level this year. They had 5/7 winners of major international events (IRI+Champs) this past year, 2/3 world champs, 3/4 IRI champs. Not only that, but none of the IRI winners won champs, and vice-versa.

What makes them so good? Is it the collective drive to get good enough to beat the powerhouses? Does FIRST Canada have a really good mentoring program? Does all of that maple syrup make them somehow super robot-minded? Did the new wildcard system present many new opportunities for them? What is it that makes these guys so good?

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I think all four of those reasons pushed Canada to the top this year.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Not to diminish Canadian teams, but I think the 1st seed won IRI this year because they came into elims with a very strong strategy in mind, and the best teams available to execute it were Canadian. 1334 carried that alliance. When someone runs an FCS, you have to defend against it. Teams at IRI sent a support bot with their FCS to cancel out the defense, so effectively you have a 2v2 matchup. However, 1334 was able to turn the situation back into a 3v2 when they climbed and dumped in the endgame. Very well played.

There was a set of Canadian teams that were all good at specific things, but their strength as an alliance was greater than the sum of the parts.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

It's the mounties. don't forget the mounties.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Canada succeeds for all of the usual reasons, plus they have Tim Horton's doughnuts, whereas in the U.S. we mostly don't.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Thanks for all the kind words and best wishes particularly after our hard dismount. Our thanks to 1114 and 2056 for picking us for the alliance and to 2337 for their great work. Our thanks as well to the IRI organizers. A particularly well run event. Ask nicely and we'll bring you something from Timmy's next year. The way they're expanding there might even be a store in Indy by then.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I'd love to hear some teams from the Toronto area comment on this. It's pretty clear these teams are improving at a rate which isn't matched by any other locality.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Agreed. I would like to hear from some of these successful Toronto teams. I would think this would NOT be Canada's year, after the Ontario teacher's strike. What is up with this astounding growth?

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I've actually heard from a few Toronto teams that the teacher strike actually helped them improve as a team.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

That is definitely true in our case.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Team 2386 from Burlington, Ontario (about 40 minutes South West of Toronto), although not a powerhouse team such as 1114, 2056 or 610 has most definitely been motivated by the powerhouses. Without these teams we would not be required to work so hard just to be able to qualify for Worlds. These teams make it so that other Ontario teams need to aim to do things that many other teams just don't need to because they don't have powerhouses near them forcing them to do any better. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely teams all over the world that strive towards making the best robot they can to perform best at worlds. That being said, why do more work than you need to if the motivation isn't there.

Also the teachers strike (although making things more challenging) certainly helped motivate us. We were the only extra-curricular running (technically a class but was really an extra-curricular) and needed to not only represent our school but show our peers that robotics was more than a bunch of nerds getting together to do lame, nerdy things. The strike also sent more teachers wanting to continue helping after school to come to our program and mentor. This gave us even more qualified help (on top of the amazing teachings that come from our mentors in industry).

The timmies and maple syrup clearly help as well :D.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I can definitely see this as a big part of why Canada is so successful. Even though there are other teams out there who strive to be the best, its different in Canada. Why? Because teams build a robot to accomplish their goal for the season, and robot that was built with the goal of making it to elims will tend to turn out different than one with the goal to win on Einstein. For example, nearly every powerhouse team did not settle for a pure cycler. They knew that in order to maximize their chances of winning on Einstein, they needed to do more.* In Canada, because of 1114 and 2056, if you want to win a regional, you are going to have to aim higher than most powerhouse teams. Because of that, they are ending up with more and more teams trying to go above and beyond with floor pickups, 30pt climbs, etc. And the ones who opt to just cycle are going to try their very hardest to create a worthy cycler.

So, thank you to 1114 and 2056. Despite people complaining about how you hog all of the glory to yourself, there were people out there who knew that you were just pushing the rest of Ontario to it's limits. And this year, we can finally see that it worked. Because of you, FRC is a much better competition.

*Someone is going to come at me and say that 3 cyclers won on einstein, but 2 of them had floor pickups, and the finalists only had 1 robot that cycled: 469: arguably the team with the biggest bag of tricks this year.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

To be honest I don't think the 2nd tier Canadian teams were that much better then in years past, if you go back in the last 4 years teams like 1241, 188, 610, 781 and others have all had strong showings at Champs. It's just that because of the wildcard system more of our good 2nd tier teams got to compete at champs, you all got to see how good 1310, 1334, 4039 and others are too (we also got a bit of luck this year :p). It's incredible how well Canadians did this year, but then again I always knew that we have a great depth of teams from how strong our regionals are.

I have to give a ton of credit to Mark Breadner and all the Canada FIRST staff and volunteers for the support network they have built, but 1114 and 2056 being the best in the world gave us all great teams to emulate and strive to beat.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

As a member of Team 3161 from Oakville, Ontario, I can honestly say that my team is driven to excellence by the power house teams. Because so many qualification spots were taken by teams 1114 and 2056 up until this year, we have always been driven to not only try and mimic what these teams do (in terms of outreach and the robot) but we try to surpass them. We also love to work together to create something better, in 2012 I can honestly say we would have done as well as we did without the help of teams 2056 and 1114.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Out of the top tier of Ontario teams, only 1310 benefited from a wild card. 1241 and 1334 both won EI's (with 1334 also winning the Western Canadian Regional), while 4039 got in from the waitlist, I believe.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

They're building a Tim Horton's in down the street from my apartment. Expect Rochester FIRST to dominate in the near future....

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Whatever it is, congratulations to all of these teams and a really nice job by everyone who has contributed to this success. It is more than just the winning too, which is very good to see. Here's hoping our neighbors to the North have to work even harder to keep it going in the future, and also that all teams can be inspired by their example.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Our win in Calgary gave another team the chance to go using that wildcard. They chose not to go.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Exactly! This year 2386 bit off more than we could chew by doing almost everything, a 30pt climber, shooter and as always a great defense bot. We did this trying to be equal to or surpass the powerhouse teams. We could have succeeded if VEX had provided us with a critical dimension but that's beside the point.

Between Canada FIRST, amazing powerhouse teams and the WildCards Ontario teams have a great opportunity to go far in competition.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

At the Waterloo regional, I heard from Karthik that zero Canadian FRC teams bought Mecanum wheels this year. Maybe that has something to do with it? :rolleyes:

Honestly, though, I think much of Canada's success comes from how much the teams work with each other. For example, 610 worked with teams such as 1241, 907, and 1310 throughout the season to practice and work on the robots. We also held a quick-build on kickoff day with several teams. I know that 1114 and 2056 also work with other teams in some way (or at least that's what I gathered from what Karthik said during the finals at GTR West in 2012). With some very good teams in Ontario and the high level of cooperation, this makes Ontario an example of successful Coopertition®.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

The teachers strike was really damaging to FIRST in Canada by removing a lot of veteran teams from regionals. The amazing part about the strike in my opinion though, is the fact that alumni/students/mentors, from teams that couldn't run this season, went on to help other teams. Personally I had the wonderful opportunity to work with team 1241 this year as a result. I think that in this way people have a chance to share how different teams run the season differently and take the best from here and there and put it together to be better overall. I imagine that if these people go back to their original teams next year, then they bring back all of this knowledge and can help their original teams do even better. In line with that is also that in Canada teams are starting to retain more and more alumni as mentors. I think that as a result their respective teams are getting better year after year. The alumni/mentor force is growing in Canada and is something I think that will help every team.

One thing I think that a lot of people may not know about Canadian regionals and teams is that, despite the rivalries all the teams don't forget to help each other out. At championships we cheer for each other, we share parts and we really do work like a community. To avoid sounding cliche, the fact that we can compete so much and compete the right way means that we can truly take the time to appreciate each others skills and be inspired by one another.

I would like to thank 1241 and any other teams that let members of "rival" teams join in their ranks. I am sure everyone else who had the chance had just as amazing an experience as I. It was truly humbling to be accepted into teams and be offered a job and be trusted to do what you do best.

As J -No said in his post big thank you to Canada FIRST for helping teams settle in during the strike period.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Aside from 188, what Canadian teams were not able to compete due to the strike? Curious how many were affected to that severity.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Being a Canadian team has definitely come with a great amount of pride this past year. From expanding FIRST into Alberta with a new regional, to world champions and IRI winners, I think it's safe to say we've all gotten a taste of what it's like to win up here.

As 2994 worked (and continues) to try to expand FIRST in Ottawa this year by starting up some rookie teams. Once we all competed and we were getting ready to hit the road, we asked them what the experience was like, and what they were going to aiming for in the upcoming year. They all agreed they wanted to work to prove themselves, and rise to the level of the "powerhouse" teams they got the chance to see.

So I thank all the "powerhouse" teams like 1114, 2056, 610, and 1241, for inspiring Canada, along with other teams around the world.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

All of these veteran teams from Ontario did not compete in FRC in 2013 but competed in 2012, whether it was due to the teachers strike or other factors I'm not sure.

Teams (total: 16)
188, 843, 919, 1009, 1053, 1219, 1221, 1246, 1404, 1514, 1535, 1605, 1835, 2076, 2198, 3739

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

We were very fortunate to be able to give a home to 2 Grade 12 students from a team that didn't compete this year although it wasn't because of teachers' withdrawal of voluntary extra curricular services - there was no strike. That team stopped operating in September. One of those students is the lead designer of our very effective climbing system.

This has been our best season to date and yes, it had a lot to do with that job action. When we weren't able to operate at the school, Sheridan College took us in and gave us free use of their excellent shop. 1241 and 1325 also made use of the facility. We went from 1 small CNC mill and one lathe to at least 30 lathes and mills plus CNC equipment. We also went from 7 to 17 active mentors and no teachers were involved. This was because we worked from 5 to 9 plus Saturdays and people who work could get there. Alumni and parents of alumni also helped out. We even saved money because we didn't have to pay caretaker time as is required if want to work in the school on a weekend. The Oakville Yacht Squadron also gave us free use of their (mostly unheated) facility from January to April so that we could set up a pyramid. 1325 used it as well.

Because of shared difficulties many of the Ontario teams have formed stronger inter-team ties. The team mentor system also works to bring teams closer together. In Ontario for the past three years, rookie teams are assigned a mentor team to assist them in their first year. This usually develops into a very strong lasting relationship. The competition is fierce in Ontario. Come check it out next season at one or more of the 4 regionals.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

While Canadian teams are always incredibly competitive, 2013 was an incredibly strong season for Canadian teams. What remains to be seen is if 2014 will be at the same level. 2012 was an incredible season for MAR teams (25 winning the championship, 341 being arguably the best team in the world, and MAR teams winning several outside regionals), the performance of the region regressed in 2013. It will be interesting to see if Ontario really has replaced Michigan as the elite region in FRC, or if it was simply a incredible year from a good region.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

It was a lot easier to be really good this year, in particular relative to the performance to the powerhouse teams, than it ever has been before.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

This was my thought as well. Many teams in Canada had 'career years'. I recall similar discussions in 2009 when Michigan had 4 of the 6 teams in the finals of Einstein. While Michigan has remained very strong, they haven't matched the success they had in '09.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I too saw this. In previous years when I saw teams go up against teams like 1114 and 2056, it was clear that the other alliance had no chance (unless they were facing another powerhouse). This year there was a clear possibility in some matches where it looked as if the other alliance might actually be able to defeat the powerhouses.

Perhaps this is another indicator that this was one of the toughest games that the game design committee has given us yet.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Canadian Bacon? :D

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I think the radioactive pulsation of awesomeness got blown westward from Michigan over the border and caused the Canadian teams to become even more awesome than they already were.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Hopefully it pushes to Minnesota soon :P

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

The wind blows west. One can only hope that stuff spreads all over New York!

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Maybe in the winter it can come down south to some warmer weather.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I think you have a really good point here Parth, I've noticed recently that students and mentors from 'competing' teams make an effort to get involved in another team in FRC when they leave (in most cases high school students going to University). I saw this originally when starting 2809, we founded with mentors from 610, 771, 1114, ect. and have had university mentors over the years from almost every large team in Canada.

We've seen this trend recently on 610, This year we took in 3 188 mentors (Kaj, Pranit, and Sharven, going to miss you guys :( ), Mr. Lim was originally a 188 student and coached 1310 for a couple years, and Nick Lawrence was from 1503. Looking at our recent graduates they have gone on to mentor 4814, 1310, 2809, 771, and probably others.

This is a recurring trend I've seen from teams in Canada, I think it's been really healthy for the growth and increased competitiveness of teams in Canada. Lets keep it up!

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I see the rise of Canada's second tier in 2013 basically as follows:

Earlier commenter is correct. These teams have been on the rise for a long time, but the old way of qualifying to Championship hid them in the shadows of the 1114 and 2056 juggernaut pair for a long time. The second tier in Canada is huge and keeps growing every year. The second tier used to just be 610 and 188. Now, the list is so long, I don't generally try to list it, because I always miss at least one. I can think of at least 16 that I consider to be on that list.

1114 and 2056 being the dominant powerhouses they are and sweeping Ontario regionals for many years has driven the bar SO high, that even being competitive for a title in Ontario essentially requires that you're strong enough to be a 'powerhouse' elsewhere.

1114 and 2056 not only set the bar high, but they continue to raise it each successive year. Wanna talk about a shocking number? 1114 put up an OPR of over 100 at ONTO2. Without a floor pickup. That means they put up their auto discs, plus three cycles, plus their 50 pt climb and dump, ON AVERAGE. This sort of bar-raising on a consistent basis means not only do the second tier have to be great, they too must continue improving to remain competitive.

There is definitely a LOT of cross-breeding of mentors and students among the Ontario teams. It would be an interesting thought experiment to tie them all back together in some kind of a map. Most teams in Ontario have identifiable ties back to 188 through either 1114, 2056, 2809, 1310, 610, and more. There are a LOT of mentors in Ontario who've been doing this for a long time, many of them not with their original teams anymore. I can think of several who've moved among the powerhouses, and some that have moved to create new powerhouses. 4343 has me, and my 10 years on 1075. 4039 has another former 1075 student. 4476 has a former 610 student. There's many more, I'm sure.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

It was a wonderful experience for me at my first ever IRI event and I would like to thank Team 1310 for giving me the opportunity to come along and share my knowledge in the strategy and the scouting sub-teams. I was glad I was able to help out the team with my past years of experience with Teams 188 and 610.

And following up J-No's post again, and not just for this year (but I finally noticed it), mentors here try to be involved with multiple teams during the season to spread the ideas and bring to each team what a new look and a new set of concepts to work with. Personally, I have mentored Team 610 for the past two seasons and helped out teams 1241, 1310, 4039, 4069, and 4476 at different ONTO events with their pick lists.

And the assimilation of the multiple ideas has helped make Ontario teams a force to be reckoned with.

I am proud of what all the Canadian teams have accomplished and we'll see to it that the follow-up next season is at par or better!

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Isn't it time to stop referring to Ontario's (or Canada's) "second tier". 1114 and 2056 (and many other teams) build excellent robots and have great teams but I don't think it's fair to go on about how they set the bar higher etc. If they weren't around would any team feel they could slack off on their design? We design and build the best robot we can with the resources we have - regardless of what other teams are doing.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

Although this is what teams should do and many teams do it, the motivation that comes from knowing that the only way you will make it to the champs is by defeating a powerhouse can be quite powerful. There are some regionals im sure that there are know powerhouses that attend and so although you try and be the best you can, in the back of the thier mind they still know that they only need to defeat a team that is only so good to make it to champs. Also by having a powerhouse team local to you, it is much easier to see just how good they are to give you a scale of how good your bot needs to be.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I can only assume that when you have two teams who show up to your events every year kicking your butts, there is just a point when you sit down as a team and say "I'm kinda sick of this. Let's be better next time." By being dominant, 1114 and 2056 are pushing every other Canadian team to have that conversation and work that much harder.

It's a wall that continues to get higher (I can't be the only one who thinks 1114 and 2056 are improving with the rest of their community to stay at the top of their game), so teams need to work harder to climb the wall each year.

Of course, it also doesn't hurt when one of the teams doing the butt kicking is a Championship Chairman's Award Winner notorious for striving to improve every team in the world, and the other one was mentored by the first one and seems to be well on their way to the same thing.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I'm just going to start off by saying I feel kind of wierd writing this post as a student on a U.S. team, because I can't say for certain what makes great Canadian teams tick; I'm not on one. But I do want to try to relate my knowledge to the situation up in Canada. Also, I understand that what I'm saying might not be true for your team.


I agree that the best robots in Ontario besides 1114 and 2056 can't be called "2nd tier", at least not after the amazingly strong showing they have had these past few years. And I don't believe that without 1114 and 2056 Canada would "slack off" in their designs. What do believe is that without them, many (but not all) Canadian teams would have different goals for how competitive they want to be.

Teams can't truly know how good of a robot they have the capabilities to build. On kickoff day, people don't say "given our resources, we will be able to build a cycler that can make 5 cycles per match and has a 30pt climber. In between our first and second regional, we will be able to add a dumping mechanism, although we will miss a practice match to install it." No matter how hard you try, you can't really know what you have the ability to build. So smart teams will gauge what they think they can do, and then they will look at what their goal is (robot-wise). A worthy goal for rookie teams is to play in elims. For some teams it is to win a regional. But for the best of the best, it is to win the world championships or IRI. For those teams whose goal is to win a regional, and up until the wild card system for those who wanted to win the world championships, the teams to beat were 1114 and 2056. So, if you wanted to beat them, you were going to have to build a really good robot, perhaps a little better than you think you are capable of. You will push yourselves slightly beyond what you think is sensible, because that it what it takes to accomplish your goal. If there is no 1114 or 2056, than teams with a lot of resources who want to win a regional would probably opt to build on the safer side and make sure that their robot is working well with plenty of driver practice, because pushing themselves any further is just a risky and unnecessary move. Also, this sets off a chain reaction, so now the teams who were motivated by 1114 and 2056 to do better are motivating other teams to do the same.

Another part of it is teams decided how hard they want to work. Now, I am just as insanely and blindly devoted to FRC as the next guy who is posting on Chief Delphi in the middle of July, if not more, but even I have to admit that there is a point where it becomes too much work. My team probably hit that point last year, and its just not a good thing to do. So if a team doesn't need to work 10,000 hours a week in order to accomplish their goals, its not a bad thing if they decide to just work enough hours that their peers think they are only moderately insane. I would not look down upon a team for doing that.

So, that's my theory that 1114 and 2056 have a huge impact on FIRST Canada. I'm sure it's not true for every team, some teams have different goals than to win a regional. But from my experiences I find it hard to believe that what I've written isn't true for some of Canada's newest members to the top tier. So, please, I'd really like to hear from some more Canadian teams on this subject.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

The big brother teams keeps us motivated, 2056, 1114, 610, 1241 and 188.
It's amazing when the old guards leave and I have to develop new students, how locked in they get just by watching these teams performance through the years. 1114 and 2056 inspire us, with their willingness to help teams in the pits. I personally, is amazed by team 2056 robots throughout the years, because I am next to them, I get a birds eye view of there robot, they must be getting ET help (LOL), there robots are awesome. The professionalism that this team displays in their pits is commendable, I always point that out to our team members.
We have no mentors, so we adjust, and huge responsibilities are put on these kids back, they carry it like men.
Team 2056 and 1114 tried their best at GTA West Regional when everything that could go wrong went wrong.
We did not roll over, we licked our wounds and went back into our Manufacturing Workshop and built 3 new drive systems that we are experimenting with, we want to develop something new. We are motivated because I believe 1 day we could be World Champions, and these teams are our measuring stick. :cool:

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I don't think so. The truth of the matter is that 1114 and 2056 are both significantly stronger than their nearest competition in Ontario. Teams like 1241, 610, 188, 1334, 1310, 4001, 4343 and more just aren't as strong. With good strategy and luck 1114 and 2056 can be beaten by them, but the strength to do it consistently is not there. Indeed, at ONTO this year, the #3 (4343) and #4 (1241) seed had a combined OPR of 87.0. #1 seed (2056)'s solo OPR was 86.8.

These '2nd tier' robots, for lack of a better term, are definitely strong enough to be considered powerhouses in their own right, when playing elsewhere, but up against 1114 and 2056, they really don't compare. Not yet. The gap IS closing though. 1114 and 2056 are already stretching the limits of what is possible in each FRC game. The '2nd tier' are consistently getting closer to that point as well.

If 1114 and 2056 did not exist, I do believe that the rest of Ontario's teams would not be as strong as they are. Winning events in Ontario would not require the same level of competitiveness, and so teams would opt for safer, more easily achieved strategies. I would even go so far as to suggest that 1114 and 2056's influence has driven many Ontario teams to have a better program in terms of better fundraising to build a better robot, and to travel further and in general have a greater impact on their students. I don't think 610, for example, would have as strong a program as they do without that influence.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

While it is evidently true that both 1114 and 2056 provide a great deal of motivation to teams and allow for them to aim for something much higher, I do not agree with some of the statements.

I have now been a part of teams 1241 and 188, as well as have seen the way other teams like 1310 function. I would like to point out that these teams don't design a robot to "beat" 1114 and 2056 as a personal vendetta. These teams from day one are concerned with winning the Championship, a regional win is really just the penultimate venture. 1114 and 2056 have the same idea, they also want to win on Einstein, but the fact that we are all trying to get there and have do it over each other on the same field makes it more difficult.

That being said, there have been a few regionals in the past where 1114 and 2056 have either not competed together or at all. That's not to say that the teams there will build less competitive robots just because they don't have to beat "powerhouses". In-fact team 610 this year won the BAE event and it was the first event they attended. They didn't build a less competitive robot to win BAE and then change it for when they had to play 1114 and 2056 at Waterloo.

I believe that sometimes people misunderstand how 1114 and 2056 inspire and motivate. There is always going to be the pride of beating them in Ontario for any team that finds a way to do it. However, the real motivation and inspiration is drawn from how well engineered and thought-out their robots truly are. That is why they make teams want to try to build better robots, they show every team that it can be done. Every teams tries to build the best robot they can (why wouldn't you) but these 2 very special teams build robots that just make you go "wow".

Don't get me wrong winning and Ontario regional (over 1114 and 2056) is top of my bucket list, and when it happens it will be something I will always remember.

EDIT:
I am aware that 610 changed their robot for waterloo by adding a floor pickup, and it was because they thought it would help them win waterloo. The reason though was to help them seed first, not to specifically beat 1114 and 2056. Seeding first would mean to break up 1114 and 2056 and possibly work with one of them.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

The answer to this question lies in team 188.

There is one thing they do better than any team in all of FIRST: producing mentors.

Mark Breadner
Roly Anderson
Karthik Kanagasabapathy
Tristan Lall
Ian Mackenzie
Shankar Manoharan
Steve Warren

...and those are just the people you've heard of... WFAs, WFFAs, VoYs aplenty

Kajeevan Anantharajah
Hinkel Yeung
Honson Lam
Karsin Lam
Parth Patel
Shifa Abbas
Carol Huang
Pranit Trivedi
Sharven Muralidharan
Leo Qu
Priyank Purohit
Waqar Muhammed

...and there are plenty that I'm missing. These are just some of the individuals who are actively mentoring other FRC teams currently, and I can just about guarantee there are many more WFFAs in the waiting on that list.

There are countless more who are serial volunteers (but not active mentors), who attend competitions religiously, and who still find a way to stay connected despite leading very busy lives.

The program continually produces exceptional people who remain dedicated to the FRC program. 188 has always produced pretty good robots, but their true strength has always been in building people...

All these people have had a profound effect on our program here, and they in turn have inspired others to do the same. Producing strong alumni like 188 is a pursuit that every team should model, including ours, and you're seeing the effect spread throughout Ontario.

Speaking from experience, I've had the opportunity to be around young alumni mentors from 188, 610, 1241, and 1310. Spend 5 minutes with them, and you'll quickly understand why the program is flourishing up here. They are simply great people, knowledgeable, hard-working, passionate, who are a pleasure to be around, and I'd take any one of them to build an FRC program around in a heartbeat.

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I wasn't trying to suggest that the '2nd tier' sets out with 'beat 1114/2056' as their goal. That's definitely not true. I'm reasonably certain that for most teams, the goal is to build a machine that can inspire its students to careers in STEM fields, and hopefully win some events along the way. Its most definitely NOT a vendetta against 1114/2056. Its simply historically been a reality in Ontario, that if you want to win an event here (as alliance captain or 1st pick), you must build a machine that can outperform them on the field.

You're absolutely correct that a huge part of why the '2nd tier' has improved so much is not as much a direct result of striving to outperform 1114/2056, but rather a result of the '2nd tier' getting front row seats on a consistent basis to learn exactly what makes a Simbot or OPbot tick.

Over the years, I've watched numerous technologies in FRC robots make their first appearance in Ontario aboard a machine made by 1114 or 2056, followed by variations on the same concept by the '2nd tier' either later that year, or in future years with similar goals. This is true even of new parts, like the plastic air tanks, and Colson wheels.

EDIT: Mr Lim is also HUGELY correct. Mentors are what makes a powerhouse tick. 1114 has Karthik, 2056 has Tyler Holtzman, 217 has Paul Copioli, 148 has JVN, 188 has Roly Anderson, and countless others, 610 has Mr. Lim. 188 helped build many of these passionate mentors that have gone on to other teams like 1310, 2505, 2809. (Yes, I realize many of these teams have far more great mentors than just the immediately identifyable face)

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

I don't think Minnesota teams have discovered the power of Maple Syrup yet. :p

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

This is an amazing "secret sauce" in Canada... It sounds like a great opportunity for the rest of us to learn more about how 188 builds people/mentors... perhaps a white paper or a conference topic?!?! :D

Re: Canadian supremacy
 

From my knowledge, I can understand where that point is coming from. This year as most people know 188 was out of commission due to the Ontario teacher strike. However, their mentors were so passionate about the program that they reached out to other teams and joined them for a year to not only help the other teams but to also help them grow as mentors. You can evidently see this on two of this years championship teams. I know personally of many mentors from 188 who joined teams 1241 and 610 this year in their championship run. I can confidently say that I am sure they were one of the biggest impacts on their respective teams this year.

Just as 1114/2056 has motivated other teams to step their game up, 188 is equally as responsible. They were the team that started it all, they have grown as a community not only in their school but nationally too. I cant wait to see how strong they come back next year. They will definitely be a force to be reckoned with. After all they are the Blizzard.