[Taylor]

[disclaimer]I don't come from one of the high-level teams from which you've solicited advice [/disclaimer]

This was the fifth season for team 1529, the CyberCards. In our short lifespan, we've been to exactly six regular season events. Due to personal and professional conflicts, this is the second year in a row that our engineering mentors have not been able to help the team - the CyberCards are truly student-run and student-built, and honestly it's pretty obvious. For the past four years, we've consistently been at the bottom of each regional. This year, we were fortunate enough to join the 7th alliance at our regional, got knocked out in the first round, and I'd say that was probably the proudest moment in the students' lives. Just the fact we were selected to compete in the eliminations energized the kids more than anything I had seen (keep in mind there were 35 teams at this year's BMR, which means only 11 sat out).
For the first time, our students really believe in themselves. They've seen the robot perform admirably (although the W/L record doesn't accurately reflect it), they've been a key member of a strong alliance, they handled themselves well, and they've set lofty goals for next year, including attending a second regional(!) I am personally very proud of what our team has accomplished this year and others, and I hope to see continued success.
To be 17-14 overall (heck, just to play in 31 matches in three competitions) would be a huge honor for our team. I would suspect half the team would wilingly chop off a finger just to go to Atlanta, let alone compete.

Please don't take me the wrong way. For a while I've admired MORT (albeit from a distance) and I think you've got a quality program. I also think it's great that, despite what we would call fantastic success, you're left feeling unfulfilled and disappointed. To me that means you want to continue to grow and improve, and that's admirable. But sometimes we just need a little bit of perspective.