What FIRST is all about

[pmangels17]

Wow that's an awesome story. I wish only the best to team 4625, and hope to see them do even better things next year.

[nicholsjj]

While we are posting shout out stories I want to commend Team 1730(Driven) for all of the help and GP that they displayed at the Razorback Regional this weekend. There are few times in a FIRST Regional in which you know which team will win the GP award but this was one of them.

For those of you that do not know.. Arkansas had 12 rookie teams this year. Not all of these teams had rough inspections, but there were a few rookies and veterans that took up until Friday to pass inspection. Team 1730(with the help of a quick inspector ) was the first team to pass inspection Thursday. They then sent out what seamed like most of their students and mentors to help out every team in the pit. I believe throughout the Regional they helped make and redo around 7-8 bumper sets. I know they helped 2-4 teams with their programming. Every time I went to reinspect a team the first thing I always noticed was the black and yellow shirts in the pit.

[MisterJ]

It's amazing to hear such stories. I hope the success that Herman has convinces more local high-schoolers and mentors to help him out next year.

In what other sport (...sport?) can young teams find such benevolence? (In other sports, rookies are the teams that get the score run up on them!) In fact, during an offseason competition in our rookie year, my team was literally given an entire robot for the day by 1218 Vulcan Robotics to get our drive team some pre-rookie practice.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

I hope they are still around next season. Stay in touch with them if you can.

Dangnabbit Akash, didn't I tell you to put those onions in the fridge before slicing them?

Nice story, and great calls by the event staff to allow the one-man team to compete.

[Bill_B]

I agree it is salutary to read this kind of story. I only wish the topic posters would pick better topic titles. Many of them are basically impossible for the posting(s) to cover satisfactorily. I don't know anyone who reads all of CD, or even if it is possible to do that. This is just my observation. I promise I will give more than minimal attention to my own new topics and make sure I minimize my own potential embarrassment by checking the title's spelling. Also, please do not take this as a criticism of the Original Poster. Further, I will not be making a topic "What CD is all about."

[Jon Stratis]

we had a very similar story at North Star this year.

There was a rookie team that had trouble. A lot of trouble. Somehow during the season, the team completely fell apart. After the lock up day, someone took apart what they had finished building. Thanks to a great effort by some of the people in charge out here, and the principal of the school, they managed to get whatever they had together, and find a new team. They showed up without a robot, and with 4-5 students, only one of which had been on the team during the build season.

Knowing the condition they were in, we had already given a heads up to several of MN's best teams. Before those teams had even finished unbagging their own robot and setting up their own pits, 1816, The Green Machine, 2177, The Robettes, and 2220, Blue Twilight had students and mentors in this rookie team's pit.

These three teams worked tirelessly to help this rookie team build and program a working robot. In the end, they elected to go for a simple defensive robot with a 10-point climb. They managed to get the robot finished and fully inspected before the end of the day on Thursday.

Throughout the rest of the competition, you would see that rookie team hard at work on their robot, and others from those three teams talking and helping out.

In the end, they didn't make it into the elimination matches. However, they were one of the backup teams - a great ending for them.

When everyone was packing up, I overheard several of their students speculating on a water game for next year... I think they're hooked!


I think it's examples like these that really show Gracious Professionalism at its peak. I just feel there's an important difference/distinction between seeing one team help another and seeing several teams group together to help one.

Maybe it's the fact that one team helping another has some benefit for that team when it comes to awards (like the GP award, maybe even Chairman's if they include it in their presentation). When multiple teams come together at an event to help one that's struggling, though, that effort benefits all teams equally when it comes to awards, not giving any one team an advantage over the others that helped.

It could also be based on what I've seen at other regionals. You'll get 2-4 teams that are out there really helping other teams, but it's almost like they each stake out their portion of the regional. You almost never see them working together to help the same team at the same time.

[Bill_B]

I'd bet that the subject of awards didn't even come up for those helping in that case. Water game? now there's a legit topic for scuttlebutt.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by rick.oliver

Thanks for sharing. Reminds me of a similar occurrence at Buckeye many, years ago. As I recall, it was one student, no mentor that year.

I remember that!!
Gosh I think that may have been First Frenzy back in 2004.
That was back when I was mentoring an Indiana Team (1018)
Good memories... good game too...

[Courtade]

My name is Alex Courtade from team 216, More RoboDawgs. I was actually at this competition and was with Hermon from the moment he unbagged his robot until he packed it up on Saturday. So, to clarify:
#1, his team is not "Eyes High", those were t-shirts one of the RoboDawg moms picked up from the Calgary bookstore so that we would be inspired as well as look like a team.
#2, his name is HermOn, not HermAn. Just wanted to point that out.
#3, I hope I can speak for Hermon in saying that he doesn't need sympathy. Words like "poor rookie team" cannot describe him in the way that I knew him. He would not want to be pitied because he had some rotten luck with teammates.