Human Player

[xxlshortys]

How many human players actually felt and looked pumped before the timer began?

I started doing it at Pittsburgh after watching the rest of the players stand there and just go, it kinda looked sluggish. I figure be pouncy, be ready for the timer to start and get those bins out there.

If anyone noticed i wore "the original human 'playa'" shirt saturday at Nationals (curie).

Anyways, im curious cause i dont think its fun if you cant be into it as much as you can.

Originally posted by xxlshortys
How many human players actually felt and looked pumped before the timer began?

I started doing it at Pittsburgh after watching the rest of the players stand there and just go, it kinda looked sluggish. I figure be pouncy, be ready for the timer to start and get those bins out there.

If anyone noticed i wore "the original human 'playa'" shirt saturday at Nationals (curie).

Anyways, im curious cause i dont think its fun if you cant be into it as much as you can.

Of course I got into it...heck anyone that saw me as human player found my style amusing. I did my typical wave to the crowd, went to the touch pad and as they said ready, 1, 2, 3 go! I bent down like a track runner getting in place..then off to the field!

[Mike Schroeder]

and then you triped and fell

[Sophey Chan]

::laughs:: he didn't fall from what I can recall ::glares:: But yea, I was pretty energetic, at Regioanls, the Refs would come to our pits worried I would hurt myself, and they wouldn't let me carry PVC...o.O If you call that energetic, I kept being all happy and running into things, lol.

[ngreen]

At Regional, I was the FIRST HP to face the boxes instead of the field in my split track like stance. By the end of the first day, everyone had changed to a stance more similiar to mine. I did do the cha-cha slide, minus the jumps, and the macarena while waiting for matches to begin on the pressure mats. I didn't try to move to much and always kept at least one foot on the pressure pad.

[hixofthehood]

I would assume the position, wave to the people, ready my stance. Then at the "go" usually I would give a false start--just take off a little then stop and start over-then I'd go.

One time we didn't field a robot so I just sang and played air guitar to "Somewhere Out There." Human playing is so much fun...my favorite part is sliding bins.

But I could ramble for pages, let's just leave it at--count one for enthusiasm.

Oh, and of course, the boxes must be faced! How else can you stare them down and show them who is their master?

[jburstein]

anyone else ever feel tempted to forget all about the human player boxes and just go run up the ramp and into the stack?

I know i did...the amazing part is that I never did it...*sigh* great opportunities missed.

But other than that... yeah i was one of those lame-o boring human players. Except perhpas, that my usual exit from the field was a flying leap over the rail onto the pressure pad.

[Chris Nowak]

we we theorized as to what to do if we wanted to lose a match or something. We thought the smartest things to do would be:
1. Chuck a bin at the wall
2. Chuck a bin at the opposite human player
3. Try to chuck a bin over the wall at the other drivers
4. Just wedge as many boxes between the opponent's robot and the ramp so they couldnt move during autonomous(I mean, putting them in the grey where the robot starts out)

These are just jokes, we obviously werent seriously gonna do any of this stuff.

Originally posted by Chris Nowak
we we theorized as to what to do if we wanted to lose a match or something. We thought the smartest things to do would be:
1. Chuck a bin at the wall
2. Chuck a bin at the opposite human player
3. Try to chuck a bin over the wall at the other drivers
4. Just wedge as many boxes between the opponent's robot and the ramp so they couldnt move during autonomous(I mean, putting them in the grey where the robot starts out)

These are just jokes, we obviously werent seriously gonna do any of this stuff.

My favorite idea:

Slide a bin at your partner HP and see if you can take his/her legs out from under them


Oh and Mike, how many times do we have to go over this.. I fell only for that picture, and for obvious reasons you can tell it was staged

[Vincent Chan]

Originally posted by D.J. Fluck
I did my typical wave to the crowd, went to the touch pad and as they said ready, 1, 2, 3 go! I bent down like a track runner getting in place..then off to the field!

I hear ya, bro! If you go and watch the Peachtree broadcasts, you'll see that I did the same starting position... It's instinct, now, from having run two seasons each of track and cross country. I nearly drove a box into my head the first practice match because I was too energetic and nervous and expected the stack to be heavier.

[Jeff Waegelin]

Heh... I was so ready for my matches, I almost fell over a couple of times when they had false-starts (none of my causing). In one of the Archimedes semifinals, I actually did fall over, because I was ready to dash out and grab my stack, but when I didn't hear the starting buzzer, I held myself back and lost my balance. Here's a pic of me "at the ready" before a match...

http://www.feds201.com/forums/album_pic.php?pic_id=255

[Vincent Chan]

I can see why you might've fallen over...

You should've put your non-dominant leg back and rested your weight backwards. This allows you to get a faster start, because of all the momentum created when you move at the buzzer: First, you rock your weight forward, creating a bit of inertia forward, as well as into the ground. Next, you push with your dominant leg, propelling you upwards, to counteract the downwards motion, as well as forward, adding to your velocity.

Also, it's harder to fall over this way, because you'll immediately catch yourself with your other leg... Well... usually.

The way you were standing, it looks like someone could've poked you in the rear and you would've tipped over forwards.

[jonathan lall]

In my case, I had my front foot forward, and on the last count of the MC, I'd start my first stride toward the bins, with one foot on the mat. That way, when the sound goes, I've already started taking my first stride, and I'm already moving toward the bins. My foot hits the ground when the sound goes. Depending on the manuever, I can often be out the gate with the bins (in a total of two and a half strides) before the other human players have even lifted their bins.

[Jeff Waegelin]

Originally posted by Vincent Chan
I can see why you might've fallen over...

You should've put your non-dominant leg back and rested your weight backwards. This allows you to get a faster start, because of all the momentum created when you move at the buzzer: First, you rock your weight forward, creating a bit of inertia forward, as well as into the ground. Next, you push with your dominant leg, propelling you upwards, to counteract the downwards motion, as well as forward, adding to your velocity.

Also, it's harder to fall over this way, because you'll immediately catch yourself with your other leg... Well... usually.

The way you were standing, it looks like someone could've poked you in the rear and you would've tipped over forwards.

Yeah, that's the one where I actually fell over... they started the thing about 3 times, and I was getting impatient... I shifted around, and I wasn't quite ready for the start of that match. Most of them, I was better prepared, but that one kinda caught me off guard, especially when they didn't actually start the match... I guess part of it was the way I grabbed my stack, too. I took all 4 together, and running out usually wasn't the best way to do that. If I started with a stance that was too agressive, it didn't help much.

[Mullen]

Slide a bin at your partner HP and see if you can take his/her legs out from under them

almost happened to me...i was putting out my stack of four and WHAM, right on the side of my leg. good thing im just sweet like that and only gave a little flinch
i didnt have any weird things that i did but i would always adjust the stack even if it was already right where it needed to be for me to pick it up and i would always full out sprint back even if it was only at the 3 or 4 second mark
now that i think about i wish i didnt always walk back to the station after they rang the bell for auton to go becuase i always missed our robot fall down at the beginning..our crazy LED poles would flap around on the fall, twas a funny thing.