The quest for being competitive and winning are often confused and misunderstood. I want to challenge myself and my students to constantly strive for improvement. I don't actually care about Wins and Losses. We were ranked 3rd and were finalists at the Orange County Regional and for our team that was a HUGE win. We were so incredibly happy to have had our robot perform how it was designed and to be at a competitive level.
Much like in other sports a teams success on the field are directly linked to their work off of the field. Our team has made numerous changes and improved in several areas. To prepare myself for this year I read a leadership book and one of the things that stuck with me was the following story.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/woo...nd-socks-84177. This article explains it in depth how legendary coach John Wooden started every basketball season by meeting with his team and teaching his players how to properly put on socks and shoes. He doesn't talk about winning championships he focusses on the small things that he can actually control. It is not as binary as winning and losing as there is an infinite level of success.
To conclude, "The robot is a vehicle". Ultimately the robot is a vehicle, not just for learning engineering but for learning life skills. Through First I have learned; how to lose, how to win, how to become a better person, how to lead, and so much more. I can't really remember the matches my teams have won or lost. I can't even remember the specifics of the regionals my team has won and lost. What I do remember is all of the connections this program has made for me and all of the opportunities that I have had because of it.