[NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

Time to get the thread started on the Southington District Event!

Saturday, March 22nd - Sunday, March 23rd 2014
Southington High School
Southington, CT

All of the official information can be found at:
http://www.nefirst.org/portfolio/ct-southington/

Of course the webcast for the event will be located here:
http://new.livestream.com/nefirst2/ct-southington

I can't wait to see everyone there!

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

Final info for volunteers was sent out today. Will additional hands be needed for Field Assembly? If so I'm not sure I can stay long.

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

Team 195 is very excited for this event!

Here are the current teams attending:
151-Tough Techs
155-The Technonuts
173-R.A.G.E. (Robotics & Gadget Engineering)
175-Buzz Robotics
178-The 2nd Law Enforcers
195-Cyber Knights
213-The Dirty Birds
230-Gaelhawks
558-Robo Squad
999-MechaRams (Cheshire Robotics and Sikorsky Helicopters)
1071-Team Max
1099-DiscoTechs
1699-Robocats
1735-Green Reapers
1768-Robo Chiefs
2064-The Panther Project
2067-Apple Pi
2785-Prometheus
2836-Team Beta
3104-The Cyber Rams
3146-GRANBY GRUNTS
3461-Operation PEACCE Robotics - A 4-H Youth Robotics Team
3464-Sim-City
3466-VI Kings Robotics
3525-The Nuts & Bolts of Fury
3634-Hard Botties
3654-TechTigers
3718-Junkyard Battalion
4055-N R G (Northwestern Robotic Gearheads)
4572-BArlow RobAutics
4628-Sintian Robotics
5129-Digital Devils

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

Good luck hosting your first event 195. We are always really excited about the idea of hosting an event at SHS when I was a student, so it is cool to see it happening!

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

I will be attending to scout for Hartford good luck to all teams involved

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

After a great success in Groton, the NE FIRST Communications Team will once again be running the:



So get tweeting using the hashtags #OMGSouthington and #OMGRobots!

The Techtigers can't wait to go to Southington. We made many improvements after Groton. Can't wait to see you all there :)

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

Here is the pit map for the Southington event.


Attachment 16600

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

With only a few days left to prepare FRC558 is excited to get back on the field.
Good luck to all teams, and feel free to stop by and talk.

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

Trey, gym floor cover is starting at 10:30 and I think field assemble is starting at noon.

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

T-24:30........and counting.

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T-30 minutes.

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

T+1 hour.

Thank you to Southington for putting on a terrific inaugural district.
A big tip of Jack's hat to Sandra Brino. The Woody Flowers nomination is but a small token of our gratitude for the complete package that you and your many dedicated colleagues delivered.

Congratulations to Team 195 The CyberKnights, 558 Robo Squad, and 999 The MechaRams. Your awesome third Finals match was a clinic of offense and defense.
999 were Rookie All-Stars back in 2002, and got their first trophy today.

Kudos to the Finalist alliance of Team 230 the Gaelhawks, 2836 Team Beta, and 4055 Northwestern Robotics Gearheads.

I love the district model and this game, for all of it's contrivances and difficulties, has a great flow with emphatic peaks when played well.

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

Did anyone record the order of alliance selections?

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

My livestream feed died partway thru selections as well as several other times during the day. Irksome to say the least.

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

Not to mention some really cool moments, like the two balls colliding in mid air over the truss, or the ball getting stuck on top of the truss and the refs having to shake it off!

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First: Congratulations to Chairman's award winner 558! I think no more popular choice could have been made among Connecticut teams.

Second great job by competition winners and all competitors for making a great and entertaining District.

And finally to Sandra and the rest of 195, and volunteers - what a great, well run event!
The district model is living up to its promise.

Next week: Hartford.

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This weekend was amazing!!! We saw some great action out on the field!!! I am so happy to so many familiar faces as well as new faces as our district continues to develop. I am also very privileged to be part of the team that has hosted this event and I am extremely thankful and grateful to all of those who participated and made this one of the most memorable days in my robotics career. Thank you to all those who helped out and thank you to everyone who was unable to make the event, but supported their teams and other teams as the competition unfolded. I look foreword to seeing all of you at future competitions!!! Thanks for a great event!!

"tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, Involve me and I learn" - Ben Franklin

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As I lay here after a long and exhausting weekend, I'm so overcome with emotion I'm not sure where to begin. Our team has had a lot of exciting moments in FIRST, but nothing quite comes close to what we experienced in Southington this weekend. I'm not sure where to begin, but here goes:

To our friends at 195: our real journey toward success in FIRST began with you in 2007, and we were honored and privileged to win with you again today. You were a pleasure to work with then, and you were today. Let's not wait another seven years to do it again :)

999: You filled your role to perfection, modifications and all. To be able to adapt so quickly to a new strategy is a testament to the strength of your drive team.

4055, 230 and 2836, we've played with all of you in elims in the past, and, as we expected, the final three matches today were epic. Everything a final should be. You're class acts, all three. And Vogl, you can have lobster now.

To Rob, Sandra and your crew, you guys hosted an excellent event. You'd never know it was your first time. For the most part, things went smoothly, and when they didn't you handled them expertly. Thanks for all your hard work. Now get some sleep. :)

Finally, to our friends at team 228, GUS. I said it to you today and I'll say it again: YOU are our inspiration. Our role models. When we looked in 2007 to become a stronger, more well-rounded team, we looked to you. It's because of your example that we were able to accomplish what I never truly believed we could: win a Chairman's Award. Thank you for all that you do, and for being a model to show smaller, financially limited teams like ours that we CAN become beacons of FIRST.

I would like to thank the Cyberknights for making a great events. My team made a lot of milestones as this event: first alliance pick ever. Even though we lose in the quarterfinals , we still had a ton of fun. Congrats to the winners, finalists, and 558 on the Chairmans award.

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

I would like to thank Team 4055 for picking us and recognizing the value of our 2-ball autonomous. This was a great alliance that showed what team-work can do. We almost pulled it off and certainly gave the winning alliance a run for their money.

I would also like to add my congratulations to Team 195 and their partners 558 and 999. You were a force to be reckoned with but we did our best to make you work for your victory. And also to 558 for their Chairman's Award... great job!

I would also like to compliment 195 on running the event and opening up their school to all of us. It was lots of fun and well done. Also props to 228 for all their volunteer efforts to help staff the event and running the concessions. You guys are both role models.

On a lighter note, if the footage of the truss shots that bounced off each other doesn't make it into every Aerial Assist highlight real then people are missing out. LOL :yikes:

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Every so often at these events you find an alliance that is firing on all cylinders and whose drive teams, pit crews, strategists and mentors all work so well together and compliment each other. That happened on Sunday and it was a blast to be a part of. 558, 999 and 195 had three robots that performed consistantly well together and the psycology of their members was in-sync throughout the elims. Among the best alliance syngergy I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of. Thank you!

Thank you our friends the 'hawks, NRG and beta for the tough competiton, you forced us to bring our very best to the table in Southington. You guys make a heck of a team.

A huge thank you to every single person that helped pull that event off - as a Southington alum ('05) and a former 195 student member it was incredible to see New England FIRST take over those halls. Amazing.

PS: .gifs of Gino Brino (yup, Gino Brino) dancing soon to come.

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

If theirs any video of the matches, PLEASE POST!

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I don't think a single match made it up on the archive section on the Livestream account. The only hope is that some teams there took some video

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I prefer "Gino Brino's the Man!". Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T95nzozh-o#t=133

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Where's the "Like" button?

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As a volunteer at this event, I really enjoyed working with all the teams. I hope I made the Pits a bit of a more exciting place to be! Although next time, I wouldn't mind a few more creative part requests over in Pit-Admin ;)

Congratulations to all the teams who attended! I can attest to seeing everyone working so hard throughout the competition to improve their robots, while keeping to the Gracious Professionalism attitude! :D

Also to all the Volunteers, you were a great group to work with, and I enjoyed every second of it!

Good luck to all those who have future District events and to those who move on the the District Championship! Let's show St. Louis what New England has got!:cool:

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1st of all congrats to 195, 558 & 999 for being the champs at [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event. HI-5 to finalists 230, 2836 & 4055! This was my 2nd official Field Super event & I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. There were so many great volunteers & moments to remember. I'm so glad Jack Kentfield received the Volunteer of the year award. Jack really puts his ALL into it.
As always nothing is perfect. There were some minor issues, which were resolved & life went on. I strive to try & give everyone a happy experience. I am honored to be able to help these students further their life experience in a positive manor. Onward to a lessor but still exciting role in Hartford next weekend and after that, I'll see all you magnificent teams at Boston Champs!

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Livestream and NEFIRST are failing miserably. Archiving is not working very well for the CT events. There is some useable footage for WPI and UNH though. Whoever is doing this needs to consult on the matter SOON. Please?

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Denise,

I couldn't have been happier about the team's Chairman's win. You guys have been overlooked for many, many years now. Well deserved and long overdue. I know that your team has taught the Gaelhawks and myself a lot about what it means to be a FIRST team both on and off the field. I'm still glad to count myself as part of the 558 family and I should really be the one to bring you lobster.

Great job CyberGus and everyone else involved in fielding a fantastic District event!

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You'll always be part of our family, Rick!

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Slowly recovering from this weekend, but it was such a blast.

Congratulations to 558 on the Chairmans Award, it's so well deserved!

1735, I was so happy to see you guys win Engineering Inspiration, also very well deserved.

To 558, 999, and 195, congratulations on becoming District Champions.

To all the teams, thanks for being so great with our crazy traffic flow. It was a little complicated to make things work with the gym, but I think we got it to work pretty well, and that's largely due to the great cooperation of the teams.

Thanks to all my fellow volunteers for coming out and spending your weekend at the event. I enjoyed working with all of you. I want to give a shout out to my queueing crew, Diane, Charlee, Amanda, and Gerri, for being so great this weekend. We had some interesting challenges, but these guys made it work.

Lastly to the entire planning committee, (Rob, Karen, Kasia, Stacey, Sandra, Jack, Kathie, Bob, and Misty) guys thanks for your tireless work on this event. It came out amazing, and you all should be so proud of yourself.

See you guys in Hartford in a few days. :p

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

The toughest part about that Chairman's Award was the fact that someone was cutting onions in the stands near 558/on the field while it was being read out. At least that was the excuse I'm going to use ;)

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Eric,

This was such a great moment for our team, that I think most of us would own up to it.
We had such a great time this past weekend in Southington, and for it to end the way it did... well it was amazing.


As always we caught up with old friends, made some new ones, and came home with a lot of great memories - and even more motivation to expand our program.

Thank you to all that were involved in making this such a great event.

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

In one of the last matches, I'm not sure of the number. It looked like 175 was pinned for longer than 5 seconds. Was I mistaken? Perhaps the two robots were dancing around in the same direction.

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Even though I was only able to referee for Sunday (my team was competing at RIDE), I want to congratulate everyone on all their amazing successes at Southington! I only heard positive things about the whole event from everyone I have talked to! I know we as a ref crew definitely had some hard calls to make as the matches were very intense. Congrats 195, 558 and 999 on the win, as well as 230, 2836 and 4055 on the finalist. Also, congrats to everyone on 558 for the District Event Chairman's win. I know first hand how much everyone on your team does, and it is a well deserved honor that was given to you here. Also, congrats to my dad, Jack in the Hat, for receiving Volunteer of the Year! Even though my father was recognized for his outstanding efforts in the FIRST community this year, he by far is not the only volunteer to go above and beyond. Thank you to all of the volunteers this year! Out of all the years I have been involved in FIRST, since 2000 as an FLL kid, I know this year has been difficult on all of us in New England. Just like we endure the long winters, we will persevere through it! I am so excited to see so many new faces on these volunteer crews!

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

The refs reset our minds after each match, so I can't say that I remember any particular instant anymore, and I may not have been watching that area of the field. But I will say that we had all hands on deck (6 refs + 1 head ref) during the finals, and we were watching very carefully for pinning and other penalties. Most likely if it appeared to be pinning but wasn't called that way, 175 was considered to have a way out or wasn't trapped or wasn't backing away when they had the chance or something like that. Again, I can't pick out this particular instance in my mind, but I promise we were being as attentive as possible.

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I think the refs absolutely crushed it at this event. Fantastic job done by all expecially in light of the 11th hour rule update.

I was not always happy with the way the chips fell on some calls, but after reading through the rule book after each - I agreed that I would have called it the same way.

REALLY appriciate the effort - this game demands it.

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

Where can I start? First off I'd like to thank everyone for their positive remarks and especially for comments from our two alliance partners teams 2836 and 230 and all three of the winning alliance teams, 195, 558 and 999. We never thought we would make it as far as we did but our partners proved to be all we expected when we picked them and then some.

The matches were all great, the competition was fierce and the CyberKnights ran a great event!!!!

Thanks to all the teams, volunteers, judges and everyone else that made this weekend happen.

Not only was the two ball hitting each other over the truss unexpected, what about the ball on top of the truss wobbling back and forth?

Also we would like to thank team 181 Birds of Prey for welding our pickup arm together the weekend before Southington. We could not have does this well without your help. Thank You, Thank You!!!!

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Gino and I left for Aruba about 8 hours after the event finished. We had some good travel time to contemplate the day. Now, finally rested and back on line:)

To our friends on 558, it was an honor working with you. the 195-558 combo this year was fantastic from both a robot perspective and how our team members and mentors work together. We loved working with you guys....FINALLY! haha.

To our friends on 999: we know the struggles you had this season. You deserved this win for your hard fought battle through not only the matches but build season itself. "never give up" should be your new team motto because you showed how persevering through adversity really pays off. You executed the game strategy to perfection!

4055, 230, 2836: Your alliance gave us an incredible fight. Fighting through your defensive play gave us quite a battle. Boston should be an awesome ride! We hope to see you all there!

558: Of all the events of the day, we couldn't be prouder and happier of 558 winning the Chairman's award. So well deserved for team that gives their all to the community and youth.

To the volunteers: THANK YOU FOR MAKING THE SOUTHINGTON EVENT AN AMAZING EXPERIENCE. Having never run a FIRST event before, I was a total novice and you all taught me a lot about how it's done and the true dedication it takes to "make the magic". Hoping to work with you all again next year......hmmm good reason to buy a new gown!

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As the head of media for Team 195 I have just about every match recorded in HD from our personal camera with just a static full field view from our stands. I am working on getting those uploaded, but homework has piled up and finding time is difficult. For anyone who sees this, keep checking back on this thread and I will update you when all the matches are up

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Kyle, thanks so much for all your hard work! Can't wait for the video. But homework comes first :)

Re: [NE FIRST] 2014 Southington District Event
 

If you have a big chuck of video and need to cut the matches out, I wrote some python scripts to make it easier. Shoot me a PM if you need a hand getting started.

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So far it looks like Kyle has just about all the Team 195 matches up.

You can probably check on his youtube page to check when the others come up as well.
http://www.youtube.com/user/KBFRC195