Grand Blanc District Event

[joeweber]

This was probably the best event I have ever attended. The pits were large and roomy with lots of light. They had lots of seating to watch the game play. The robots at the event were the best I have seen at any event. We place 24th and were not picked but with all the other robots that I seen I would not of picked us ether. Usually at an event you have a few really good robots and the rest go down hill but at this event I would say the 90 percent were really good competitive robots. Congrats to the winning teams and The EngiNERDs for putting on such a great event.

[Zach O]

Thanks Joe! It's awesome to hear positive feedback about the event.

I will agree it was weird on Friday - I'd look in to the audience and I couldn't tell if the crowd was empty or there was more seating than usual district events.

[GaryVoshol]

From the volunteer perspective, I also agree that this was a very well-run event. All we had to do was ask, and someone found what we needed. And many times people would ask, "You need something?"

Originally Posted by Zach O

I will agree it was weird on Friday - I'd look in to the audience and I couldn't tell if the crowd was empty or there was more seating than usual district events.

Fridays are generally less-attended. Many parents can't get off work, so they don't come until Saturday. Beside that, if you're just a supporter of one team, you wander off to do something else between their matches. That's how I got into volunteering in the first place - we figured out early on that when your team isn't up, it's pretty boring for parents. Especially on Thursday practice days back in those pre-district days.

[IKE]

Wow, what an event. The pits were very spacious and well organized. The kept the rookies over by inspection so we could keep an eye on them to see if they needed help, and did I mention there was lots of room...

Thank you to the countless volunteers running the event. It was extremely well run. I would like to give a special shout out to the inspection crew as they got almost every robot inspected Thursday night (all but 2). Great job.

The arena was great. The audio and DJ did a great job, and Zach and Tom were awesome on the mics.

A big congratulations to 2604 on winning Engineering Inspiration.

Great job to 2619, 245, and 3302. You guy were a blast to watch and such tough competitors. 245 and 2619 are such efficient scorers. I look forward to 3302 getting that long range shooter firing properly. It will be deadly in the near future.

247, what a great team to pick up. Your auton points were icing on the cake, and your defense did a great job at slowing down the opposition.

1718... What can I say, now you have your second district win, and a Chairman's award. You guys are such an inspiration and a pleasure to work with. We will see you guys again at States.

Lastly, I would like to extend a big thank you to the hosts. Brandi and Clinton did such a great job with this event, and the whole Enginerds team were out helping ensure the event ran smoothly. I look forward to hanging out with you guys at Troy and Bedford.

[Carolyn_Grace]

The Grand Blanc district is proof that a district can be just as exciting as a larger regional event while still being more accessible to the general public.

Throughout the day on Friday, the host team 2337 gave tours to (I believe) approximately 500 elementary students throughout the pits. Zach's right: Fridays are usually slow, but for a few hours the crowds were packed with little faces cheering like crazy for these robots! It's safe to say that the Grand Blanc area just secured sustainability for their FIRST programs for the next 15 years. I had the pleasure of talking to a few of the elementary teachers. They were impressed and kept saying different versions of, "This is the best thing we could offer to improve our education institution."

And the looks on the high school students faces as they talked to the little kids was great! They loved sharing their excitement for STEM!

After school on Friday I saw a lot of Grand Blanc high schoolers in the gym, watching matches. Who needs pep assemblies when you can just bring a massive competition to your school?

Grand Blanc also brought in the high school's drumline Saturday morning, right before Opening Ceremonies! Talk about waking everyone up to get the adrenaline pumping before anything even started! It was awesome!

They had politicians walking through the pits, talking to high school students.

The volunteer food was amazing, donated by local businesses.

Brandi and Clint Bolinger are definitely my heroes. They know how to organize, make an impact on their community, help teams grow and throw the best party. It was exciting to be part of it all.

I can't emphasize enough how much fun it was.

[BJC]

+1 to everything said so far.

I'd like to give one more shout-out to Zack Orr for being an awesome team announcer. He did a great job – during elims he combined the "karthik kick" with crazy energy and some impressive knowledge of the teams. He was a pleasure to listen to.

[Ivan Malik]

Easily one of the best events experience-wise in the state if not the country. It felt as big as a regional, but had the charm of a district. I would go as far as saying better than states! If there isn't a Grand Blanc district next year I will be very sad. Awesome venue, awesome hosts, all around an awesome event.

[rmhooks573]

The Grand Blanc District was easily one of the most fun, and exciting Districts that i have been to in all of my 4 years of FRC. The amount of seating as said earlier was a bit intimidating thursday evening, but indeed, they were PACKED on Friday evening and all day saturday. The matches themselves were also great. They kept you on the edge of your seat and your vocal chords until the last second. Great job to the teams and the MCs for keeping all of us excited throughout. And of course, we can't forget the volunteers and event coordinators for allowing this event to run smoothly while remaining on schedule.

See you next year!!

[sillyone]

I agree with everyone..This District Event was ran great, Job WELL DONE Clint & Brandi..Also from another volunteering perspective IT WAS FUN to do this event. To the Dj Good choice of music (from one Dj to another, You did GREAT) See you all next year... I almost forgot, working team queuing with Cindy was a BLAST

[maltz1881]

***Nerd Alert*** This was a wonderful event. Congrats to the Nerds for such a wonderful weekend. You would never know this was the 1st time hosting an event at their school. For the 1st time ever, my team was actually able to sit and watch. At every other event we have had to stand around or hang out in the pits. Congrats to all the teams who were at this event as it definitely had the feel of a SC. This is a must do event!!

[Craig Roys]

I'm a little delayed in posting here, but I would like to echo everyone's sentiments about how well done this district event was...thank you Clinton and Brandi and Team 2337! You've done an outstanding job - even with finding and returning stuff left behind.

Congratulations to 2604 on your Engineering Inspiration Award. You are sure to be a strong contender for the State Award.

To finalists 2619, 245, 3302 and semifinalists 2145, 2612, 3620 - you were both incredibly strong alliances. Although both series were done in two games, they were A LOT closer than that. 3620 - you guys played some tenacious defense and I don't believe you took any penalties (although I have not re-watched all the matches yet to confirm that)...great job. 2619 - I hope your robot is okay. Disabling you was definitely not our intent. I've re-watched the video of that hit quite a few times and it looks like it was just a fluke thing...the hit made the front of our robot pop up and as we both tried to continue forward we ran up onto your robot.

To 247 - some of those matches were so close that your autonomous and hanging points made the difference; plus you helped give us a little extra space to try to get some extra discs of our own in. Thank you for your help.

And to 33 - all I can say is WOW! You guys have an incredible machine...you were incredible at Waterford and you managed to improve on that for Grand Blanc. I can't wait to see what you have in store for Bedford and States. It's been an honor to be on an alliance with you and win...not once, but twice! You are definitely one of the teams that we use as a benchmark for where we want our team to be - not just from a robot point of view, but your whole team. It was great being right across the isle from you in pits.

Lastly, what a Cinderella season this has been for us so far! To go from 7 seasons of "so close, but no cigar" to 2 District wins and a District Chairman's Award in 2 events is beyond describable. I don't think anyone on our team has gotten their feet back on the ground yet. It's definitely given us a jolt of adrenaline. We're definitely looking forward to playing with the best teams in the state in a couple weeks.

Good luck to everyone in week 5 and 6 events.

[xSAWxBLADEx]

First I have to say, thank you 2337 for hosting that wonderfully smooth event. Also thank you 1718 and 33 for having faith in us. Everyone else just saw friday, and totally dismissed us. (And I'm truely glad they did) Both of you guys had killer bots, by the way was it Da Fighting Bees, or Da Killer Pi? Have a great rest of the season!

[rmhooks573]

Originally Posted by xSAWxBLADEx

First I have to say, thank you 2337 for hosting that wonderfully smooth event. Also thank you 1718 and 33 for having faith in us. Everyone else just saw friday, and totally dismissed us. (And I'm truely glad they did) Both of you guys had killer bots, by the way was it Da Fighting Bees, or Da Killer Pi? Have a great rest of the season!

it was Killer Pi Bear's

[jz1]

Originally Posted by Craig Roys

2619 - I hope your robot is okay. Disabling you was definitely not our intent. I've re-watched the video of that hit quite a few times and it looks like it was just a fluke thing...the hit made the front of our robot pop up and as we both tried to continue forward we ran up onto your robot.

Grand Blanc was a great competition - run well, with great teams represented. We look forward to returning next year.

Craig - We never thought disabling us in the final match was intentional. Damage was minimal beyond pulling the battery cable off. We also watched the video and the hit was impressive. Definitely made us realize that we need to bolt on some protection for the robot at the State competition. The students are already busy designing and building the modification.

Our congratulations go to 33, 1718, and 247. Also our thanks to 245 and 3302 as great alliance partners. It was a great run and a fun competition.

We look forward to seeing folks in Ypsilanti