Want to Win, Don't Whine

[skimoose]

After detailing our team's recent experiences to several friends, they recommended that I share the story with the CD community. Hopefully, you'll find something useful here.

There seems to be a down turn in positive posts here on Delphi. These forums are about sharing enthusiasm, ideas, and working collaboratively to promote FIRST. The country as a whole is rather stressed and whiny due to the economy. What we're seeing on Delphi is merely an extension of that national mood. I've tried to stay out of those whiny threads if I didn't think that my input would improve anything.

Many have noted that this was one of the most challenging build seasons in quite a while, probably the most challenging I've experienced in my time in FIRST. I felt less "in control" this year, but I did my best to shield my students from the stress I was feeling. Hey, I'm still stressing. My budget is shot and now I need to come up with $15K+ in the next few weeks to cover my team getting to Championships. Just means it's time to buckle down and try harder. Whine. Not me, at least not now. I don't have time to whine.

The situation is also what you make of it. I'll agree that there seems to be a slight increase in the number of vocal whiners in FIRST and here on CD. Maybe it's also part of the national trend of entitlement. People think that just because they participate, they're entitled to a strong performance or winning. Winning takes a LOT of hard work, and not just during build season, even then a little luck always helps.

Even with the stress I'm under, this will be one of the most memorable seasons I'll ever have. After design problems, supply problems, sponsor problems, I thought we had turned out a pretty good robot. Then at our first regional we experienced a crippling bearing problem, I was just about ready to throw in the towel mid-afternoon on Friday, but we agreed to limp through the rest of Friday's qualification matches and tear into the problem. We ripped out all four swerve modules, pulled the bad bearings, came up with a shaft revision and had the machine shop modify our shafts.

Saturday morning we torn into rebuilding our machine which was in pieces in the pits. We were working like maniacs, but our spirits were now really high. One of our students had been announced as winning a $10k scholarship during opening ceremonies. Now THAT'S what this program is all about. Even though we worked furiously, we missed 3 more qualification matches, but we wouldn't let it get us down. We sent out a driver and human player to help our partners anyway we could. We made it out for our last qualification match with almost no system checks, and a very stressed out drive team. The robot worked, but the match didn't improve our standings. We were ranked 27 out of 29 teams.

A lot of less experienced teams might have cracked and the whining would have started, but we kept to our plan. People noticed, teams noticed, and judges must have noticed. The number one and two seeds were talking to us throughout the morning while we worked. They wanted to know if we'd get finished in time, we assured them we would. They must have liked what they saw and heard, because they selected us as their alliance partner (Thanks Teams 230 & 20!!!), and we didn't let them down. 6-0-0 in eliminations. Winners. Our first ever regional win in twelve years. Stress, oh yes, more than I'd like to go through again, but it paid off in the end.

Even through all these distractions our students followed our lead and kept upbeat, letting teams know why we weren't making our matches and keeping them posted as to our progress. They also simply rocked the judges with their contagious enthusiasm.

Winning was awesome, but the highlight of the day had to be when our team was selected as the regional Engineering Inspiration Award recipient. I know we've been slowly and quietly building a strong team, but I wasn't expecting this at least not this year!

Our team also had a student selected at the regional for the Dean's List Award. Another unforgettable moment, and another reason to get to Atlanta.

So I'm in full agreement with those of you who say we should lead by example. Here's our example, I hope this helps.

Now back to finding donors and sponsors.

Whine... I don't have time to whine!

[FRC4ME]

Wow...that is just incredible. As I was reading your post, after you mentioned your rank, I was expecting the rest of your post to be a, "but we had fun anyway, we learned a lot from the experience, and it isn't about the robots...etc," which is all great stuff...but being selected for eliminations, winning the regional, and winning EI? I think I may have cried after reading that. I guess happy endings don't come any better than that, now do they? You certainly couldn't have been more deserving. I'm definitely going to read this to my team.

Great job!

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Well put, Art. For as long as I can remember, 228 has been a very good example of a FIRST team who really "gets it". Congrats on the wins at WPI and best of luck in Atlanta.

[GaryVoshol]

How do we get everyone on CD to read this post? It's one of the best essays on "don't let things get to you" that I've read.

[BrendanB]

Really worth the time to read! Thanks!

[techtiger1]

Mr. Dutra,

This post is also exactly what 1251 has done the last 2 years at the Florida regional. Both years our robot was not particularly good through qualifications however through constant work the whole regional on the robot we have managed a finalist and champion showing. To all the people in Florida who ask me how we do so well every year read the first post in this thread, that is how things are accomplished.

Thank you for posting,

-Drew D.

[JaneYoung]

There are some wonderful photos that accompany this story. I saw the photos before understanding their full significance. They were inspiring before and are truly inspiring now.

There's just something about GUS that makes you want to be better and try harder. This story is a big part of that something.

Jane

[Andy Baker]

Art,

Thanks for a great story. Thank you for sharing with the rest of us.

Sadly, it was one of our bearings (Fr6ZZ-hex) that put you in this position, and I am sorry for that.

See you in Atlanta!

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

[Wayne Doenges]

One of my favorite quotes is:

You want some cheese with that whine?

Great post.

[skimoose]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

Art,

Thanks for a great story. Thank you for sharing with the rest of us.

Sadly, it was one of our bearings (Fr6ZZ-hex) that put you in this position, and I am sorry for that.

See you in Atlanta!

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

Andy,

I intentionally did not mention a vendor or product. That would be whining. Apology accepted!

I only wanted to point out that as a failed COTS item, it would have been easy for the team to whine that it wasn't our fault. You've been more than helpful throughout the years, and something as minor as this shouldn't tarnish the hard work you do for teams and FIRST.

Yes, we did tell teams at the event that we had experienced a COTS failure, so if they were having similar issues, it might help them identify the problem. This also let them know we were down but not out.

Everyone else, thanks for the kind words and sharing your successes here, too. After nine years in FIRST, seven in FRC, when I see successful teams (there are way too many to single out), a well driven robot or a robot that does it all, I still get inspired no matter how poorly our season has gone. By the end of the season I'm not grumbling about the "have" teams or our bad luck, I'm looking at those inspiring teams and performances and itching to bring some of that success to our team.

When we come across these people or teams who haven't "gotten" it yet, the best thing we can do is lead by positive example.

[Renee Becker-Blau]

Originally Posted by skimoose

Andy,
When we come across these people or teams who haven't "gotten" it yet, the best thing we can do is lead by positive example.

I hope everyone on Delphi will get the chance to read this post. This is an example of a team coming together and working as a team no matter what the circumstances. I hope some how this message and others like it will spread through out the FIRST community and remind people what they're working towards. Thank you for sharing this amazing story and inspiring us.

Renee

[Cynette]

Go GUS! I'm glad I got to hear the back story of your great finish at WPI!

This so highlights the importance of never giving up! Thanks for sharing, Art!

[Ice Berg]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

Art,

Sadly, it was one of our bearings (Fr6ZZ-hex) that put you in this position, and I am sorry for that.

My team (694) is using the 1/2" bore version of these bearings and they have worked perfectly all season. Is there something that we should be looking out for? Not knowing 228's situation I don't really know, but I'd like to know what the issue was so that we can avoid it.

Thanks,

-Seth

[gvarndell]

Originally Posted by skimoose

There seems to be a down turn in positive posts here on Delphi. These forums are about sharing enthusiasm, ideas, and working collaboratively to promote FIRST.

Here, here!
Whining about other people whining is nonetheless whining.
Whining about too many teams, too many teams failing, and why are there too many teams is nonetheless whining.

I feel reinvigorated. Thank you!

[Michael Sperber]

Originally Posted by skimoose

Maybe it's also part of the national trend of entitlement. People think that just because they participate, they're entitled to a strong performance or winning. Winning takes a LOT of hard work, and not just during build season, even then a little luck always helps.

Great post, Art! Thank you for sharing.

In the heat of the battle, the tendency is to forget why we are here and why we do this.

And in engineering, much more is learned from failure than success. Celebrate your success and failures.