Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

As attested earlier, luckily for the teams at VCU, this isn't a terribly huge issue at our regional. Despite it being a whopping 66 teams, most teams have several other teams they are friends with and cheer them on later. If people stop cheering, it's typically because their voices are gone, and they can't anymore. :rolleyes:
116 has strong relationships with a few other teams, namely 612, 1002, and 1885. 612 is our neighbor team, only about 20 minutes down the road from us. We mentored them their rookie year, but didn't really have much student-to-student contact after that for a while. Last May though we did a demo with them at the Air & Space Museum, and some new friendships formed again. We've since run more demos with them, cheered for each other, gone to our Board of Supervisors together (and are going again), socialized, used their practice rack, went to Dave & Busters, and are planning more demos/activities.
1885 were our alliance partners at VCU this year, and were pitted just across the aisle from us at Championship. Each team kept checking up on the other through-out the event, and we helped each other whenever we needed it. These guys are a class-act team, and we really can't wait until we can compete together again.
1002 had been coming to VCU for years, but we didn't really become closely associated with them until we went down to their home regional of Peachtree in 2006. Our vex teams became very close, and the rest of the team made friends as well.

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

Throughout the years the Hammerheads have always been friends with other teams, but 226 formed a really close friendship with 1447 and 515 this year during our co-build. We call ourselves the Three Scrooges with 226 as Curly, 1447 as Larry, and 515 as Moe. We were cheering for each other, searching for tools through each other’s pits, and just hanging out at WMR so much that our pit partners wondered what was up and someone finally asked me. 226 went to a regional we weren’t competing at to help 515 out and we even had a student from 1447 come to Championships as an honorary Hammerhead.

We told everyone in Atlanta to go talk to one person from some other team, and I know lots of people exchanged emails and phone numbers. That’s what I love about FIRST, everyone is always looking to be friends with everyone else.

I personally know people on 515 and 1447 of course, and 75, 93, 201, 217, 245, 469, 470, 503, 1764… and I’m sure I’m forgetting someone.

I like this Challenge Beth... 226 will plan something for the Detroit area teams this summer!

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

In general, many of the Indiana teams are pretty close. Our team has helped to start many of the teams in the Indianapolis area, and we stay in contact with each other. Of perticular interest are 393, 829, 1529 (our sister school), and 1741. Other teams are 868, 1018, and 1024.

When we win regionals with other teams, we often get to know them better. This year, we met some great friends in 1730, 1555, 545, and 229. We couldn't have hoped for better alliances.

During a match at the Midwest Regional in 2001, our team, with 71, 111, and 269, scored the highest score in the nation (known to us as the 710 match, video here). There will always be a special connection between us.

We host the IRI each year with teams 45 and 393, which is always a great experience.

A final team I would like to mention is the Pink Team (233). We've gotten to know these guys pretty well when you came to stay with us during the IRI. You guys are awesome! :)

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

48 and Team 379 the Girard Robocats have grown much closer together this season, both on the field and off, as we've shared a regional championship, a regional semifinal run, a spot in some offseason programming classes, a bus to toronto, and other positive experiences. Wonderful students and mentors.

48 and Team 2010 the Champion Lightning Bots will be forever linked by our Delphi co-sponsorship. Many 2010 mentors were former 48 mentors, and our kids get along really, really well.

Team 462 the Rambunctious Rams out of Mississippi were our original Delphi Packard sister team. We stay in close contact throughout the build, and we were overjoyed to hear of their double Chairman's/Regional Winner victory in Louisiana. They've made steady progress with their program, and we up here in Warren couldn't be prouder of their accomplishments!

Team 276, the Chaney Mad Cows , have always had a place in our shop during the build season. Their infamous "rotary walker" design was developed and refined in our shop. We are starting to unite all the local teams under one umbrella designed to work together, share resources, and further expand FIRST in our region.

Team 47 - Chief Delphi - we thank you for giving us the fun pleasure of explaining to at least one person visiting our pits at each competition we attend, "No we're not the team that runs the Chief Delphi forums. That's FORTY-SEVEN!! We are FORTY-EIGHT, Delphi E.L.I.T.E., you know, the ugly stepsister team." Geez, it seems like we've been doing that forever! :)

Team 45 - Thanks for hanging in there with 47 and 48 and 49 so long and keeping the Delphi pride alive. We're still here!!!!! Where's 46????

Team 378 - the Delphi Circuit Stompers - We always have a great time when we're together. Go take that awesome double lift to Ra Cha Cha - you might find us there.....who knows????? 1507 has a great bot too - bring them along for the ride.

Team 1038 the Thunderhawks were linked closely with Team 48 this year, both as allies in Pittsburgh and as opponents at Buckeye. They are a great bunch of people, most helpful, the best of sports, and some of their mentors know how to take some really cool pictures!

Team 291 CIA has always been a welcome partner of 48 at the regionals we attend together, and they were a huge reason why we hung up our first regional championship banner this season.

Teams 120 and 1386 are two wonderful Northeast Ohio teams who have always supported us with their kind words. They've been regulars at our pre-ship event in February.

48 also loves Canada and has supported the Canadian Regional/GTR since its inception in 2002. I won't mention any specific team names, but Mark Breadner, Steve Warren, Vance Scott, Karen Rosenthal, and all the other great Canadian FIRST people - all of them have always extended their Canadian hospitality to us as hosts and ambassadors when we've been up there to visit. It seems we always find the most time to hang out with rookie teams at the GTR, so a shout out to all the great kids and mentors we've met and worked with while up North.

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

PoJo <3 MORT
Mort has helped team 1302 from the beginning :D THANKS :D
they always help us out...even when we are against each other in the elimination rounds (twice!)
outside of robotics we used to have pojo n mort movie nites with a few kids from each team i even remember when i was a freshman we left stuff outside ur school for when u guys got back from georgia to suprise you lol

1676
my team leader and i went to give the pioneers a presentation about FIRST when they were first starting out and gave them a couple pointers.....now they have way more resourses n mentors than we do n they always offer a helping hand back

our new friends are 354 the G-House pirates
they were our alliance partners in NYC '07 we had dinner with them in Atlanta and we were in Archemides together so we helped each other out when we had the chance...hopefully we'll get to work with them again in the nyc regional next year for a back to back win :cool:

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

Team 100 is like a second team to me. Last year, when my team wasn't able to go to the Championship, team 100 was gracious enough to allow me to share a hotel room with them, since I was not old enough at the time. I had a great time with them and the treated me as if I was on the team. (I even got a famous 100 hat)

This year was no different. We allied with them at SVR, and had a blast making it to the semi's. 2 weeks later, in Davis, my teams alliance was out after the quaterfinals, and so right away I was cheering all out for team 100. And wouldn't you know it, they won! And by winning, they qualify for the championship again.

At championship this year, I was finally allowed to check into my own room, so I went with my teams programmer and our animator to watch the competition. And it just so happened that team 100 was staying at the same hotel with us. We hung out with them a lot, we ate dinner with their team every night, played card games and tron until past midnight and had a lot of fun in general. Our programmer worked with theirs to try and get their camera to work (which never did :( ), and I gave them advise on how to eliminate their drive train bouncing problem (which didn't end up helping too much, but then Andy Baker was gracious enough to lend us some 8" omni wheels, which helped immensly. Thanks you Mr. Baker!)

To top it off, they gave us 114 people in atlanta all 100 hats and shirts, which we wore proudly. They also gave us team social tickets, which saved me 45 bucks :p

Thank you 100 for making my FIRST experience even better!

Mike C.

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

I don't know about our whole team but overall it is easier for us to connect with ourselves so a team that would be our pals about 30 miles away in.

Yes you guys from C.I.A.

And i personally have a friend from across the state and into another And on here her name is spiffizle

Sorry about any spelling errors

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

I think that 1547 as a whole team is the closest with 296. The past 2 years at GTR we've had a social with them and we all stay in close contact with each other. A lot of the girls on the team are now really good friends with the guys on 296. 1547 also has good terms with 188 as they have let us use their practice field before and offered us suggestions for this years robot. We also have really close contacts with Karthik and 1114. Karthik's always there for us when we need help and we even cheer "WE LOVE YOU KARTHIK" at competitions.

As for individual people, myself and some other girls on the team are close with 1503 as Spartonics let 4 other girls on 1547 bus down to Atlanta with them. I have a lot of friends in FIRST but of all the teams, I'm closest with 237. I can't thank TRIBE enough for letting me stay with them in Atlanta this year and for how much all of them took care of me. Love you guys!

I'd say that one of the biggest things people in FIRST need to realize is that you need to cheer at competitions to have more fun. The happier and more spirited your team is, the more people are going to be willing to come up and talk to you. If your team just sits in the stands, they won't have fun and nobody else will want to come up and talk to them. FIRST always says its not just about the robot and its true. There's a whole other side to FIRST and the social aspect is a big part of it. Try getting your team to stand up for matches and cheer. It'll make a big difference.

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

We in 2230 are quite lucky, I guess.
We learn in a school that students come to school to learn(and now some come just for FIRST...more or less)from all around the country.
The school is in Herzliya, but I'm from Ra'anana, home of 1577 - Steampunks, who are really close to my house and I pay vists to them allot. They helped us allot in the begining and we start creating connections and we are hoping that we will be able to continue ,aking stronger connections with them and mabye even teaming up for the next season(as in planning to be together in the finals).
Another team is 1947 - Black Knight Robotics from Hedera. They helped us have a taste of what the elimination rounds are and we thank them everytime for the opportunity. One of our girls in our team lives there and she meets them occasionaly so we're hoping to tag with them too.
Of course we keep in touch as much as we can with other teams, but frankly it's usually for aid issues or for other projects we're doing(like our magazine[soon to be posted] which somtimes requires the interviewing of some teams). Hopefully we'll be able to get more friend teams. :)

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

I'd have to say that there is a definite bond between all of the Florida teams. It was definitely apparent and amazing at the Las Vegas Regional with the start of the "F-L-O-R-I-D-A!" cheer. And at the Championship, we were all cheering on both 1902, 233, and 179 on Einstein. Who can resist an "Oink, Oink! BOOM!"?

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

The Championship this year was a ton of fun for team 107. For the first time in our history we had the honor to play with our friends from (just down the road from us) Zeeland team 85 BOB in the elimination rounds. They're a class act team. Thanks for the memories!

This is what I love about FIRST. In any other sport Holland Christian (107) and Holland (team 74) are bitter rivals. Not so in robotics. We have a lot of respect for them and enjoyed partnering with them in Chicago this year. Wish we could have gone further Kate.

Team 648 is another good friend of ours. We've shared many good memories the past few years.

We always look forward to seeing and cheering for other West Michigan teams such as 141 and 288. And I can't say enogh good things about the students on team Hammond 71. They put up a great game of laser tag!

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

Our team drivers are pretty good friends with the drivers from 1311 (Kell Robotics).
I think we were the first to get two on their ramps at Peachtree and we hung out a bit at Nationals in between matches. Unfortunately thats about as far as it gets though; our team is pretty far away from them.
Hopefully we can keep this up though and maybe find a way to meet them outside the competitions!

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

My team seems to stay where we are, but I'm trying to push for us to be more involved with other teams. I have already helped out at a few demos with 340 and I hang out alot with 1511. I know that 340 and 1511 hang out alot too and it was awesome last week when 340 saved seats behind them for 1511 so that we could cheer and hang out together.

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

I'm still a wholehearted FREEDOM FORCEer, so im still with 1402

Our friends were

945: our mentors wife was the mentor of this team, we were told to cheer for this team, we were told to watch every one of their matches, and they would watch every one of ours, we would help them set up with off season events and pre ship scrimmages etc.

1604: we mentored barry's team their rookie year, some of our former students are still friends with kids on that team.

1065: one of our mentors left our team after it folded and went over there, so me and the other mentor would watch all their matches and cheer them on.

357: even though their all the way in Drexel Hill PA, their good friends of ours, starting with me being friends with Andrew, we met up at Philly Regional in 05. and alot of our kids became friends with alot of their kids, they even came down to the Florida Regional in 06

343: they picked us with the first overall pick at the Palmetto Regional in 2004, we lost in the quarterfinals, but i won't go into that now, our mentors are friends with each other.

All the other Disney Alliance Teams: we were the ones who held the drive train parties in 04 and 05, and we held the pre-ship event in 06. so we really tried to help out as much as we could, we also mentored a few teams into FIRST including 1557, 1604, 1649, 1694, and a few others.

Team 1402 was a great team, and hopes to return to the field for the 2008 season (even though our mentor won't be there, we will still cheer on 945, bc i will continue that tridition)

Me Personally,

1087: I helped you guys out with your scouting and gave you guys info at the hotel about alot of teams in the Curie Division last week, thanks for your hospitality, and i will encourage 1402 to become friends with you

I will set it out as a goal to introduce my team to many others, i have friends on other teams, hopefully the teams themselves can become friends, just like what 1402 and 357 did, that all started because of me.

25, 75, 108, 173, 180, 229, 237, 375, 771, 1114, 1251, 1345, 1503, 1547, 1680, 1719... the list goes on

I would love to make friends on EVERY team in FIRST, that would really be something.

Everybody knows teams like 1114 and 25 because of their performance on the feild, i know them because of the people they have on the team and how nice those guys are, performance isn't everything, friendship is... I wouldn't trade all the friends i made thanks to FIRST for a regional championship or even a national championship, because in my opinion thats what FIRST should be, your learning with others, might as well have fun doing it together, not individually on the field

Remember there is no I in TEAM

Re: Friend Teams-- The Sweet Challenge
 

The team we probably see the most is team 847, PHRED. We see them at the PNW Regional every year and they go to most of the off-season events we do. They're a pretty cool team! and if either of us had a chance at winning imagery at Portland this year, I think they would have won. Their pit was pretty cool!:D

1983 - Skunkworks has to be one of the coolest rookie teams i've met. They actually beat PHRED and us in Imagery at PNW and we took them into the finals with us. In the few matches we were with them there, they proved to be an awesome alliance partner. 5 weeks later, we find they actually won the Las Vegas regional and were planning to go to championship. I would never have been able to guess they were rookies.

Other amazing teams we met, 997, 955 (you guys had spirit!), 766, 675, 100, 1838 and the team above us in the Hotel (forgot your team number again:o )
You guys gave us an awesome season.:D Hope to see you all next year.