Suffield Shakedown 2016

[MarcD79]

For those who didn't help us organize this event, & understand the pitfalls we ran into to even get what we had today, then maybe you can help & volunteer next year. We put a shout-out for help, but nobody stepped forward. It took great effort to get the pieces we had. Don't criticize what you don't know anything about. We graciously do this event to give teams a chance to try their robots before they have to Bag & Tag. We don't make much money for effort we put in. Don't say that other teams pull this off during off-season. They have a lot more time to organize/plan & have ALL the FIRST fields ready. Don't forget, we are building a robot at the same time & have a small team.
Forgive me for ranting, but I just had to get this off my chest. I still love doing the Scrimmage & I don't have to.

[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by MarcD79

Don't forget, we are building a robot at the same time & have a small team.
Forgive me for ranting, but I just had to get this off my chest. I still love doing the Scrimmage & I don't have to.

I was concerned on Friday night that it would be a mess. The orphan status that the Shakedown seems to have incurred is difficult to understand.

The event went quite well. Teams got to play on a reasonable facsimile of the Stronghold field. Many local teams contributed ALL of the defenses needed. Sure, they slid around on the floor at times and were ripped apart at others, but that made it fun to talk about "damaging" the Outer Works.

The 5-minute matches allowed teams to repeatedly execute their game plans without watching the clock. This was invaluable.
I wonder how many other scrimmages offered this opportunity?

So many drive teams got substantial experience with their new toys.
Mechanisms went through a Shakedown cruise, drivetrains were punished, alliances began to play well with their partners.

Insights into the game were revealed.

Aces High has put on this event in Suffield for over 15 years. I think the vast majority of teams who have attended feel sincere gratitude for the service that 176 has provided.

Our Lieutenant Governor, Nancy Wyman has attended every year that I can remember. Senator Richard Blumenthal also made another appearance today. They both understand the importance of FIRST and the significance of the Suffield Shakedown as a seminal event for the each and every one of the past 15 seasons.

[thatismytruck]

Thank you Aces High for your hard work. Team 558 only wishes we could have helped more. This event gave us a good idea of how our robot will handle the event and also gave our new drivers a chance to drive in a near real event.

[crazyrobochick]

There is no way that The Nuts & Bolts of Fury were going to miss Suffield. We are so happy we went because it showed us exactly what we had to do before tomorrow. Can't thank Aces High enough for allowing us this opportunity and we're so glad we got off the wait list.

[Steve Horn]

Hi everyone,

Here are some people we want to thank for helping with Suffield Shakedown this year:

New England FIRST for the field perimeter
Team 230 The Gaelhawks for webcasting the event
Steve Massey from Team 3718 Junkyard Battalion for being our DJ
Team 178 The Second Law Enforcers for bringing their Dream FIRST program
Teams that brought field elements:

• Team 558 Robo Squad
• Team 1071 Team Max
• Team 716 Who's CTEKS
• Team 263 Sachem Robotics
• Any other teams that brought elements the day of (and all the boulders the teams brought)

Also thank to Team 1071 and Team 195 The Cyberknights for bringing towers so teams could have fun storming the castle
And thanks to all the people from various teams who volunteered at the event

Thank you to everyone and all the teams that helped make our event happen this past weekend. If I missed thanking you or your team, please know that we really appreciated your help this past weekend.