[Mark Pierce]

As promised when I wrote in that other thread (which is way too long) here are some additions and reiterations of the great improvements and successes this year.

I should start by saying I agree with almost everything said so far. Andy's list is a great, concise list of my top items I started with when thinking about what to say here.

I liked:

--- the game structures and pieces. Easy for teams to make and easy to move, store and use.
--- The kit of parts: transmission, frame, electronics, other goodies best ever!
--- the emphasis on offense, what defense that was played did not destroy our robot as in previous years.
--- Improved communication, especially in the regular, scheduled updates and the e-mail blasts, and the animation and kickoff video being available almost immediately. Still room for improvement, but a big leap forward this year.
--- New robot rules, especially electronics and vendors. Common sense guidelines help a lot...
--- More autonomous action with the help of some good code samples. Better than previous years..
--- Three versus Three. It provided our scouting team a chance to really show their worth. Watching robots became much more important than watching match results.
--- Both Great Lakes and West Michigan regionals seemed better, mainly in lots of subtle ways that are hard to specify.. I'm glad the Boilermaker regional was a success, but we missed you guys. Save room for us next year please!
--- Atlanta. We missed going last year, but had a great time this year. Overall experience was outstanding, I personally would say better than my last year in Florida (2000) or Houston.
--- Awards in the opening ceremony and mixed in with the finals at the Championship. I remember the long ceremonies of the past. However, please let us know what to expect. We were surprised to see the awards given out Friday morning.
--- Amazing teams on the field and off. Even older teams seem better than ever.
--- Amazing rookies. They came up with competitive robots and whose off field activities challenge some of us veterans to do better.
--- Team 141 moving the Lego League competition they sponsor to our location and asking us to help. It was an awesome experience.
--- Our seniors, some of whom started with the team with me as freshmen, who made this year such a success. We are losing 50% of our students! Fear not, we've got great underclassman and recruiting is going great.
--- The volunteers and sponsors who make all of this possible. I can't begin to thank them enough, but I did see lots of improvements in volunteers knowing their tasks and being helpful at several events. I also see a wider base of support at our regionals.

Is there room for improvement? Of course! "Continuous Improvement" is not a buzz phrase invented by corporate cheerleaders, it's a way of life for technical people. So keep the criticism constructive, praise the things that get better, and figure out how to do as much as we can to help all of us improve! The FIRST organization and volunteers have certainly shown us how to do that this year.