2014 Smoky Mountains Regional

[mandrews281]

Well the regional is over and I just want to say we had a great time. This was a terrific event and we will definitely try to come back. As Ed Sparks pointed out, with the conflict with Peachtree, they were a bit short of volunteers. We put about half our team to work and were only too glad to help. Max F was responsible for fielding high goals behind the wall and I don't think I've ever seen him move that much :-).

A shout out to our alliance partners 3492 (captain) and 342. You are BOTH great and it was a pleasure to play with you. 3492 - I thought you were kidding when we walked off the field after our final qualification match and you suggested continuing the alliance in eliminations; and I still didn't realize what you'd done as #8 captain until after the selections were over. We had a chance against ANY of the other final 7 alliances and we proved it. I think the four matches of our quarter finals were some of the best of the regional (that's not a typo -- there was a replay). Congratulations on the Engineering Inspiration Award and good luck at Championships - sorry we can't be there with you.

Anyway, for those who weren't there, you missed a great event. Thanks to the organization and congratulations to all the teams.

[Sanchberry]

Your alliance in the quarterfinal was certainly impressive, and you did definitely outplay us match 1 and 4. My team (1466) had to play ten matches (4 against you all) that day, and our robot lost connection with the field for some reason at the end. In all, I am proud of how we did, and impressed by how you did in the field. You guys were fantastic, and definitely among the most competitive 8 seeded alliances I've ever seen.

[Ed Sparks]

Thanks everyone for another awsome year at the SMR. I want to tank all the volunteers for stepping up and making the SMR a success. There were many new volunteers in key roles this year but the cool thing was that you couldn't tell ...... awsome job.

Thanks to the teams for making the inspection process very smooth and a HUGE thanks to the teams that helped out with a couple rookie teams in serious need.

Looking forward to next year .......

[Alex2614]

Wow. That's all I can say after SMR. I was very impressed with each and every student, mentor, parent, volunteer, etc. at the event. Everybody truly exemplified Gracious Professionalism at its best, and honestly represented FIRST and what it is about.

I want to extend a shout-out to our alliance partners, team 4265 Secret City WildBots from Oak Ridge, TN, and 3843 MCRT RoboRacers from Murray, KY. You guys really proved that you were the best of the best, and we couldn't have asked for a better alliance. I have never seen better teamwork in the seven years I have been involved in FIRST.

A very very special shout-out goes to team 3492, Putnam Area Robotics Team (PARTS) from Winfield, WV on their Engineering Inspiration Award. What a tremendous honor, and we are proud to call you our partner. For those that don't know, these guys were caught up in the big water chemical spill mess in January in southern West Virginia, and missed 2 or 3 weeks of build season due to the lack of water across the region. Keep making West Virginia proud! We Mountaineers showed those Tennesseans how it's done! It was an honor to sing Country Roads with you and 1249 at the end of the event. We will see you in St. Louis! Montani semper liberi

[mandrews281]

Originally Posted by Sanchberry

Your alliance in the quarterfinal was certainly impressive, and you did definitely outplay us match 1 and 4. My team (1466) had to play ten matches (4 against you all) that day, and our robot lost connection with the field for some reason at the end. In all, I am proud of how we did, and impressed by how you did in the field. You guys were fantastic, and definitely among the most competitive 8 seeded alliances I've ever seen.

Sorry to hear about your connection issues. We had some at Palmetto and in a couple of our early matches. We finally tracked it down to a loose connection in a terminal block that ran power to the radio. So I can definitely sympathize.

You guys definitely outplayed us in match 2. Match 3 (the match that had to be replayed) was a real toss up. I'm kind of glad we had to replay it. I'd have hated to had it decided on a penalty or a bad call. As we were preparing for match #4, the FTA apologized to me about having to have a replay, and all I could say was something like "don't worry about it -- we're putting on a great show".

Having four really competitive matches in the quarters definitely hurt us in the semis. The replay meant we had to turn around immediately for the semis (we were in semi-final #1). We didn't get a scouting report until before semi-final match #2, and we really should have won that match (50 point pedestal penalty -- enough said). I would have loved a tie breaking match 3 and won or lost it on the field.

Has anyone posted videos any of the SMR elimination matches? I'd love to watch the matches as a spectator rather than as coach (where your mind is thinking about other things).

[1629GaCo]

Team 1629 GaCo, would like to extend our congratulations to 2614 Mars on their event win and their RCA win. You are truly an impressive team, and hopefully we will get to compete or play with you in the near future. Good luck at Championships, we hope to see you there!

[blaze8902]

I entirely agree with all of the sentiments expressed in this thread thus far. It was a fantastic experience for both my team, and myself personally. As Lead Scout and Strategist, this game brought on a whole new challenge for myself and my teammates. It was an immense pleasure working with all of the students who were able to attend, and a special thanks goes to the extremely talented and hardworking members of 2614. I'd also like to say that this was the first time that I've seen such a high level of coopertition off the field in regards to assisting rookie teams. It was truly inspirational to see students from all of Tennessee, and the surrounding states that were able to attend, working together to overcome the challenges set forth by FIRST. Thanks for an amazing regional.

[Kevin Leonard]

Does anyone have archived match video of this event? I really wanted to see what our friends on 4265 were doing in the finals.

[Rynocorn]

Originally Posted by Kevin Leonard

Does anyone have archived match video of this event? I really wanted to see what our friends on 4265 were doing in the finals.

My team has video of all of the matches that we played but not any others from the event. I have been looking for an archive of the stream but could not find it anywhere, just the offline stream from the event. If anyone finds the archive or knows how to get it- let us all know.

[Team3844]

Originally Posted by Kevin Leonard

Does anyone have archived match video of this event? I really wanted to see what our friends on 4265 were doing in the finals.

we have some gopro footage from the finals matches, but I can tell you now that Mars,4265 and 3843 handled us very easily. We broke in the first finals match leaving 931 to have to handle all of the offense. After repairs between matches we found that we had accidentally unplugged our pneumatic breakout and we lost field connectivity half way through. It is a wonder that our alliance scored what it did. Working with 931 Perpetual Chaos and the rookies 5005 was a great homer. If someone would have ask me Thursday if I would have been dissatisfied with a finalist position I would have said they were crazy. 3844 iz hungry for a win in 2015.