Are 8 play regional reasonable?

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

Again, it depends on the year. Last year, for example, our robot performed horribly on the field. Every match we went out to left our students depressed and angry. I spent a ton of time and energy that year working to keep their spirits up, keep them motivated, and keep them working towards improvements. Every match was a huge emotional drain on everyone, and I know it wasn't inspiring for the students.

Other years are different. We go out there , do what we designed to do, and the students come back happy seeing the robot do what it's supposed to do.

Personally, I try to get my team inspired with the engineering we do, not with the on-field performance. It's difficult, and it's hard. But on-field performance is just so dependent on so many variables that it's something you don't want to rely on. So from an inspiration standpoint, I honestly don't care how many matches we get.

My god man... can you reasonably say that 8 matches gives you a better return on your investment (time/money) than 9 would?

I get that it's not about the robot, I get that it sucks to go out there and lose. I get those extenuating circumstances. But holy crap, I don't think I've ever seen anyone ever try to say "well, we only had to play 8 matches".