[Woody1458]

After a really tough season in 2008 that I could rant about for hours, we ended having a totally non functioning robot at both Regionals we attended. The whole season we E-stopped all but 2 matches. At Davis we were put in the pits next to a team from Deer Valley (I forget the number) Who had come to the competition with 1 member, a 38"x38" robot, and no robotics experience. We decided that our robot was hopeless but maybe we could help out this team. We were afraid that, as rookies, they would have a bad 1st year experience with FIRST and not come back. By the end of thursday we (not only our team, lots of people helped) got them with legal bumpers, a correctly sized frame, and a scissor lift that could knock orbit balls off the overpass. I was so happy when they out ranked us by a hugh margin (we got 34th, they got around 15th). Then a local school, 2390 Dougherty Valley, with whom our team has a large relation had issues with wiring and programming, and released some magic smoke on friday. We helped them rewire and programed a hybrid for them. They ended up seating 10th but were not picked. Luckily for them, their day wasn't over. In the semis alliance 4 IIRC had a team member break un-repairably. 2390 was drafted as a backup. Wen that was announced, it was one of my most exciting events in FIRST (more so then winning a regional). They did not however win the finals but got second place and went home their rookie year with a blue banner. Coolest part was that at the award ceremony we already knew that there was no way we had won an award. Our robot was awful and we didn't try for any non robot awards. Also we figured because we didn't hand out booklets or first aid kits we hadn't done enough for GP or Safety. Fortunately I was wrong. Someone had told the judges about what we did for 2390 and Deer Valley and they gave us GP. Realize at this point we had totally given up on the season, even our Coach (now ex-coach) had left to be with his family. They announced that 1458 had one GP and we all went ecstatic. It was absolutely unforgettable.

In my 4 years of FIRST and 13 FIRST events, nothing compares to that level of excitement.