[treffk]

I do agree to an extent that robots should be competitive if attending Championships but at the same time I also feel that the wait list allows some teams the opportunity to attend an event they would never make it to based on awards or competition. By allows these teams to attend it honestly can make a world of difference to a team. It can give them the kick in the butt and the connections and friends to turn a less productive team into a kick-butt one.

As a team, 1802 has only attended Championships once in 2008 and that was because we were the Cinderella alliance and won the GKCR. This experience as a high school junior changed my view on how we ran the team the next. It also let me interact with teams that I never had even heard of. Before that Championship's experience I only had local teams to reference from and look up to. Most commonly that was 1108, a now 7 time RCA team, because they were local and I had family on that team. If we had not graduated 8 seniors that year our next year may have gone a bit differently.

Our current team, to put it frankly, is uninspired. We have certain students that strive for excellence for the team and the mentor support to let it thrive but without the kids putting forth the work it will not happen. While I do not personally feel the team is Championship quality I feel the students would be inspired by attending and competing against truly amazing and awe-inspiring teams. Although we have not had the time and money for the team to attend we also would be skeptical of taking the team with their current levels of being uninspired because as much as I am currently in a "sink or swim" mentality when it comes to how the team functions, I do not want them to utterly fail. I think that would be counter-intuitive to what FIRST is about.

If the team had the time and the money I would put up an argument for the team to attend as spectators or volunteers while it is still in STL since it's only 4 hours away. That way they can see the teams who could inspire them, listen to the lectures/presentations and possibly get something out of it and see what they can achieve with a little determination and work.

If you cannot already tell to me the inspiration would not be just seeing competitive robots it is the experience as a whole. The teams you can interact and network with that are considered elite, from another country or even just the HoF teams; the matches you can watch; the presentations and what you can learn; being exposed to all the FIRST programs under one roof. It's every aspect that is inspiring not just a well performing robot.