Re: The threepeat
 

I couldn't imagine FIRST ever making a rule that you had to go somewhere else to compete for chairmans if you've won it before. Prior to this year, the robonauts have always only attended one regional and we have one chairmans there. It'd be an awkward position if we knew the only way we could continue to compete was if we went somewhere else, almost like we aren't wanted in our home regional.

When i hear the word Regional i think about the region that a team is from. It is my personal belief that with chairmans a team should represent there region when competing at a regional for that award. Traveling to another regional for robot competition is a different story, as it makes more competitive bots.... but traveling to another area of the country for the advantage of having a better chance to win regionals chairmans award seems very unprofessional and almost unfair to the native teams of that region. Here in Texas theres alot of open plains and areas where it is much harder to promote robotics education just because some communities are... behind... the technology curve, but teams still prosper, yet it is harder for them to reach out to other communities because things are so spread out and funding is harder and so on, but in Michigan huge industrials centers and a much larger number of sponsors and other teams, so a team coming from Michigan to compete against the Texas chairmans teams at the same regional isn't a fair competition. You should be awarding the best team in that region based on the conditions of that region, and leave it to the national level to designate which team has the best job across the whole country. Again this is only my personal belief.

Re: The threepeat
 

what about the teams from brazil?

Re: The threepeat
 

An exception could be made for them, seeing that they have no local regional. However, they usually attend one competition each year and that would determine where they apply for those awards.

Re: The threepeat
 

Congratulations to all multiple Chairman's award winners!

This is proving to be an EXTREMELY interesting thread...

We won the Regional Chairman's award in 2002 at the former Canadian Regional. As the first Canadian team, co-founders of the Canadian Regional, and provider of directors, mentors, volunteers, and many other positions required for FIRST to exist in Canada, I believe we were a well-deserving recipient of the award back then. Even today, you would be hard pressed to find Canadian teams and regional events who haven't had some kind of contact/relationship with Team 188 alumni. Just dropping names like: Mark Breadner, Ian Mackenzie, Karthik Kanagasabapathy, Lloyd Burns, Tristan and Jonathan Lall - should be enough of an example.

After 2002 however, our Chairman's award submission became a clean slate. Our Chairman's team actually doesn't use any material that appeared on our winning 2002 submission. It's as if our accomplishments from 1998 to 2002 never existed.

I've been VERY happy with the Canadian Regional Chairman's Award winners in 2003, and 2004. Both of those teams contributed huge amounts to FIRST in Canada, and were VERY deserving of their awards. Our Chairman's award submissions for those years were minimal at best, since we chose not to use any material pre-2002.

I'm not saying we would have won additional Chairman's Awards in 2003 or 2004 had we re-submitted our achievements pre-2002, but it would have changed the complexion of our submission dramatically.

Now are we doing it right? Or are we doing it wrong? Our team seems content in re-building it's Chairman's status from scratch post-2002. We now mentor other FRC teams directly, as well as 6 Lego League teams, and are continually producing alumni who move on to mentor other teams. We might be one of the only teams who's had an alum start a company and come back and sponsor the team... It sounds like we're making good progress!

But the question remains: Are we doing it right? Or are we doing it WRONG?

YMTC!

-SlimBoJones...

Re: The threepeat
 

So, Team Redabot wins Chairman's at the Magnolia regional in '04. They were well deserving of it because they had accomplished many things though out their history and spread the FIRST message. They host off-season comps, mentor FLL teams, 2 rookie FRC teams, volunteer at a retirement home, and teach a teach a science course at their local elementary school.

They didn't, however, win the Championship Chairman's in '04. So in '05 they re-submit to the Magnolia regional. How is any team supposed to compete with them? If they were given the award because of their outstanding team history, they will always have a year up on everyone else. As long as they keep up their program, they will always be ahead of everyone.

Team Blueabot also does a great job spreading FIRST by helping rookie FRC teams, helping FLL teams, and doing community service. Team Bluebot doesn't have the resources to host an off-season comp, or travel to another regional. How are they supposed to compete with Team Redabot? Until Redabot wins the Championship Chairman's, it seems almost hopeless for Blueabot.

Re: The threepeat
 

I need to throw in my own $.02 in this issues since we are a new chairman's winner this year.

Personally, if a team wins chairman's 10 years in a row, it doesn't matter, every team needs a chance to win champs. Sure, if they sit on their butt and keep bringing out the same old history, they shouldn't get it, but continued growth and development should be recognized.

Re: The threepeat
 

Yah I agree totally on that one. We won Chairmans last year and are going for it again this year at a different regional. We have continued to spread the message of FIRST and we can't just "coast" off of the previous two years. If a team continues their initiatives and continues to spread the message of FIRST, sure they can win year after year, just not at the same regional.

Re: The threepeat
 

this thread has taken a strange turn, given that the Chairmans award is there to recognize the team that is doing the most in the spirit of FIRST

this is starting to sound like a T-ball league (everyone hits a homerun, nobody strikes out)

Re: The threepeat
 

I urge everyone who has an opinion on the awards process to bring it to the end-of-year FIRST team forums.

The point here is not that the repeat winners shouldn't be rewarded for their efforts, on the contrary, they should, and deserve to, win a Regional Chairman's Award as long as they are building on their program each year. The point is that FIRST is now accomplishing one of their goals; that there are more and more teams who are of CA-winner caliber. They are out there emulating CA-winning teams. There may be numerous teams who are of that level "competing" for that award at a Regional. And the award process has some flaws.

Unlike the robot competition, which has rules to follow (the robot alliance which best achieves the goal of the game scores the most points and wins), the awards competition is subjective. You don't have rules to follow (in many cases the Award description is rather vague), you don't know who you are competing against, you don't see the submissions of the other teams so you can learn what is being done in your area and so you can learn from them, you can't sit in on the judges' interviews.

Perhaps there is a different way to recognize teams that are accomplishing FIRST goals - maybe by having one team chosen to be the Regional winner but also recognizing other outstanding teams from that Regional as well, "Regional Chairman's Award Finalist" or something.

I would welcome anyone with ideas for improving the process to e-mail me through Chief Delphi.

Re: The threepeat
 

The Chairman's award is an award to recognize the team at a regional that has done the most outstanding job of promoting robotics education and the spirit of FIRST. It's an award for the best and therefore I feel if redateam continues to work as hard as they can and expand there robotics outreach, they should deserve to win the chairmans award in 05 at the magnolia regional even though they won it the previous year. Its unfortunate for Blueateam because they are always at a finnancial and historical disadvantage when compared to redateam. FIRST does have other awards that recognize teams for there efforts in this field, such as Engineering Inspriration and Judges Awards... I'm sure blueateam would be dissappointed not winning chairmans year after year, but just like in all competitions somebody has to win the big prize, and somebody wont win it. It's a let down yes, but if Redateam deserves to win based on their outreach, they should win, regardless of past year's awards.

Re: The threepeat
 

Each year is a whole new year, just like there is a new game for the robots to play in there are new teams for Chairmans. Some teams who win chairmans at a regional in 04 and submitted to it in 05 didn't win, because there was a better team there. 341 won 2 years in a row at Philly, they deserved to win it both years they are an awesome team. They are not submitting to Philly this year, they did it at Chesapeake and Won because they are still an awesome team. If they did submit at Philly I think they could win there too ,since they are an awesome team, again as long as they are the better team. I hope they win it next year and the next year and the next year, if they don't win it at Nats. Just as long as they keep doing the great job they are doing of spreading the message of FIRST
So in the end i want to say, Congrats to 341 and the best of luck to you at Nats.

Re: The threepeat
 

Wow, this thread has changed from what I started it as, however I digress. I think that FIRST lets us win multiple years so everyone spreads the good word of FIRST and engineering and trys to do more and more each year. That is what chairmans is all about, getting out there and teaching and reaching like my good friend Bob Marley once said, Each one Teach one. I have no clue if this relates to anything , but whatever.
~Aaron

Re: The threepeat
 

I heard some organization use to give out a 'humility award' pin

and if you pinned it on your lapel, it dissolved into nothing

the chairmans award is sorta like that, if you set out to win the chairmans award, you wont

but if you do everything you can to promote the mission of FIRST, you will.

and if your only concern is to promote FIRST, it doenst matter if you win or not

right?

Re: The threepeat
 

1108 just won it's second chairman's. 2004-Lonestar, 2005-Purdue.

There is four regionals "near" us. The closest being 4-5 hour drive (St. Louis) and the furthest 14 hours (Houston). So we are not in a real specific region. Winning chairman's in Texas is part of the reason, besides distance, cost, and just developing new bonds with teams, that we went to Purdue. With the chairman's award as one of the qualifier for nationals it was our ticket to go this year. So eliminating that would eliminate a chance for our students to go to Atlanta.

We are a fairly young team..only 3 years. We have a good history but not compared to some like the robonaut (118) and some of the teams we competed with both at Houston and Purdue. I think judges must judge teams on a year to year basis and I think for the most part they do a great job.

Re: The threepeat
 

Why shouldn't a team win 10 times if they deserve it? Cyber Blue won in Phoenix in 2003, and then at Midwest in 2004. After submitting at UCF and falling defeat to KRUNCH, they was a strange aura about the team. Being a junior, this was the first year i had seen the team not win a Chairman's...but, I was incredibly proud of what our team had accomplished that was written in the Chairman's. Teams shouldn't do community service to write a Chairman's, but write a Chairman's to show off their hard work and service. Team KRUNCH is an amazing team, and congratulations in the three-in-a-row, you guys deserve it. I was on the interview team for 234, and I know how much everything that we do means to me. Why does a team need to win a chairman's to be happy with what with they do, with how they help? I would imagine that in a spirit of graciousness, a team wouldn't stay a regional too long to just keep winning, or wouldn't continue to enter in that regional...I think maybe we underestimate the heart that FIRST teams have.