When The Magic Works

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Kevin Leonard

I like this idea. I think this could be an interesting thread.

I have been a part of a team that wasn't picked at a regional. 2012 Granite State, Team 20 seeded 49th/50 and was not picked for eliminations. I know what it's like to be the worst team at an event.
Later that year, we won the Connecticut Regional as the 3rd robot for a powerful alliance of 195 and 181. That feeling of victory was awesome, but also slightly hollow. We contributed to the alliance, but we got there because of those two team's impressive scoring ability more than our ability to feed them with balls.
Winning changed me. It made me want to be like those top teams that selected us. It made me want to understand strategy and build a robot that could compete at the same level as 195 and 181 were.

The next year we did. We built a robot that was simple and effective at one task, and we seeded first at the Connecticut Regional and picked 195. We went undefeated at the event. I was never more happy in my robotics career.
But I also understood what it meant to be a "bad" team. It's very easy to do. Try to do too much on the field, try to do too little, and your robot will do poorly.

All the current students on Team 20 aside from the Seniors haven't experienced a bad season. 2013 and 2014 were some of the best seasons in our team's history, but they don't know what it's like to be "bad".

I hope we retain our humility.

We were the 3rd pick! 20/195 did for us what 195/181 did for 20 the year prior. We were inspired to do better! I will forever be grateful to 20 and 195 for that.

Boy... it's getting awfully dusty in here...