Competition was intense and we learned a LOT at this competition. We solidified some great relationships with some awesome teams (TORC, Galactek, Trucktown, Tempest) and look forward to seeing them again at other venues.
Unfortunately the battle in the stands is where we lost. We have such a small team that when our bot goes to the pits our whole team, parents and all, goes to the pits. We tried to "save a seat" that we could come back to but our stuff got piled up in a stack before we got back and we got squeezed out. Eventually we gave up and sat over behind the screen where we could only see part of the match and none of the score. While I know and understand there is "no seat saving" allowed, the teams that squeezed us out not only took the seats but they made glaring faces and rude remarks to our team members and parents. They also had totes (yes, actual tote boxes sitting in the seat) and jackets spread everywhere eating up mucho seating area and thus "saving" their seats for them. I guess I do not know why their jackets/totes have more right to sit there, than our fleece blanket except for the rude people guarding over them.
This is our first year and we were ecstatic when our principal showed up and we wanted to show off our robot in competition, but we were unable to find him any seating where he could see so he left before we even got up on deck. This does not reflect well on FIRST, Waterford, or the fellow teams that DO work hard to make rookies feel welcome and promote gracious professionalism..