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I would have to say many of you should take note of what Todd said earlier in this thread. It is healthy for the competition. FIRST has many facets, none of which should be discounted. The spirit of community and learning you all speak of is not mutually exclusive with competition. You'll find despite the competitive nature and trash talk that there isn't a single team out there who isn't willing to help another in a pinch. Many of us have scrambled to help get opponents ready for the next match without even the slightest second thought. Hell, we even get along with 121 when one of us needs help or we're assigned together. The fact that we've traded less than kind words makes little difference to either side; any negativity gets stowed in two seconds flat. That's what many of you fail to realize: competition strengthens the spirit of FIRST by testing gracious professionalism, by making us go against each other one round and then work together 20 minutes later. It teaches us how to compete with people we may not get along with and against those that we do. I'm not defending half the posts that have been made, but I do feel, however, the competitive aspect of FIRST has been getting a nice thrashing it definately doesn't deserve lately. FIRST is a competition; play to win when appropriate but never forget what you already won in those first six weeks.
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