[Ken Leung]

Just a little background for the thread. The concept of alliances was first introduced in the 99' game. Back at 98' the format was still 1 vs. 1 vs. 1. Even though it is very natural for us to think about playing in a 2 vs. 2 game, there were doubts back then.

One of the main concerns was about alliance selection. In the old days, it was all about seeding matches, and you can only go into the finals if you were seeded high. With the introduction of alliances, teams have to worry about picking alliance partners. One of the top arguments was if the top 8 teams should be allowed to pick each other. There are ups and downs on either side of the argument, but I will let you go to the thread and see what people have to say about that.


99' was my first year in FIRST, so as far as I've been around I've always seen the alliances in the competition. So, it's natural to me and never doubted it won't work. Imagine when your are always on your own, and suddenly you have to rely on partners to play successfully in the games. Imagine the first time you hear you will be paired with random partners, having no idea what they will do when you are building the robot during 6 weeks. Just imagine ;-). It adds so much more in terms of strategy in the game, and the feeling of "I might not have the right strategy" grow on you as weeks goes by.

But as the years pass, and people more and more comfortable with the idea, it suddenly become one of the best things FIRST introduced to the competition. I see teams bonding with each other when they haven't before... I see teams trying hard to build robots to compliment other robot's strategies... I see teams cheering with other teams in the cheering section during finals, even when their robot wasn't on the field.

As a teenager, never knowing anything but the "it's either you or me!" mentality, it was something very inspiring when I see long time rivalries coming together working their hardest to win the game together. I learned the concept of team work being more beneficial than one team beating everyone else the first time because of alliances. It's not "I don't like those kids on that team!" anymore. Instead, it is "hey there are some cool people on that team!". I consider that one of my biggest learning experience in FIRST.

And I hope all of you have similar learning experiences.