[Xavbro]

Thank you so much for this post. I plan to share this with the team at our next meeting.

This year was a very disappointing year for the team. For the seniors, they were disappointed the most because it was their second year and most of them will be going away to school putting them out of contact with the team for the next few years. I personally was disappointed not by the robot's performance but by seeing the disappointment on some of the student's faces. This is my second year as a mentor and second year of not making eliminations or winning an award. My previous experience was with FRC 2587 the DiscoBots and every year, they seem to be good enough to make eliminations at every event they attend. Last yea, being the TigerBytes' rookie year, we focused more on Rookie All-Star instead of robot performance so not making eliminations wasn't a goal high on our list. This year, we decided to focus on one aspect of the game and attempt to do it very well. Needless to say, that didn't work in our favor and unfortunately the team suffered.

Since we're a young team, I plan to build on these experiences to grow the team and better prepare them for next year. I have a rule that we don't refer to anything as mistakes but instead a learning experience after the fact. This year we decided to work on rebuilding the robot and competing at some off season events not as a "second chance" or a "what-could-have-been" but as chance for the students to learn new ideas and techniques for the next build season.

I'm sure 3337 implements all of these techniques already and the TigerBytes look up to you guys!! You've always been the role model for the teams in the Baton Rouge area and we enjoy working with you guys every year. We were routing for you guys and 3753 throughout the Bayou Regional and we shared the disappointment with you guys at the end of the regional.