How did you hear about FIRST and WHY did you get involved?

[Chief Hedgehog]

Hey Ryan,

Welcome to CD! I doubt that you will find another online community as dedicated to it's 'pasttime' than those of us from the FRC community.

It is awesome to see one of our supporters/suppliers actively engaged in this sport.

For my story - here it is:
It was a long, winding road for me to become apart of FRC. As a college student at UW Stout and St Cloud State University in the late '90's and early '00's I heard some rumblings about a robotics program. At that time I was young, had other interests, and FRC was not a part of the WI/MN structure. The only program that was anything near FRC in these parts was the HMV Challenge at UW Stout and BRI. It was entertaining - but not my cup of tea at the moment.

Fast forward 12+ years - I have been teaching at my alma mater for some time. I have been a coach in our very successful Wrestling Program and I have helped to build our Soccer program from the ground up at Becker.

Because of my Coaching and Educational background, my AP asked me if I would be interested in a robotics program. No doubt this is what my school was missing. My department does a great job providing the local industries and Tech colleges with many students interested in the skills - maybe we should engage the other students. So I signed on.

He (my AP) promised me that it was only a 6 week job - and I could continue coaching Soccer and Wrestling - no problem.

So we scheduled a van a took 8 students to the MPLS regionals in 2012 (RR). We were hooked. The whole way back to Becker was talk of what we could do. How we build a robot. The intricacies of RISK (Australia)...

6 weeks - HAH! The first year it became a 6 month program - so I left my duties as a Wrestling coach. 2 years in and I am contemplating leaving my post as the Varsity Soccer coach. A program that I built from nothing. This is what FRC means to me. I have seen such great end results from the kids of my robotics team - things that I never saw from my years as a 'traditional' coach - I am about to leave a program that I love and built to focus on a new venture in FRC.

Now we are a solid program with 2 years under our belt. This season we have been piloting our future drive trains. We had a great rookie season that was followed up by a sub-par sophomore season (finishing in the quarterfinals at North Star and an invitation to the MSHSL Tournament); not a slump by most teams' standards - but it has been for us.

We have used your VIAIR pump and have been successful with it. We hope that VIAIR continues it's support of FRC in the future!

This is my story of what FRC has done for me.