FIM Kentwood District

[Richard Wallace]

The Average Joes (3620) would like to thank the event organizers, volunteer corps, and our fellow competitors who made this event an FRC gem. No controversy, minimal technical difficulties, excellent layout, and a fine venue combined to make Kentwood one of our team's best competition experiences ever.

Pre-event analysis by Looking Forward proved very accurate, as usual -- except for our team*. Our alliance partners 2054 and 4482 were a pleasure to work with. Tech Vikes, as in previous years, have built a top-tier robot that will be a serious contender at every level. Their solo auto is beautiful and reliable. Intelligent Design was true to their name, delivering what they said they would (actually a bit more) during playoffs, even when their partners stumbled in one finals match.

Special thanks to the Robotarians (2959) for their gracious help to our team and many others throughout the event. One noteworthy example: during lunch, they helped 4482 diagnose a drivetrain problem, improving the competitiveness of one of the robots they would face in the finals that evening. Their recognition with the Gracious Professionalism award is well deserved.

Stryke Force (2767), BoB (85), and That One Team (4967) kept pressure on the field with consistent, smooth performances all through qualifiying rounds. Congratulations to 4967 on District Chairman's -- your team really has developed the complete FIRST package.

Also, congratulations to the Gearheads (5745) on a fine showing at your first event. You guys built a solid, reliable robot that was noticed by the scouts, and we were not surprised that you had already been selected when our turn came to make a final pick.

To the Average Joes: I am very proud of all of you. This was a better than average weekend, no doubt. If there is anything better than playing robots late on a Saturday, I have not found it yet.
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* However, Jim Zondag did mention the Average Joes in his RoboZone pre-analysis for Week 2. Thanks, Jim!

[fovea1959]

Intelligent Design, team 4482 (and their alliance partners) were also the benefactors of a typically generous act by team 85, Built on Brains. They provided the much-needed replacement Talon-SRX for ID. ID made it to the field just in time for the first elimination match...

GP is commonplace, but still worthy of mention...

[hardcopi]

We appreciate the shout out. You know this is the third time we have helped to fix a bot on the alliance that goes on to beat us. Guess we will never learn.

[stuart2054]

Richard,

It was a pleasure working with the Average Joes 3620 and 4482 ID in the finals. Thanks so much for picking us. Your mining of the landfill and ability to cap off a 4 stack was something we really need in an alliance partner and you did it superbly. I was also impressed with ID's reliability in making rapid 2 tote stacks.

2959, 4281 and 5710 you almost had us. It was clear when our auto failed the 2nd match and you trounced us that if anybody had any issues at all the other alliance would probably win.

85, 4967 & 244 were also very good and if it wasn't for misfortune striking in SF 2 they may have been fighting out the finals instead of our alliance. BOB you guys really got a great robot this year. 4967 you amaze me with how such a simple looking robot can be so expertly driven and consistently a top contender.

2767 Stryke Force you guys looked good but you human players litter throwing was amazing. We are going have our human player practicing that before West Michigan.

There were many very good robots in this district including 5674, 5470, 2075, 3234 which got my attention.

[Jarren Harkema]

First, we want to thank 3875 Red Storm Robotics and East Kentwood High School for a phenomenally run event. Everything was smooth and well organized.

A HUGE shoutout to our alliance partners 85 B.O.B. and 244 RoboDawgs 3D. We cannot thank you guys enough for carrying the alliance as far as we got. We wish we could have caught that motor quick connect issue sooner! B.O.B. - we were thrilled that you accepted our invitation, and you delivered on what you promised every match. Robodawgs 3D, we were blessed that you were still available to join our alliance, you contributed immensely to our success.

Another shoutout to the winning alliance! That was definitely a well deserved win. 2054’s autonomous was incredible to watch. Congrats 3620 for picking them up, it was the right choice. We also want to commend the 2767 Stryke Force human player. Those litter throws were insane! We got a little worried in those quarterfinals when one after another noodle kept flying over onto our side of the field.

Last, but certainly not least, we want to thank all of the tournament volunteers that helped make this event possible. So many people give so many hours to make tournaments happen, and we want to make sure you know how much we appreciate it.

Thank you all for the kind words for our team. We were incredibly honored to achieve the Chairman’s Award - there were so many high quality teams at the Kentwood tournament and the Chairman’s Award could have been given to so many of them.

[Deke]

I know everyone on team 85 had a blast at Kentwood, and are excited for West Michigan!

I want to thank 4967 for picking us, and 244 for joining us as well. A few more things falling our way could have changed the outcome but we gave it our best shot. What can I say about 244 as a 2nd pick making 2 four stacks consistently, they definitely blew away what we expected from them.

So many great teams to watch at Kentwood. 3620 making stack after stack match after match. 2054 tweaking their auto in all day Friday. 2959 tweaking their robot in all day Friday and tearing it up on Saturday. 4967 dominating their last qualifying matches to end up 2nd overall. 2767 throwing hail marys to keep them in the ranks when they had robot troubles. 2075 cleaning up the landfill and grabbing rcs and many many more great teams. It was just an awesome district event.

I know we waited as we watched 2054 knowing that when they got their robot clicking they would be a game changer, and everyone knew it Saturday morning. We also watched 2959 all day Friday waiting for them to get going, they have a high ceiling with that robot and it showed as they worked beautifully with their alliance to a finals showdown.

Thank you to all the volunteers that made the event possible!