Posted by Shannon, Coach on team #191, XCATS, from Wilson Magnet High School and Xerox.
Posted on 5/8/99 12:27 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: Hey, I'm just following orders... posted by Elaine Anselm on 5/5/99 8:54 PM MST:
:I'm hoping this doesn't get lost in this long thread, but anyway....I'm a student on the same team as Elaine and I can tell you I'm one of the people she's had to make feel better after we've lost a match or competition and I just wanted to give my two cents. I'm a senior this year and am one of the first students coaches. This whole year was stressful (when isn't it

), but even more especially for me this year because I was a coach and had to chose the drivers/players and make sure they were ready. after the regional where just about everything bad that could happen, did, I don't really think we knew how well we would do at nationals. So, our goal was to go out and show what we were capable of. That's all anyone really can do. When we got the perfect score ( yay TJ^), I can honestly tell you it was one of the best moments of my life. All the years of coming SO close, or doing really not well made getting into the top 16 that much sweeter for me. When we were eliminated in the first round, I walked down the tunnel and as 200 people cheered and clapped, I walked over to my best friend and cried for the longest time. Everyone stood there cheering, which only made me cry harder. After everyone went back to the pit, we finally started walking back and everyone kept telling me they were so proud of all of us. I'm sure other people who saw me crying thought I was upset because we had lost. But that wasn't the reason. I was upset because I'm a senior and that would be the last time walking down the tunnel as an XCat. It was bittersweet. I was SO proud of my team, my drivers, the robot, our alliance partners, and I was sad that it was ending. FIRST has been the light for me in high school - the adults on my team are my heroes. I'll be back next year, but on a different team. Why am I rambling this much? Because if I let how we do at the competition dictate to me how I felt about the year, I would have been devastated every year and never would have come back after my freshman year. I wouldn't have been able to handle it. I came back and put myself through all of the stress because the adults have taught us that the most important thing is us (the students). How we do at the competition is secondary. I'm not going to lie. I wanted to win nationals, very badly in fact. Who goes in there not hoping it's their team rushing the stage at the end of finals? But I also knew that if it didn't happen that it was ok too. Because this program is about how much you can challenge yourself and learn. I've learned a lot about myself the past 4 years in FIRST - that I cna be a leader (ask Elaine - my freshman year no one would have thought I would be up on the stage coaching), that winning doesn't neccessarily mean you get a trophy. We have lots of them at our site and I can tell you that what I remember from FIRST is not the awards ceremonies, the matches or any of that. I remember our team parties. I remember all of the people I've met through FIRST. I remember the adults on the team helping me figure out where I wanted to go to college. I remember 200 people cheering at the end of the tunnel even though they were probably disappointed too. Those are the things that are important in life. In 20 years, you aren't going to look back and say, gee I'm still angry we didn't make it into the top 16. Hopefully you don't. You should look back and remember that you did something important. And you should feel proud. Whether you came in first or 207th. SHANN