Why: A mentor suggested it to our team in 2006 (our second year) and it was unanimously decided that we would go.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bongle
What is it like? The first one has a much lower level of pressure ("this is just a warmup, don't worry about it"). You can try out more tactics, there is less of a feeling that you can't try anything novel because if you blow this regional, that's it for the year. The second one you feel much more confident because you have a fairly good grip on what works and what doesn't. There is obviously also the bonus that your robot will generally work better at the second than the first because of fixes you may have applied during the first regional.
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For 1629, this year was the opposite of that. At Chesapeake, we were applying for Chairman's, so every night we would stay up to at least midnight working on our submissions. It's also our "home" regional - the one nearest to us, so we always feel more pressured there. The Buckeye regional was supposed to be the "fun" regional where we didn't have to worry about anything. It's also a lot of fun to meet twice the number of teams or even work with the same team at two events. Our team has become fairly close to others, such as 1727, because of this.
Worth it: Absolutely. As I know others have said, the first regional lets you work out the bugs and work better for the second. Also, we finished the robot really late this year, so our drivers didn't get enough practice working together. By Thursday of our second regional, they were working like (forgive the pun) a well-oiled machine.
Sending Everyone: We have a relatively small team (only 20 student members), so we bring everyone to both, because otherwise, we would not have enough people to fill all of the jobs that are required at a regional: scouts, drive team, and pit crew.
Space between: In the past, we have always done back-to-back regionals, only because those are the two nearest regionals, although I have heard talk of having two weeks between the ones we attend in the future.
Championships: We have plans to go to the Championship event every 4 years to ensure that all student members of the team are given the opportunity to attend. We also fundraise like crazy if we are invited because of an award or a regional championship so that we can attend as well (like this year!!!).