[Mr. Lim]

There are moments in your FRC career where you say to yourself "this is why we do FRC." Arizona provided plenty of those moments, although not for the reasons you might expect.

Not to downplay the robots, but I don't wish to dwell too much on the competition, or the fact that we were finally able to break a 10 year regional dry spell this past weekend by riding the coat-tails of our partners through the eliminations. To finally win a regional was amazing, but...

To be honest... after 842, 1212 and 610 lost F1, to 2486, 498 and 4146, in our subsequent alliance huddle, I wasn't even a tad bit nervous, anxious or upset. Why? Because as long as we tried our best, I would've been more than happy to see the opposing teams win this regional.

An alliance good enough to hit a 36-pt autonomous, where all 3 robots hit 2 shots each, deserves to win a regional (QF 4-1). And saying that doesn't do justice to the quality of those teams off the field either.

The most important aspect of our time in Arizona this past weekend had nothing to do with robots.

I had the pleasure of speaking and interacting with an incredible number of students, mentors and volunteers while at the competition. I really should name them all, as well as their respective teams, but the list would simply be too long. To quote one of our student team presidents (Patrick White), the enduring statement of the weekend was:

"No seriously... EVERYONE was just... so... freakin'... nice!!!"

It was a moment to re-ground ourselves, and to re-evaluate what we truly enjoy so much about FIRST.

Canada is a very different place to compete in than Arizona, and there were many many things we experienced in AZ that I would love to bottle up and take home with us. That's not to say we don't love Canada (we do!!!), but as I talked to team members on the plane ride home about how to take the "next step" as a team, the conversation focused entirely on how we could be more like the teams here - particularly in how they interact off-the-field.

There are so many teams in AZ that exemplify what we want to become, but I have to single out Crush 1011 in particular.

I don't know if I've seen a team exhibit the level kind of pure, genuine, unbridled enjoyment of FRC as 1011. They were simply a pleasure to be around, all day, every day. It is a special team that can make those AROUND them enjoy the FRC experience that much more - regardless of how your robot is doing on the field. That's inspiration, and it's a skill that deserves as much attention as our ability to hit shots in hybrid, or triple balance a bridge, IMHO.

I'm glad I had a chance to experience the importance of that first-hand.

Thanks Arizona!