Question: What was the first FIRST competition you attended?

[2348humanplayer]

Ha! I got on of the best stories for my first regional!

Out here in Hawaii, we didn't have a regional. However, a couple of schools found interest in the competitions, and wanted to start some teams. Thus, my dad became the lead engineering mentor for team 359, the Hawaiian Kids in 2000. I went probably 2-3 times a week to go and watch them....and play with the balls. After build season, I went with my parents and sister with the team to San Jose to watch them compete in the Silicon Valley Regional. They did.....pretty bad, with a robot that basically put all their weight high in the air, resulting in much toppling over. But, the biggest thrill for me was that during lunch on Saturday, my dad took my sister and I to the pits to look at robots. Halfway through looking, he brought us to meet the emcee I now admire and love, Mark Leon. He took us on the field, and the three of us danced the YMCA in front of the entire audience! He's the emcee at the Hawaii Regional now, and every year I make it a mission to go and have a chat with him at lunch, and the best thing is, he still remembers me from that one moment. That was a great moment for me, and what helped greatly in solidifying my love for FRC. FIRST Forever!

(BTW, if Mark's the emcee at your local regional, if you can get him while he's not busy, ask him about a guy named Todd from Hawaii. He'll most likely remember me )

[Whippet]

My first FIRST event was the 2011 Dallas regional. I was in 7th grade at the time, but I was already one of the more active members of my team. Since we had to send in team representatives for the practice members, and everyone else was working on the robot in the pit, I got to be the "driver" for half of our practice matches. Even with no robot, the energy was incredible. I got to meet several volunteers like that, and they were all very excited to see that there were some young(er) people on the teams. In the end, I never actually drove the robot, but the experience of being out on the field in front of all the other teams, watching the first tube placed at the event, and seeing all of the amazing creations of the other teams really sealed the deal for me. Although I am no longer with the team I was with that year, I have remained in FIRST, and I have now begun my freshman year with more experience than any of the people on my current team. I definitely have no plans of leaving FIRST now. I am hooked.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by 2348humanplayer

Ha! I got on of the best stories for my first regional!

Out here in Hawaii, we didn't have a regional. However, a couple of schools found interest in the competitions, and wanted to start some teams. Thus, my dad became the lead engineering mentor for team 359, the Hawaiian Kids in 2000. I went probably 2-3 times a week to go and watch them....and play with the balls. After build season, I went with my parents and sister with the team to San Jose to watch them compete in the Silicon Valley Regional. They did.....pretty bad, with a robot that basically put all their weight high in the air, resulting in much toppling over. But, the biggest thrill for me was that during lunch on Saturday, my dad took my sister and I to the pits to look at robots. Halfway through looking, he brought us to meet the emcee I now admire and love, Mark Leon. He took us on the field, and the three of us danced the YMCA in front of the entire audience! He's the emcee at the Hawaii Regional now, and every year I make it a mission to go and have a chat with him at lunch, and the best thing is, he still remembers me from that one moment. That was a great moment for me, and what helped greatly in solidifying my love for FRC. FIRST Forever!

(BTW, if Mark's the emcee at your local regional, if you can get him while he's not busy, ask him about a guy named Todd from Hawaii. He'll most likely remember me )

Sorry Todd, but Mark wont be there.
He will be at SVR during week 6.
Instead we have our former student and current Miss Hawaii USA Brianna Acosta as the MC and Jenny Yang from team 604 as her backup.
I tried to get Karthik and managed to get our Hawaii ROC to pay for his expenses.......however, he plans to be at the inaugural Calgary regional that week as well.
Karthik, there is always next year!

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Sorry Todd, but Mark wont be there.
He will be at SVR during week 6.
Instead we have our former student and current Miss Hawaii USA Brianna Acosta as the MC and Jenny Yang from team 604 as her backup.
I tried to get Karthik and managed to get our Hawaii ROC to pay for his expenses.......however, he plans to be at the inaugural Calgary regional that week as well.
Karthik, there is always next year!

Glenn,

As long as there are no conflicts next year, I plan on being there!

[MysterE]

My first FIRST competition was the Bayou Regional of 2011. Let me quickly build up to it. In 2011 I was hired as a second year Language Arts middle school teacher to teach High School level Social Studies. When the hiring principal found out that I was pretty good with computers, he said the most fateful words I had heard since "It's a girl." "You can help with our robotics team"

He did not know, then, that the old teacher was not going to be running the team for a second year. I became a robotics coach. Of a FRC team. After almost not raising the funds to compete, learning what build season meant, working harder than I ever had in my life... I was going to quit.

It was just too hard. And then we won the regional. And then we raised 25k in three weeks to go to World Championship. And then I met freakin Morgan Freeman.

Yeah... That was my first time with FIRST.

And now... Well. . . Who needs sleep, relaxation, sanity, family, gaming time, grading time . . . I'm designing robots here darn it. I'll be normal later.

[nicholsjj]

I got to shake hands with Dean Kamen. Nuff said.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Glenn,

As long as there are no conflicts next year, I plan on being there!

Sounds good. I hope it works out.
Imagine both you and Mark here!

[tsaksa]

My first competition was just this last year, Rebound Rumble in Portland Oregon. I had seen a small off-season event before that, but Portland was my first, and so far my only real event. I am told that Portland lacks the energy of some of the larger events, but I find that hard to believe. That place was rocking. I did not see anyone that was not caught up in the excitement and who did not return changed in some way for the better.

[MDAWG25]

Pittsburgh 2011, LogoMotion!

[PVCpirate]

Granite State Regional 2009, my first event as a member of 1058, the PVC Pirates. We came in last place, and I mean dead last. We couldn't pick up balls off the floor, our drivetrain didn't work right, we got stuck on the carpet around the edge, and we had connection issues. But I was only a freshman, and I knew we would get it right the next year. We did, and won the event in 2010! I was inspired from the start and continued to be for 4 years.

[cpeister]

For me it was the Waterloo Regional in 2007. I was a Grade 8 student at the time, and 781 sent a bus for interested FLL students to come watch for Saturday. I don't remember a whole lot of it, but I did get to ride a segway, and watch lots of robots. I joined 781 in Grade 9, and I haven't missed a Waterloo Regional since. Now I am in my second year of Mech Eng at uWaterloo, and will be sure to drop by the regional again this year.

[racesick222]

My first FIRST competition was at the 2007 Boston regional where I got to watch my older brother win his first regional. This was where I saw his team 125 win in a last second balance that erupted the whole arena. That weekend was why I got obsessed with robotics and hoped I could do the same thing one day.

[Anupam Goli]

my first FIRST Competition was the FLL State Tournament in Georgia in 2005....

but if we're talking FRC, there's my first one and my "first" one. The first competition I went to was the Peachtree Regional in 08. My brother was on team 1002 at the time, so I went up with my parents to watch. It was pretty cool, but I think my 8th grade mind was elsewhere during the competition.

The one event that really stands out in my mind as the first competition in which I was inspired was Championships in '09. My team (1002) won the regional EI award and we went to championships. We were in the same division as some of the really big names. I just remember walking around the pits, and seeing the robots of 1114 and 67. I was just amazed when I walked by their pits with the robots and the teams themselves. When our team lost in the Quarterfinals to 1114 and 2056, I wasn't even mad. Seeing the best teams at Championships was what got me addicted to FRC.

[maxnz]

Mine was the Roseville high school pre/postseason competition in MN last October

[2348humanplayer]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Sorry Todd, but Mark wont be there.
He will be at SVR during week 6.
Instead we have our former student and current Miss Hawaii USA Brianna Acosta as the MC and Jenny Yang from team 604 as her backup.
I tried to get Karthik and managed to get our Hawaii ROC to pay for his expenses.......however, he plans to be at the inaugural Calgary regional that week as well.
Karthik, there is always next year!

Ah, thanks, Mr. Lee. Makes sense since our competition changed from week 4 to week 6 that he may not be there. Thanks!