Favorite part of regionals?
 

I just got back from Palmetto Regional, and oh my gosh was it fun! which got me to thinking: what's the best part of a regional competition? is it the wild first day, where you're settling in and getting your bearings? is it the second day when you go scouting - and then the social, in a category all on its own (duck duck goose and ninja for the win!!)? or is it the third day, watching the final few qualifiers and waiting with nervously clenched hands for the elimination rounds?

personally, I love the fact that I have so much in common with total strangers on other teams. FIRST is like a huge, international family, and I love that to pieces!

what about you guys? what's the best part of an FRC regional, or even the championships? :)

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

I love the variety of robots. Seeing every team's genius engineering, and the exchanging of "We should have done that!", and "You know, I think we'd make a pretty good alliance!". I love all of the excitement, and how all possible opponents are willing to help you whenever you need it. Those are just a few of the things I love about regionals.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

My favorite part, besides the fun atmosphere, is meeting people from other teams and, like above posters have said, having that one thing in common of being involved with FIRST. Along with that comes just talking about in general how your team operates in comparison to how the other team operates.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

The alliance selection - you can never forget that begging to karma to getting picked (and those rare moments involving those who forgot to go to the bathroom:yikes:)

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

The people. FIRSTers are some of the best people in the world. Over the past year I've met hundreds of new people and made so many new friends. When I go to competitions, my favorite part is meeting up with them and catching up. Sometimes it's just a quick hug or wave as we're headed in two different directions with our teams, and sometimes it's sitting next to each other in the stands, watching matches together and analyzing the game. Always it's a joy to see familiar faces. And so much more fun to compete with and against teams when you are friends with people on those teams. The more people you know and are friends with in FIRST, the more your focus becomes competing with yourself.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

the part where you decide to change all the motors on your drive train and elevator in the 30 minuets before your first match. nothin like a little pressure to start a Saturday. :yikes:

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

The best part is probably going around to everyones pit and asking the drive teams about their robot. Also, it is cool to see the people that you talk to on CD in person.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

haha yeah, luckily for me I've never experienced the last part of that! but totally, the alliance selection is the most gut-wrenching part of competition... also I'm glad I'm not the only one who begs karma for forgiveness just this one time, please, so we can get chosen and go on to the finals xD

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

I think I'm going to say the most "duh" answer, but I love the competition. Granted FIRST isn't all about winning, but something about winning a close match or winning a match that we shouldn't have won gets to me.

I also enjoy talking about specific designs and learning how some teams tackled a design challenge. For my 5 year FIRST history, I have yet to show to a competition and not be surprised by some of the presented solutions.

- Sunny

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

My favorite part of the regionals is Saturday afternoon elims.
My least favorite part is the Thursday drudgery that has to be endured for the sake of Saturday,

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

For me its meeting people.

As far as the event goes, something about the awards I've always enjoyed -- sometimes more so then the matches. Just sitting back and picking out who will win what award, and then watching the team jump up in excitement when their team number is announced is amazing to me.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

i like seeing all the crazy designs and construction methods that people do. i usually take detailed notes on how to improve for next year. i also see how other people manage to be under weight, because we're always 119.9

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

Me... Pretty much the entire experience. It was amazing... seeing all the robots, and all the people just like you who built them. I made some off my best friends the last few weeks at the competition (looking at you 1002). Seeing all the designs is also great. watching the elims is great. FIRST IS GREAT!!!

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

One of my favorite parts (there are many) is early morning on Friday and Saturday before the teams are allowed in the pits. I like to stand at the end of an aisle and look down through all of the pits that I can see and slowly do that with each aisle, absorbing the quiet and the magic of the pit areas and how cool they are - knowing how hard the teams will continue working up through the finals once the pits open. That quiet moment is spellbinding. Every single time.

Jane

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

Definitely alliance selection, we had no chance cuz we were horrible on the last day, but I went up as a sophomore, and we were picked last, and made it all the way to championship round, too bad second doesn't get u to st. Louis, haha

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

For me, its the line dancing, because its fun and is actually pretty relaxing after the stress of competition and meeting with friends from teams that I only get to interact with one month a year.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

I love the dancing we do at competition :) at Peachtree last year, my first ever regional, I went down onto the field with a teammate to do a bunch of dances before one of the matches. twas fun!

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

My favorite part is hearing other people talk about the robots. Its interesting to hear someone be surprised that we can pick tubes up off the ground, when we've only been taking them from the feeder. I forget that not everyone has been with my robot for six weeks.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

My favorite part is swapping "best practices". I've learned some potentially useful things about pit organization and operator console construction this year, and I introduced literally dozens of teams to helpful techniques for troubleshooting pneumatic and control system issues.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

my personal favorite is having a splitting headache and having to go to the bathroom throughout the entirety of playoffs while trying to drive perfectly... Happened at Peachtree and Alamo this year haha

But seriously, Saturday afternoon provides some of the most exciting moments. Playoffs and awards are so nerve-wracking and exciting.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

Being on the driver station and driving the bot.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

Seeing new members of FIRST with that awe-struck look on their face at the end of Friday.

All I can say is: welcome to the FIRST family!

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

Worst part is packing up the crate during the eliminations, everything else is the best part.

I may be weird, but I really enjoy setup/teardown of the field (except for the carpet).

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

My favorite part is fixing your deployment and arm during a 3 match turnaround.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

Being one of the drivers for the team, there's not much else for me to do other than prepare for the next match. That said, I love the job.

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

My favourite part would have to be everything about the competition.

Wether it is the nerve racking experience of driving in the elimination rounds, the excitement of competing against an alliance of 1114 and 2056, fretting over what place we would end up in after qualifications or the extremely long scouting meeting at the end of the friday, I enjoy every moment.

Being just at the competitions is an amazing experience. Based on this, I would have to say my lease favourite part is packing up and leaving the competition after an exiting 3 days.

In the end, every little joy of FIRST competitions put together really make them so remarkable.

Sincerely,

- Austin

Re: Favorite part of regionals?
 

My favorite part is seeing the part you worked on the machine work perfectly. All of the details that other students have been working on coming together into a machine that works gives me a great feeling.

Being able to look at the robot and being like, "Hey! I did that!"