Question: What was the first FIRST competition you attended?

[Matt Leese]

Originally Posted by Ken Patton

For students of the game: whatever became of the mentors for that great defensive team? (JVN is excluded from this question because it is too easy for him)

Ken

It became too easy once you excluded JVN from the list. There's exactly one group that I know of being located in Greenville, TX (what else is in Greenville, TX?).

Matt

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Matt Leese

(what else is in Greenville, TX?).

Matt

L3, one of the largest defense contractors in the nation?
Team 148?

Something else...?

John

[Levin571]

My first was a New York regional that i attended 2 years before i actually joined robotics, my job was team mascot but it was still awsome... ever since i've been hooked!

Story Time:
During the competition there was a round where the judges accidently gave our score to the opponent and our opponents score to us. Dean Kamen was in attendence so I went down and started "chatting" with him about what happened and asked why weren't teams given a round in which they could go to judges and ask them to review the score. He must have taken this into concideration because the next year there appeared a rule allowing this. At home we have a tape of this little argument between him and I which looking back at it is quite amusing seeing myself, less than 5 feet tall wearing a shirt 2 sizes too big arguing with Dean, standing on his Segway, twice the height of me.

[JVN]

Originally Posted by Ken Patton

Beatty/Hammond was there - big surprise, they were awesome (students of the game will note that they were natl champs that year). Best offense. Even back then they were masters of the steel frame and PVC arms. That industrial-looking robot is on the cover of my SPI catalog #18W.

When Beatty/Hammond went up against Greenville, there was a serious and entertaining struggle when offense met defense. I don't remember who won, but I do remember in at least one match that Beatty/Hammond got "rolled" by the rotating goal.

Ken,
In the stories I've heard, Beatty wins, but only because of a last minute strategic error by Greenville.
(Maybe the story teller was biased).
I guess we know who went on to fame that year!

For the full story, you'd have to ask someone who was there, with a better memory. (Or the video).

I've got my copy of SPI #18 sitting on my bookshelf next to me. What a cool machine.

Ken -- if you exclude me from every contest where I know the answer, I'll never win anything!

John

['lil Gach]

I do remember the first FIRST competition I did go to. I went to the 2002 Nationals to watch WildStang because my brother was on the team then. I remember sitting there watching this competition and then thinking about how much I wanted to do it. The thing I remember about the 2002 Nationals is the big water fight we all had there... FIRST was giving out free water bottles and then someone decided to start the water fight and I also join in.. So it was fun.. Ever since that competition I have loved coming to the competitons and being on the team.

[Wetzel]

The first competition I went to was VCU in 2000. I don't really remember much other then there was a lot of good music. The Brazillian Machine stands out in my mind too, for some reason.

The first meetings I attended were in the fall of 1998, but the friends I had at the time were discouraging in my attendence of robotics. They were discouraging in my attendance of school as well, but thats another story. I ended up droping off the team halfway through the build season in 1999. That fall, however, I was waiting to join the team again. This time I stuck through and made it to the competition at VCU. That competition hooked me hard enough that I gradually stoped hanging out with my old friends, and started hanging out with my new FIRST friends.


Wetzel

[KelliV]

The first FIRST competiton I ever went to was Great Lakes in 2003.

I dont remember anything really awkward going on there but at Nationals in 2003 (my 3rd competition) I remember being woken up at 3 in the morning by my roommate... she gave me whole new meaning to homesickness when i walked into the hotel bathroom and saw she threw up all over.... I dont think i will ever forget that...

[Kevin Sevcik]

I remember my first FIRST competition. I'll date myself and geographically locate myself, since most posts here are about the east coast and midwest...

1998 Johnson Space Center Houston Regional. No, not Lone Star, the original Houston Regional that was only around for a year. The event was held at Space Center Houston.

Imagine if you will, a pit for 20+ teams contained in an area the size of a high school cafeteria. With barely existent aisleways. Needless to say, the pits were a mess. The field was in the center of a somewhat large cleared area SSH uses for displays and events of this type, but there wasn't much in the way of stands. There were nearby stairs that occasionally offered decents views, though. The original incarnation of our robot didn't fair very well at that event. We were trying to use a system of PVC rollers to squeeze balls into the center goal, but we used some plywood as the base, and it didn't stand up well to other robots.

Nationals that year was a bit better as we traded out the plywood for lexan and added a third roller to help pull balls through. With the added benefit of removing balls as well. There's nothing quite like the look on a team's face when you cut their score in half... We still had issues with the chain for the rollers coming loose, and it was hard to beat Baxter Bomb Squad loading the center goal with 3-4 balls at a time, though. So we did decently, but not incredibly well.

At any rate, the competitions were fun and all, but I think I enjoyed the build season a good bit more.

[UCGL_Guy]

2000 Lone Star Regional in Houston Texas - I remember the team from Hobbs NM - their robot was shipped in upside down and arrived in pieces - those students rebuilt it in a day with some help from others - mostly though they wanted to do it on their own. Also 68 Truck Town -- showed up with their portable machine shop and a truck full of parts and a huge willingness to share and show gracious professionalism at it's finest.

[Richard Wallace]

My introduction to FIRST came during a work related visit to Deka R&D in early January 1996. Dean Kamen convinced my boss that Emerson should sponsor a team, and I was standing at the right place to get the assignment. The next morning I was at the kickoff, and the next evening I was on a commercial flight home with two extra boxes of checked luggage -- the KOP. When I got back to St. Louis, my first task was to recruit a team!

My first FIRST competition was the 1996 Championship at Epcot, before teams had permanent numbers. We were called the Arch Rivals -- note the St. Louis theme. In the pits we were right next to another midwestern rookie team called the Baxter Bomb Squad. Their history is now storied, while ours ended after the 1997 season. Boy was it hot in that tent! And carrying the robot to and from the field made us really wish we had brought a cart!

After that I took four years off from FIRST, starting back again in late 2001 when the St. Louis regional was being organized. 931 was the first and only St. Louis area team in 2002. Now our area is up to 18 teams and still growing.

[Andy Grady]

My first competition was the New England Tournament at Memorial High School in Manchester, 1995.

After a year of getting used to the whole FIRST experience on Gael Force (Where I didn't really put that much effort in) I treked up on the Clinton bus to go see the action. The competition was amazing, yet primitive...nothing at all like it is today. Two fields layed out in the gymnasium, big television screens for seeing the score and time, and the man in the middle of the field as emcee who "I thought I recognized from somewhere on TV" (Woodie Flowers).

Back then at that competition...there was no music...however schools brought bands to keep things plenty loud. There was no play by play announcing...you pretty much had to figure out what was going on in a match on your own. The gym was packed and very energetic. There were cheers comming from every corner of the gymnasium.

I watched the whole day as the Gael Force robot struggled to even pick up a ball, let lone score up a mile...yet for some reason...this was the coolest thing I had ever experienced.

I remember having to leave right after our last match (I believe it was the only one we would end up winning) and thinking to myself..."yeah, I want to do this next year...and next year I want to be down on that field!"

Of course, the next year, I was.

Walking into that gym last year for River Rage sent chills up my spine. I didn't know back then how much of an effect that day would have on the rest of my life..and seeing it all again brought back alot of amazing memories.

[Tom Schindler]

My first competition was the UTC scrimmage at South Windsor High School in 1997... Way back when the robots ran off of 2 drill batteries..

I couldn't believe how different every team's robot was! It was quite amazing to watch them glide around the field and fumble to pick up the toroids...

I don't recall who won or any specific events (besides a few random robots falling over, which was spectacular), but i knew i had to be a part of it. Coming up on 10 years later, I'm still hooked.

I can agree with Andy when he commented on how he had no idea how much effect the first FIRST competition would effect the rest of his life. I don't know where i would be, or what i would be doing right now without FIRST, it really is a life changing organization!

Tom

[Katie Hans]

My first FIRST competition was the 2006 Finger Lakes Regional. I had a really great time. It was a whirlwind experience for me, but I do remember a few points:
1.) I had to go in and be interviewed for the Chairman's Award, which was really nerve wracking,
2.) The guy selling Ben & Jerry's ice cream was really nice,
3.) I liked a lot of the music that was played,
4.) People on my team started painting faces/limbs/hair,
5.) I think we almost killed the drive team with a stampede,
6.) And for some reason I remember I dropped the blinking paw light that the X-Cats were giving out on the floor and then it didn't work. But I still have it.

[Graham Donaldson]

Brunswick Eruption '05... I remember not knowing what to expect and as a pre-rookie team member, if I could be called that, I remember being really bored because I didn't have anything to do. But my 3rd competition, Palmetto Regional '06, I was busy every day, all the time! Just goes to show that if you just throw yourself into the team and do your best to get involved, you can really play a crucial role! (*cough* SCOUTING!!!!! *cough*) .

The Canuck

[travis48elite]

My first FIRST competition was the Pittsburg Regional in 2004 where it was there that I really got hooked on to FIRST. It was one of the best times I had ever experienced up to that point in my life. But the best FIRST competition that I have attended would have to be the Buckeye Regional in 2006 when my dad attended who had been helping out the team and now I think he is hooked to FIRST also!