[enpurx]

Hmm... this is an interesting question.

We won the "Highest Rookie Seed" award even though team 2047 had a better bot than us, and we won the "Judges Award" for all the obstacles we had to overcome in order to finish the bot and make it to the regional.

I don't feel bad about winning the "Highest Rookie Seed" Award because our team made the best bot it could provided our circumstances (no mentors/teacher support, no place to build the bot, no way to make trips to get parts, and only a saws all and hand drill, etc.). Unfortunately, we had no idea that our lame 12" ramps and puny arm wouldn't stand a chance against any other team in the regional, but we got lucky with seeding alliances (we were paired with 111 numerous times) and made it to 5th place and became an Alliance Captain (we lost in the quarterfinals after 4 matches).

I loved the rush I got from being on the field during the elimination rounds, and I'm not sure if I would give that up if I had a chance to do it over. Plus, our team put up some good defense and our alliance brainstormed to develop some great tactics. On the other hand, I value the "Judges Award" more than the "Highest Rookie Seed," but I know my schoolmates feel the opposite. People would rather hear "champion" than "participant," and it hurts me to think about how much work everyone in FIRST has to do put in that goes virtually unrecognized by others if they don't bring home some metal.

As for recruiting new members to the team, I personally would not want kids on the team just because they want to be on a team with a winning record. I want kids to participate because they want to learn something new or foster their passion for robotics. If that means we will forever have a team of 12 kids or less, so be it. My theory is that it would be easier to recruit people to a well-known team with a line of great looking/functioning robots anyway.

People shouldn't be so quick to degrade the teams that "piggybacked" to Atlanta because they don't know how much work those teams had to put into their robot in order to get it how it is. That being said, I'd still choose number 1.