2nd Regional

[Stefan]

I say go for 2 regionals if you can. Last year was our rookie year and we only went to one (Peachtree). Our last match our robot finally worked perfectly and we did really well and got picked for an alliance, but we got eliminated early in quarter finals.

This year we went to 2 regionals VCU and Peachtree.

At VCU we did 5-2 mainly b/c our humman player is really good and in qualifying rounds we did not end up going against the top robots that worked 100%. We had bugs and what not. We only hung and worked as intended once maybe twice.

At Peachtree the robot worked the way it was supposed to even when it was broken. Yes even when it was not supposed to work it did. We finally got an auto. However Thursday was spent entirely working on fixing stuff that broke during shiping and stuff that broke in our final match at VCU. Mostly all of the bugs were pinned down and noted at the first regional. We ended up 11-1-1 at Peachtree and overall both regionals 16-3-1. The first regional was well worth it. We won the second regional and sent two other teams that other wise might not have gone to Championships to it.

Last year while talking to a veteran team we were told about how going to 2 regionals helped them alot. As a result we made it a priority to attend 2 this year. In addition, to improved robot preformance we got to experince "robosars", see other teams, and go some place not local to compete. Also, if you do 2 regionals have at least a week between them and have your "non-local" one first that way more of your team and others like parents, sponsors, your princpal, etc. can go to the better preformance one.

If you can find a way to go to 2 and afford Champs b/c you might end up qualifying for Champs at the second one. Then I say you should. Its really well worth it if you can.

Note: If taking a big bus and you cannot fill all the seats try getting another team to go with you or opening up seats to some rookies (or and other teams) who are going to one regional and want to see what the game is like in person before hand. This can help decrease the cost per person.