What are your victories?

[OrangeCataclysm]

This thread is a wonderful example of what FIRST really is. You can win every district or regional like 33 or 2056, but you definitely can't always define that as victory.

For me personally, on my four years on 862, my victories were many. It started out small in 2010 and 2011. I wrote a whole section of camera code myself in 2010 (that didn't get used), and that was something victorious for me. I helped run our team's scouting that year as well. Though we only made it to elims once that season, it a victory nonetheless.

The next biggest victory for me was in 2012. I programmed at least half of the robot and our rather odd autonomous. In that year, our robot's shooter was perpendicular to our drive train, which meant to score a basket, we needed to curve to the side of the fender in autonomous. My victory that year wasn't the double finalist appearance, or even the triple balance at MSC--it was getting that dumb thing to work ~70% of the time. It was seeing what I had worked on function as I intended, and that fueled my inspiration for my final year.

Now 2013 was the biggest victory for my team, of course we made it Einstein and won a few districts, but there were many, many other things that I would deem more important. For starters that was the closest year our team had ever come to winning chairman's. At the West Michigan district, a judge came up to me and the other chairman's presenters and told us that choosing the chairman's winner was one of the hardest decisions she had to make. We ended up with not one Engineering Inspiration award that season not once, but twice.

As a part of the chairman's team, that was one of my crowning achievements, along with seeing our good friends at 3641 win chairmans. We had given them some tips the year before, and we were glad to see it pay off for them.

At West Michigan, we also helped 904 to get their first district win in their team's history. That was another personal victory for me, helping other teams succeed that in the past haven't done as well.

There are many other things my team has done that I'm proud of, but those are the most direct with me. I don't want victory in matches to define victory for myself, and I'm sure most people from even the teams that consistently win can agree with me on that.

[Whippet]

Here are a few of ours:

• Finished in top half of regional rankings.
• Simple design that actually did its job.
• Only one non-drivetrain motorized part.
• Easy to repair.
• Only catch at our regional(!)
• Robot that was easily recognizable by everyone at the regional.
• Working autonomous mode.
• Working holonomic drivetrain.
• Highest-ranked team not in the elimination rounds. (We like to think of this as "If there were four-robot alliances, we would have been the first third-round pick.")

And our biggest one this year:

• Competing in the FIRST robotics Competition(This thread has the context for this one).

[Anthony Galea]

Our team has accomplished a lot this past year.

1) Raised $600+ for a local charity from donations at school, when our goal was $400
2) Started 1 FTC team in our middle school
3) Won our first judged award in team history (UL Safety Award)
4) Highest pick in team history (6th overall at MICEN)
5) First time as an alliance captain (6 seed at MIBED)
6) Qualified for MSC by robot merit for the first time
7) Being in the top 10 in OPR at our districts for the first time in team history (5th at MICEN, 8th at MIBED)
8) Apply for the Chairman's Award for the first time in team history
9) Compete in a week 0 event
10) Have a finished, working robot by lockup
11) Winning more elimination matches this season than ever in team history (7 this year to 6 in team history)
12) Pulling 3 upset rounds in the eliminations (2 at MICEN, 1 at MIBED)
13) Using pneumatics for the first time in team history
14) Coming within 3 victories at MSC from going to Champs
15) Building a versatile robot - we could shoot, play defense, truss.
16) Scoring in autonomous - we did this last year, but this year we still find that to be an accomplishment.
17) Build a working floor intake - we have never done this in team history.


We exceeded our own expectations this year. We were expecting to be at the bottom of the alliance selections at our events, and we exceeded those expectations.

[CTbiker105]

• Seeded first at 3 competitions in a row after never being the #1 seed at any competition we've attended
• Took our scouting program to an entirely new level through the incorporation of comprehensive data collection and analysis
• Prepared for and hosted our own district competition almost entirely on our own
• Strengthened the relationship between us and other Connecticut teams
• Managed to still get to St. Louis despite our bus driver being taken away in an ambulance while still hours from our destination

[Christopher149]

How far back can I go?


2011:
- scoring in autonomous for the first time in memory
- building a mecanum drive to redeem for 2010's bad one
- becoming alliance captain for first time

2013:
- qualifying for MSC for first time

2014:
- building a robot that did almost everything (except goalie pole) and did it pretty well
- first time feeling like a legitimate alliance captain (2011 didn't feel quite real) and #1 seed at that
- qualifying (on merit, not waitlist) for CMP for first time
- needing to use our crate for first time since 2009
- winning our first (and second) award for first time in 10 years
- getting CheesyVision installed at CMP
- finally having something a team requested over PA (at CMP, heatgun [beaten by someone else], white bumper paint to 3847 Spectrum)
- seeing the awe of the faces of our team at CMP upon seeing the size of it
- not getting ill at CMP (except for cough and runny nose after getting home)
- starting work on a "book of knowledge" so that there is a permanent record of past successes and failures, and not just me telling the students about them
- trying (though not succeeding) at a 2-ball auto
- finally having an event three hours away. Victoriously close to home! And I'm not joking.

somewhere in the past:
- becoming less adversarial and more congenial with our sister team, 2586 CopperBots, up in Calumet

[Mr. Mike]

Following this thread we see a lot of victories related to the robot. We at the Innovators feel our biggest victory is with our alumni.
After 4 years we have 17 alumni
16 are in college
15 are studying STEM fields
Scholarships related to our club and FIRST = $149,000
All scholarships combined (club/ First +scholastic +sports) = $788,000
Currently the club/First scholarships exceed our club budget for the first 4 years.

[Citrus Dad]

Our team reached most of the goals we set out this year and made tremendous improvements across the board. But to me our biggest victory was the most unexpected. We set out to work more cooperatively with other teams in all aspects, stepping it up each competition. In the end, we helped at least two rookie teams become highly competitive in their division, and we discovered how rewarding the effort was.

[notmattlythgoe]

The thing I'm most prowd of over the past few years are the friendships we have developed with some of our fellow Virginia teams. We have become very close with a couple, and I hope we developed more in the coming years.

[mlantry]

1676 has had alot of wonderful things happen this year

-We mentored 6 FLL teams
-We kept a good relationship with a lot of our old friends and ended up making a bunch of new ones this year as well.
-We won the chairmans award after not winning it since 2009
-We won our second consecutive Engineering inspiration award
-We qualified for the world championship
-We heavily improving our robot from our first district all the way up to championship making it alot better each time(week one was interesting for us to say the least).
-And we survived aerial assault...oops my bad aerial assist

The list goes on and on but these are the ones that come to mind.

[TAlholm]

Team 1991's accomplishments:

• Team captain accepted to MIT
• Made it to the finals for the second time ever
• Won our first competition as alliance captain
• Ranked in the top ten at both of our districts

[Deke]

The biggest victory this year was through all the adversity we faced, our kids never put their head down. They dug in and kept pushing.

A little story, the year was 2014, and there was snow everywhere... We lost 8 days during build season, while trying to catch up on a schedule where we were a few days behind pace to start. This led to our first district attendence with green code and green drivers. The shooter was not tuned in and autonomous untested. The friday of the the first district we spent mostly figuring out how to get mobility points in autonomous.

I was so proud of our programming students and how they kept iterating and plugging away while the frustration built. By the last of the qualification matches saturday we had a working high ball autonomous with mobility options for distance! The whole team rallied together to get the robot working while in between matches. However, it was too little too late. We thought we demonstrated a good inbounding robot with defense, but it went under the radar and for the first time we were not selected for eliminations in a district.

Over the weekend between the first two districts, our human player lost a close relative. The students rallied behind him to support him and his family. He was able to attend the last Saturday of our second district.

Again the kids did not put their heads down but kept working. The second district event the auto was working and we never missed a shot, except for the two times attempting a two ball auto. Facing a tough schedule (played a district finalist twice, and another district winner twice) we went 6-6 and were selected by the third alliance captain! We made it to the finals but lost while dealing with alliance mechanical issues and some questionable technical fouls, oh and won an industrial design award! Too little too late again, not enough points were gained to reach MSC.

Seeing that we had budgeted for MCS and Champs we were able to slide into one more district. This time the auto worked flawlessly going 12-12 during qualifications. We ended up 9-3 and the third alliance captain! Losing in the semifinals to a very well meshed alliance, but we walked away with the engineering design award!

If you would add up the points for the last two districts we attended, we were a top 20 robot in FiM.

I could not be prouder of the students of Team 85. They demonstrated the essence of hard work and perseverance paying off. We went from not being looked at, to a top 3 pick, to a top 4 robot. There was no blaming anyone but ourselves for the situation, and the students took ownership of that and kept pushing. That is the victory.

[debbiemusselman]

It is great to see that there are so many teams that are proud of what they accomplished this season even if they didn't win any awards. I know that being a part of a team that didn't win any awards this season, we were still proud of everything that we had done. This season, there were a lot of things that happened for team 708, both good and bad. We didn't set any team goals this season that I remember but we definitely accomplished more than we thought was originally possible.

Some of our team victories that we accomplished this season include:
-Getting our own classroom instead of working out of a closet on the third floor.
-Hosting a very successful week 1 MAR District event
-Hosting a successful Penn FLL Qualifying Event during week 2 of FRC build season
-Hosting an FLL Summer Camp
-Demoing our robot at the Pennsylvania State Capitol and being recognized by both the House and the Senate for what we do in spreading the word of FIRST.
-Running 2 FTC teams
-Mentoring 3 FLL teams
-Attending outreach events to spread the word of FIRST and allowing community members to drive and operate our robots
-Have semi-nice looking wiring compared to past robots.
-Having a robot that could pick up off the ground quite easily, shoot, truss and play defense.
-Offered build space to team 341 when the weather was bad and they weren't allowed in to their build space.
-Had more team spirit than ever before and we actually cheered for our team when they were on the field.
-One of our seniors along with the help of a few others worked their butts off to make a scrapbook for Chairman's to make sure that everything we do that doesn't have to do with the robot is noticed. This same person/group of people wrote the essay for Chairman's and also Woodie Flowers.

Overall, we definitely had a lot of fun this season and even though all of our efforts were not noticed by the judges at any of the events we attended, we all know that we had a really great season. Our head mentor, Zygmont, even told us after we weren't picked to compete in eliminations at MAR Champs that he was really proud of everything that we did this season not only with the robot but with everything else that we did for others. Therefore, some of our biggest accomplishments had nothing to do with our robot but what we do as a team to spread the word of FIRST.

I am really proud to be a part of team 708 and with it being my senior year, I am really glad that I got the opportunity to experience World Champs in St. Louis with my fellow seniors and volunteering to ensure that everyone that was competing had the time of their lives and supporting our fellow MAR teams. We had a great season and it is sad to see my time on the team come to an end but I will definitely be back to see what the following years have to bring the team.

[Navid Shafa]

Personally, I am happy that my local network has expanded. Over the last few years, I have gotten to know more people in FIRST, and the last two years, the PNW in specific. Keeping in touch with those teams and their mentors/coaches is valuable. It's nice to hear what other teams are doing and hear other people's opinions on hot community topics.

I'm also really happy with our new show and where we've gone with it. It's been a lot of fun this season. I enjoy the fact that I get to hang with my friends and chat as usual, but that we have found a way to do so in a manner that gives back to the community.

Most importantly, this year I grew a lot as a mentor. The end result of what we are trying to accomplish is often irrelevant. I felt like I did a better job of listening and asking questions. It is more rewarding to direct people to a solution, nudge them along the way or help them identify the tools they need to be successful. Due to that, I feel much closer to a handful of the students I worked with. I hope they feel the same way, because in the end this is what it's all about. If we don't have a meaningful impact on our community, team and students, if we fail to convey our passion and illicit inspiration then none of what we do has purpose. It is really difficult to inspire someone, I don't think there is any hard-defined process, but I hope that I can say I did.

*Another 4 Banner season was a bonus, but not the highlight.*

[Kevin Leonard]

2011- I was barely involved with the team, but I had one part on our mini-bot that I came up with. Our mini-bot was top-notch at our first regional that year and a large part of the reason we ended up in the finals.

2012- At our first event, the team had a miserable showing as our shooter wasn't working and our bridge lowering mechanism wasn't functioning. I had designed the bridge lowing mechanism and I was distraught as to why it didn't work!
I came to find out that the one I designed wasn't on the robot for some reason, and when it was attached at our second event, we ended up winning the event as a feeder bot- that required crossing the bridge every match

2013- We finally had a robot that worked by stop-build day!
We finally got to partner with our friends at 2791 for eliminations!
We seeded second and first at our two regionals and went undefeated at the second!
We partnered with our friends on 195 for the second year in a row in eliminations.
We ended up in eliminations at championships!
We beat 987 is a close qualification match at championships!
We posted the highest losing score in the world when we lost in quarterfinals at championships- a feat that would last for 10 minutes, until the alliance that beat us would lose to the eventual world finalists.
The robot barely broke down at all throughout the season!
We were invited to IRI!

2014- We had record numbers of freshmen join the team.
Our student engagement was better than it ever has been, and anyone that showed up to the meetings felt like they had work to do, despite our large team size.
At our first regional, we were able to partner with our friends from 229 for the first time, and bring them to championships!
In finals of our first regional, one of our bearings in the drivetrain shattered, rending us with a 5-wheel drive for the final match. Despite this, with some quick work from our programmer, our two-ball auto worked perfectly AND we worked perfectly for teleop.
As human player, my last second inbound won us one of our eliminations matches.
At our second event, we were faced with a triple-header of qualification matches and qualification match replays Saturday morning. We survived those three matches, almost winning the third one, even though it was our toughest match of the day.
The strategies we came up with at both our events worked beautifully.
The passing method I came up with at our second event became a standard of passing in Archimedes (the "give and go").
We almost beat 2056 and 548 in the same qualification match- playing our strategy perfectly, despite the fact that their robots were better. That included a catch!
A catch won us a qualification match at championships!
We got to once again play with our friends on 195 in eliminations, this time at Championships.
We once again made eliminations at championships, and lost a very close set of matches to the divisional finalists.

I've had a crazy four years on The Rocketeers, earning more banners in my four year period on the team than my team has ever earned in any other four year period.
We've been through ups and downs (lots of downs), and we've learned quite a lot.
I'm extremely sad to go, but I hope the next generation of Rocketeers learns from our mistakes and our triumphs and improves even more for next year.
I'll be seeing some of you out in Rochester next year!

[Metonym]

I did more this season.

I'm not usually the one to take charge and go out and do stuff. I like to follow people in fun projects, but this year I don't know what happened. I actually took charge and did things on my own, sometimes. I had the chance to show the community what some students could do in period of two and half days if they were given some cameras, steadicams, mics, and a computer and I did. The work progressively got better and better as the weeks went on and I'm proud of the team that I put together to help me accomplish this and to all the great reception we have received.

As Navid said:

Originally Posted by Navid Shafa

Personally, I am happy that my local network has expanded. Over the last few year, I have gotten to know more people in FIRST, and the last two years PNW in specific. Keeping in touch with those teams and their mentors/coaches is valuable. It's nice to hear what other teams are doing and hear other people's opinions on hot community topics

Meeting new people and seeing new friends you met last week every week was AWESOME. It felt nice to know people from across the state who you get to hang out with at events. I ended up volunteering for over 7 events, 6 of which were events here in the PNW, and got to work with an awesome group of students and adults on A/V at Blue Field District Events (the first paragraph on this pastebin will explain what I mean) for 6 awesome weeks.

This season has been awesome, but I have to say that I'm expecting next season to be even better.