[Tetraman]

In an attempt to be interesting and entertaining, I offer you this observation/confession:

Back in my freshman year (2002 Zone Zeal) I was very much to the idea that FIRST was nothing but competitive. And my first regional, one of our first matches put an impression on me. We got our butts handed to us by team 175. I mean we got our butts hhhhhhhaaaanded to us. Considering that 175 was so good in that regional that year, and the fact they were 175 and we were 174, I immediately called "Rival!". No one else on the team paid much heed to me when I called 175 "our rivals" and it confused me to no end why everyone thought that it was silly to have a rival.

Turn the page to the next year and I figured out why: I called out a new "Rival" that was just better then us. And the next year there were those who were "much better then us" and eventually I found out that every year, the teams that were much better then us were so because they...well...were. Our team was rag-tag, it was scattered and did little real design work. Our robots failed because we tried to put so many mechanisms on it that didn't work. We were SO inefficient. Turn the page to 2006 my senior year and those of you know know the story of the Team Spirit award will know, that was the year we turned it around. And we did turn it around. We gathered new mentors, new sponsors, and new types of students. After 2006 we have been regional champs 4 out of the past 5 years. And the best part is, we STILL don't have all the resources that other teams have. We are a minimal team still, and yet all it took was just the right change.

Take the word from someone who was apart of a team that literally went from laughable to three time FLR champ: You have to change your perspective. You will never reach 217 potential without having 217 perspective.

There are times to say "teams are way too good, their robots are too cheap, their resources too vast, and their designs are too game-breaking." But thats only if you can find one, and no one has found one yet.