QotW [04-20-03]: Post-season competitions.

[Madison]

As the Championship fades into our memories, many teams are looking forward to the number of post-season competitions that are on the horizon. Some teams place a lot of importance on these events, noting that the competition can be as fierce as that found at official Regional events.

Question 4-20-03: How important are post-season competitions to you and your team? Do you value a team’s performance at one of these competitions as much as their performance at an official regional, or is it all just for fun and none of it matters at all?

I think it'll be interesting to gain a little insight into what roles these team- and organization-run events hold in the FIRST culture.

...and, for a moment, I'd like to thank Ken for giving me the opportunity to take on this great tradition. I only hope that I can do as good a job as he's done over the past two years, as well as Andy Grady before him. It's definitely a change of perspective for me, and I think that with the help of both Amanda and John, as well the rest of the readers here on CD, we can all learn some things.

[Clanat]

I think it would be a lot of fun to go to an offseason competition. Other than having fun, I think it would be great to actually get our robot working right after a disappointing nats and show some teams out there what our robot should have been like.

I think it isn't as "important" as a regional, but that doesn't mean it isn't just as fun.

[Brandon Martus]

I'm excited for IRI, mainly because I'll get to meet a ton of people I talk to daily on the forums & AIM. Woo.

[*nsync]
It may be off-season,
but its Mid-July, baby.
I - R - I.
[/*nsync]sung to 'bye bye bye'

Oh, and M -- doing a great job -- formatted just like Andy & Ken have done so many times.

[Wetzel]

Originally posted by Brandon Martus

[*nsync]
It may be off-season,
buy its Mid-July, baby.
I - R - I.
[/*nsync]sung to 'bye bye bye'

...



I had an answer, then I read that....


Wetzel

[Jeff Waegelin]

I think they're fun, and some (like IRI) can approach the intensity and importance of an official FIRST regional, but in the end, they're just for fun. It's one of those things where I would be excited if we won, but not too disappointed if we didn't.

[srawls]

Last year was the first year team 122 went to any off-season competitions, and that was entirely because of my requests (and one other person on the team). We kept on reading about them on Chief Delphi, and thought it would be really cool if our team could do it. We ended up going to the Maryland State Fair competition and the Duel On the Deleware.

Both of those were very fun and exciting. Based on the small number of teams, everyone made it to elimination rounds. The competitions were not so much for judging another team based on their robot, but for having fun, and (more importantly) forming friendships with other teams. There were numerous occasions at competitions where a person would come up to me and say "oh, you're from 122, I remember you from Duel on the Deleware." Also, I even met the MC for the Curie field on our plane ride to Houston, and after talking for a bit, he said "did you by chance go to the Maryland State Fair?"

So, to answer your question, our team went to have fun and form lasting friendships with other teams.
Stephen

[Amanda Morrison]

There's a lot of things to look forward to after regular FIRST competition. Starting new teams, the Indiana State Fair, fundraising and activities... but most of all, the IRI.

I think it not only gives a lot of the veterans another chance to show their stuff and fine tweak their bot but also gives the rookie teams in the area more exposure and experience.

An all around great event! I'm looking forward to it!

[Clark Gilbert]

To me post season events are pretty importatnt, anything I can do to drag out the "regular" season that much longer is awesome. This year it should be even more important since it will be my last summer as a TechnoKat . The two things that I look foward to are IRI and the Indiana State Fair. More so IRI because it gives me a chance to help volunteer for an event, while at the same time working with people from other Indiana teams.

To some other people on my team I must say that off season events are not as important, mainly because attendance tends to lack during these times. I guess that's to be expected since not all kids are 100%.

[Yan Wang]

I think it'd be very important.

I'm trying to get our team to go to one but it's spring break right now (not that I'm complaining about that).

[WernerNYK]

The off-season is extremely important to our team. We consider the time after Nationals the "start of the real season."

We generally attend a minumum of 6 off-season competitions each year. They are less expensive, present just as much of a challenge, and we believe they are much more fun, and there is a lot of respect to be earned from other teams during the off-season. This is the time that everyone's robots should be able to be performing at top-notch.

We even gave up a regional this year in order to attend more, further off-season competitions. We figured that we would save the $4,000 registration fee and the associated travel costs in order to use that money to travel to further off-season competitions that we have not traditionally been able to attend.

The off-season is something that those dedicated team members could look forward to, without having to worry about missing school and whatnot. We place such a high importance upon the off-season that we even host our own competition, BattleCry@WPI which is known by many people as the best event of the year, even topping some of the regionals.

We have even developed our own scoring/field control software from the ground up since the FIRST-provided software is often buggy and difficult to figure out. We use the software at BattleCry, as well as provide it for other off-season events.

So as you can see, the off-season competitions are of great importance to our team; we wouldn't be able to have half the fun we have without them!

[Ricky Q.]

Last year was also the first off-season competition for our team (IRI) and we had a blast. The people that went met and hung out with tons of other people and so many more people want to go this year. I think its a good continuation of the FIRST season, get new people in the pits, new drivers, new coaches, and you already have a robot . There isnt the stress of qualifiying well for nats or anything like that, you just have fun and do what you can. I love it.

[Kyle]

this is my first year involved in FIRST and the "off season" comps helped me understand alot about the teams and they gave me some idea what a real regional would be like.

[melitami]

I personally have not been to any, but my team has. After volunteering at Richmond and Philadelphia, it was pretty much decreed that I will at least be at Maryland State Fair (upon orders of the NASA Goddard guys), Ramp Riot, and Duel on the Delaware. Look for the Mech Techs at least at Maryland and Duel as far as I know....

...going through robotics withdrawal....silly engineering classes....

[skrussel]

* You get more use out of that robot that you poured your hearts and souls into
* The last time for outgoing seniors to drive
* The first time for new drive teams to get their feet wet
* Gives the girls a chance [Fabulous All Girls' Tournament]
* Gives the engineers - FINALLY! - a chance to show their stuff [YOU THINK YOU CAN DO IT BETTER?????]
* More intimate setting - great time to meet other teams
* Better music
* Better food
* Better free T-shirts
* More dancing than in Houston - didn't you miss the Conga lines, the cha-cha slide, etc?
* The pressure is on, but not nearly as much
* Joe Johnson as the arena announcer - "boom shaka laka laka, boom shaka laka laka-new-high-score!"

[dez250]

i would say they mean alot to a team and they help form bonds and friendships that carry over to the next seasons and can be a starter to a winning alliance, but since my team wont go to any off season competitions, would say our team, one of the 6 last origionals are losing alot.
~Michael Dessingue