[ChrisH]

Originally we were a combined team with 5 different high schools represented. Many of the students on that original team were from Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and Redondo Beach. Though other cities with romantic names like Hawthorne were also represented. When they were picking the team name Beach 'Bots was suggested but not chosen. I think they were the South Bay Sparks or something like that. Another name of ill-omen.

The next year, for various reasons irrelevant to this discussion, Hope Academy and Hawthorne High decided to have their own teams. Since Hope Academy does not compete in any intermural sports EXCEPT robotics, we didn't have a school mascot to fall back on.

I was at the meeting where we chose the name Beach 'Bots. Somebody remembered the name from the previous year and it seemed appropriate. After all the school is located in Hermosa Beach. It was also non-violent and would offend no ethnic groups.

We weren't particularly successful in competition that year, but everybody seemed to like the name so we kept it the second year. That year we did fairly well in competition, we were in the semifinals at our regional, and placed in the top 10 % nationally.

Since we were starting to get a name, the third year we kept it again and I don't think anyone has even considered changing it since. I certainly don't remember it being voted on after the second year.

Officially our robot is just one of the team and goes by Beach 'Bot X.0 but some years it has a team nickname as well. I can remeber a couple of discussions about whether that year's robot was a "he" or a "she".

I think this year's is definitely a "he".