[Andy Baker]

This story may be interesting:

I had the pleasure of meeting a student on a FIRST team in 1999 named Eric Gargus. He was the senior student leader on this team. We had an a match together at the Midwest Regional. He was his team's driver and I was our drive team coach. His team was having a tough time, as their robot was not good. He was venting to me about drama within his team and I just listened, not really knowing what sort of advice to give.

I saw Eric again at the Championships, and he said that his team was doing better, but he was still frustrated. He told me that his team did not like my team, since our team has too many engineers involved and we have this huge sponsor (Delphi) who gives us everything. He also said that they don't like us because we won too much (we won the Championships during the prior year).

Guess what team Eric was on? At the time, this team was called "Team McComb", and their team number was 217. Yep, this is the same 217, and now they are known as the Thunderchickens.

It looks to me like the Thunderchickens decided to DO SOMETHING about their frustration instead of whine about it. Good for them, and good for the rest of FIRST. We are all better because of this can-do attitude.

So, if your team gets trounced by one of these top-notch teams, you can do two things:

1. Whine and complain
2. Go to their pits, talk to their team, and learn what makes them excellent

I bet it won't take more than 2-3 years for your team to become great like the Thunderchickens. It is very hard work, but it will be worth it.

Go, be excellent.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker