View Single Post
  #2   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 02-04-2012, 22:00
LeelandS's Avatar
LeelandS LeelandS is offline
Robots don't quit, and neither do I
AKA: Leeland
FRC #1405 (Finney Falcons)
Team Role: Tactician
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Rookie Year: 2005
Location: Webster, NY
Posts: 545
LeelandS has a reputation beyond reputeLeelandS has a reputation beyond reputeLeelandS has a reputation beyond reputeLeelandS has a reputation beyond reputeLeelandS has a reputation beyond reputeLeelandS has a reputation beyond reputeLeelandS has a reputation beyond reputeLeelandS has a reputation beyond reputeLeelandS has a reputation beyond reputeLeelandS has a reputation beyond reputeLeelandS has a reputation beyond repute
Re: Moments that make it worth while.

I'm glad to hear members of your team have been so impacted by FIRST. Honestly, that's what makes it worth while for me. When the kids love FIRST with all their hearts and cherish every moment they have being a part of it, that's what makes me love what I'm a part of.

I had a similar experience last year. I had been in FIRST for 7 years, starting in FLL. It was my senior year, at my last official event (though I competed in an off-season event, too). It was also my second year as Human Player, so I was on the field as well.

Final match at Buckeye 2011. My team, 1126, and our alliance partners 781 and 1241, against out FLR colleagues, 1559, with 3138 and 3010. We had each won one match, and were going back and forth in the very final match. Well, after some unfortunate luck, we lost by a heartbreaking 3 points. I immediately went to retrieve my teams cart so our robot could be taken off the field, shook our opponents hands, shook the hands of some of our alliance partners, took off my bandanna and field team button... and started crying.

I didn't cry because we lost. I cried because it was time to step down. It was time to let the next generation step in while I moved on with my life. I cried because it would be the last time I looked at my second family after a match, coming off the field, seeing them at the sidelines cheering. I hugged and shook hands with all of my team, thanked everyone I could for everything (choked out between sobs), and went off to the pits with the field team to rest.

What made it all worth while was seeing my team doing the exact same thing. Everyone was hugging and shaking hands, some were even crying. Seeing the kind of emotion the whole ordeal had brought out in my team told me I was leaving the team with a group of kids who poured their souls into what they did. I'm more proud of the students who passionately cry over robotics than those who cheer loudly for it. That's how I know what students really put their heart and soul into it.

I watched students who I had joked around with and practiced with for weeks start crying, and I had never been so happy to see tears. That's what makes it worth it. Seeing the students shed their emotions for it. It how I know we really do something good. We're not just a game, or a robotics competition. We change lives. We change people. For the better.

That's the scene that tells me this is all worth while. That's my story. And I'm getting a little misty eyed just thinking about it.
__________________
My heart will forever lie with SparX
1126: 2008 - 2011; Where it All Began.
1405: 2013 - Present; A Wanderer is Born.

Work hard, play hard. And maybe someday...