[saxtonjoshua]

I don't have any really great first events since my rookie year was the 2011 regional. However, our team did great with our robot, the other teams stopped throwing tubes near because we kept hanging them. Our minibot though was another issue. Probably because we are still sort of a rookie team, we don't have the great structure that many legacy teams have. Our minibot did not work right at all, it ran which was great, but it would fall off the pole halfway up all by itself. We scrapped the day before we left, and when we got to the Peachtree regional we completely went back to the drawing board. Team 122 from Virginia had an extra minibot that they didn't need and were kind enough for us to borrow it. We affixed their holder for the minibot to our little "garage" that used a drawer slide to push the minibot out. The first time we went for minibot our deployer wasn't attached properly and it failed. The second time we got in position fairly quickly and our minibot came out and you could hear it clamp onto the pole. My team and I were sitting in the stands across and we kept wondering is it going to work this time. For a brief second the motors turned but you didn't see it move. When they gripped and it went up the pole(the only minibot deployed in that match) we gave a loud shout like someone scored a touchdown or something. With that we believe that we can win next year and we have the confidence for a fighting chance.
I also remember at the social it was like everyone was normal, just kids sitting around having a good time. the karaoke and rockband was interesting, but it was like one big group all together. Some teams even sang together. It's too bad it's my senior year and I now have to graduate. I say that it was the most fun I had had in a long time.