As somebody else said...this whole season was one big good memory. We came into the season with several thousand dollars shortfall in funding and in November thought we couldn't even afford to register. The funding came together almost miraculously at the last minute.
Last year we had almost our entire team graduate [including our mechanical lead, team captain, lead driver and lead programmer] and, because of our small team and small school, thought we'd have a tough year. Recruitment was way up though, and I am so proud of how my team pulled together.
I wound up being lead programmer this year, because I was the only team member who had any experience at all with C++. [Helpful hint, learning how to write a Hello World program from 'C++ for Dummies' doesn't help that much with programming FRC robots!] Somehow I and our programming mentor pulled things together and got all the teleop code working really nicely. Every day I was just in awe whenever any tiny bit of the program actually worked
I finished writing autonomous code on the last day before we had to bag our robot. Our mentor wasn't there and I was running around writing line-following code and screaming when it worked....then we had to bag it up. We did not have any time to debug autonomous mode until our regional. By the middle of the day Friday we got autonomous working and wound up with one of the more consistent auto modes at our event. Our programming mentor [herself a recent graduate of the team] and I were high-fiving each other every ten minutes that day.
Friday night's scouting session went on until 3 AM in the girls' room [somehow our lead scouts, team captain, and primary driver were all girls this year]. The scouting team did such an awesome job and really took it seriously. I was proud to sift through paperwork with them at all hours and states of caffeination
We were second alliance pick in elims. I have been lead scout on our team since my very first year [I was your typical public relations kid...I didn't even touch the robot for a year or two]. I love scouting, and we've used the data to plan our upcoming matches, but we've never been able to use our information to pick alliance partners. This year I was down on the floor as team captain, got picked by the # 8 team, and immediately suggested our next pick for our third alliance partner. We wound up with a really strong alliance and I was SO excited to finally use our scouting data.
Our team was so small that almost all of us were on pit crew in the elimination rounds. I have never been on the playing floor at a regional before and I had the time of my life running batteries and such.
Winning in the quarter-finals against the top-ranked alliance was one of the high points of the event for us. I've seen 1983 dominating every year I can remember and I for one was scared about going up against them. Hats off to you guys, someday I want to coach a team that excels in as many areas as y'all do.
Our team was made up almost entirely of rookie students and our drive team had never driven in competition before. They totally rocked it and got hooked for next year.
And there were a couple of other teams who I came into contact with over the week:
[reposted from my blog, so possibly incoherent]
Team 1432: Most of you heard about them in the fall: their school evicted them and there was a national uproar and so on. They rallied and participated in the regional, overcoming a tough start. I was so excited to see them there [I remember being down front standing with a couple of their team members, and being so excited when their robot scored].
Team 753: they had a great showing at the Seattle regional, but were plagued with communication problems all day Thursday and Friday. I talked to their team captain on Saturday morning, who I've known all four years I've been in FIRST, and commiserated. They swapped their router for a new one, and did very well in their matches on Saturday. Cue enthused congratulations on my part
Despite their poor performance on Thursday and Friday they were selected to play in the elimination rounds, which I was thrilled about.
Team 3472: a rookie team, the first Mexican team we've had at our regional. Their pit was right across from ours. They had a tough competition and didn't make it to the finals, but what enthusiasm! What excitement to be there! During the awards ceremony on Saturday they received the Rookie All-Star award. The crowd cheered louder and longer for that award than for any other, I think. We were nowhere near as happy as the team was though, hehehe.
Team 3712: another rookie team who had a tough event, I mentored them by email during build season and popped into their pit throughout the event to help them out and encourage them [and poke my officious nose in their wiring]. A great group of kids. They were so excited when they finally got their robot to drive
Good times rendezvousing with their team in our hotel lobby. I adore swapping stories with other teams. Later their programmer sent me an email to say thanks and congrats, and said that they are excited and inspired for next year. That makes me so happy: another team has been started on the road to success in FIRST.
....somehow, enthusiasm and excitement seem to be cropping up a lot in discussion of FIRST...