[72LML]

Threads like this is exactly why I tend to stay off of Chief Delphi. I find it ironic that this post was started by someone who is on a team that is going to World's based on the fact that two of the teams on the winning alliance technically won too many awards therefore creating some Wildcards and allowing other teams to go to Worlds. Maybe you felt like your team won too many awards this past weekend?

This is my second year as a mentor and one of the things that I've learned in the past two years is that every team comes from different backgrounds and has access to different resources. You work with what you have available and do the best that you can. While the competition side of FIRST is fun, to me it much larger than that. When you can watch your kids get excited over building and competiting with something that they designed and built with the resources they have and have it then lead to a passion for engineering, science, and creativity that's what really matters. I don't know about you but that's what I saw a lot of this past weekend at the 10K Lakes Regional. Maybe that's what makes everybody a "winner"? If it is, I'll take that any day over a blue banner.

On a side note, while we didn't win any awards at two regionals we attended this year I am incredibly proud of my kids and wouldn't trade them for anyone else. Even if we weren't on the "winning" team.