Best FTA Ever?

[omgnocomms]

Hi everyone,

New user here (long time lurker). I was inspired by this post to try to find out which FTA is the Best FTA Ever?

The poll has this year's FTAs, in their order of appearance in the 2012 schedule. Rookie FTAs are not included, because I couldn't fit them into the poll limit.

[Schnabel]

Had to vote for the guy who trained me. Rob is seriously one of the coolest and most dedicated guys I know. He always attempts to make sure you play every match you show up to. He even helped make sure MSC WENT BYPASS FREE last year. On top of that I love giving him a hard time.

I'm going to have to go with Ken Mitchell. At any CA regional, he has the right people working on the right problem before it even effects anyone. His primary goal is to ensure a smooth flowing competition, and his hard work and dedication easily make him one of the best FTAs ever.

[linuxboy]

I can't decide between Liz, Jake, and Jerry (Jeff is awesome too, but I don't know him as well). Jake trained me. Liz is amazing. Jerry is the only FTA I've worked with at a non-offseason. Can I vote for all three?

[BigJ]

I'm pretty sure this will just be an attendance contest as the majority of voters will not know of more than a few FTAs.

[linuxboy]

Originally Posted by BigJ

I'm pretty sure this will just be an attendance contest as the majority of voters will not know of more than a few FTAs.

Could start a new thread, how many FTAs do you know?

For the record I know of 11 (I've met 10 of those, and worked on a field with about 8...)

[Peyton Yeung]

While I really liked Mark as an FTA, Jerry definitely helped us a lot this past year connecting to the field and finding what was wrong with our communications link. Plus the cowboy hat is classic

[BigJ]

Originally Posted by linuxboy

Could start a new thread, how many FTAs do you know?

0 really, so I didn't vote.

Let me rephrase: unless voters knew everyone on the list, the poll would be "who is your favorite FTA" instead of "who is the best FTA ever".

[Koko Ed]

I've worked with at least 15 of these people in my extensive travels volunteering for FIRST but there are many I do not know about as well and that's not fair to them so I am going to decline answering this.

[Hallry]

Liz Smith, hands down. I constantly see her at any events in the MAR area that I go to, including most, if not all of the offseasons around as well. She does whatever it takes to get every team on the field as soon as possible. Just this past weekend she was the FTA at girlPOWER hosted by Team 433, unlike usual she did not have a huge team of assistants helping her. She came up to me in our team's pit, and asked me to help her out with resetting a rookie team's radio, since she was busy with other things. She quickly gave me the instructions, and was able to answer all of my questions, while multitasking. Bare in mind, I have absolutely no experience with programming and radios and the sort, and have no clue what I even did =P. But, I followed exactly the directions she gave me, and was done in no time. Meanwhile, she was setting up everything else needed for the FMS, and was able to swiftly start the matches. Her dedication to the teams and events is incredible, and she puts in over 100% of her effort all the time. Liz Smith all the way

[Zach O]

I <3 Rob

[waialua359]

All the FTA's do a great job.
In all the regionals we've ever been to, cant say anything but pure gratitude for what they do.

[IndySam]

There's only one King of the FTA's, Mark Koors.

[Adrian Clark]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I've worked with at least 15 of these people in my extensive travels volunteering for FIRST but there are many I do not know about as well and that's not fair to them so I am going to decline answering this.

I can't say that I've had the pleasure of going to enough First events to know as many FTAs as you do, but I 100% agree with where you're coming from. Not to bash on the OP, but this thread is much better off as a "your favorite FTA thread" instead of "best FTA thread" there is absolutely nobody involved in First who can actually make an accurate call as to who is the best FTA.

[Phoenix Spud]

I gotta go with Jerry, he made our offseason event run almost flawlessly. I think in total we had 1 field reset throughout the competition. He also helped some of our local talent learn the basics of becoming an FTA! On top of that, he is a ton of fun and made each team feel like their robot was the most important one on the field.