Question: What was the first FIRST competition you attended?

[Alex Pelan]

My first competition was the 2004 UTC regional at the meadows. Our first match we flipped over.That was discouraging, as we ended up losing the match because of the penalty that we got for falling out of there. I remember thinking how we had all worked so hard, and it really didn't seem fair. The rest of the first day of UTC was on/off, meaning we lost when we had our arm on and we won when it was off. The entertainment at night, particularly the hypnotist, was very entertaining. The second day we had the arm off permanently, and went 2 and 1 in the morning. We got selected to be in the fourth ranked alliance, but we lost in the quarterfinals. It didn't matter though, the thrill of the competition had me hooked.

[Sean Schuff]

My first event was the 2000 Midwest Regional.

I had spent the entire season merely observing our team in action - throughout the build and into the competition season. I was a VERY green teacher mentor (the only one on the team) and just wanted to see what this whole FIRST thing was all about. Being a rookie on the team, I didn't want to mess anything up either!

Along comes the Midwest Regional and I am thrown directly from the realm of "see what FIRST is" to the "experience what FIRST is." What an overwhelming experience! I remember some awesome robots like CD and their swerve drive. I could not fathom a robot moving so quickly and effortlessly to the other side of the field, pick up 6 balls and deposit them in the trough! WOW! I also remember the Technokats and Wildstang - the best teams seem to stand out in your mind. So elegant and functional!

My most memorable competition experience from that first year was the championship finals at Epcot. Team 25 had an amazing robot that had the ability to steal balls from their opponents trough and put it in theirs. I realized then that game strategy is EVERYTHING! Some incredible, down-to-the-wire matches!

The rest is history and here I am today - still hooked!

Sean

[Aaron Lussier]

My first competition was the River Rage competition at the end of the 2000 season. I got to look around my soon to be teams pit and was wicked excited about everything. I've been hooked ever since.

-Aaron

[tiffany34990]

my first competition thanks to my big bro who joined s.p.a.m.

my mom and dad wanted to go and i did to0 a bit cause i saw them building the bot and all looked like tons of fun-- so my first competition was 2000 i was in 7th grade --we went to KSC --got up that saturday morning and drove up-- sat in the blenchers and well just joined s.p.a.m. in cheering while trying to do my vocab hw for mrs. clark's class-- i never seem to be able to avoid hw-- but it was way fun and it started to rain a bit but thats alright -- i was hooked forever


thanks michael for everything as usual

[Billfred]

Palmetto. 2004, although that's pretty easy to figure since there's only been one of them.

[Joe Matt]

My first regional was the 2001 VCU. Don't remember much besides not figuring out the game for quite a while.

[Matt Leese]

This is going to date me....

My first FIRST competition was the 1998 Mid-Atlantic Regional. Our robot that year was pretty bad. We didn't win a single match. Something broke catastrophically in every match. We did, however, win a Special Judge's Award for Victorious Perseverance in the Face of Adversity. I'm still of the opinion that the "Victorious" part was wishful thinking on the part of the judges.

Matt

[Specialagentjim]

Originally Posted by Sean Schuff

My first event was the 2000 Midwest Regional.

I had spent the entire season merely observing our team in action - throughout the build and into the competition season. I was a VERY green teacher mentor (the only one on the team) and just wanted to see what this whole FIRST thing was all about. Being a rookie on the team, I didn't want to mess anything up either!

Along comes the Midwest Regional and I am thrown directly from the realm of "see what FIRST is" to the "experience what FIRST is." What an overwhelming experience! I remember some awesome robots like CD and their swerve drive. I could not fathom a robot moving so quickly and effortlessly to the other side of the field, pick up 6 balls and deposit them in the trough! WOW! I also remember the Technokats and Wildstang - the best teams seem to stand out in your mind. So elegant and functional!

My most memorable competition experience from that first year was the championship finals at Epcot. Team 25 had an amazing robot that had the ability to steal balls from their opponents trough and put it in theirs. I realized then that game strategy is EVERYTHING! Some incredible, down-to-the-wire matches!

The rest is history and here I am today - still hooked!

Sean

I had almost the same experience, but at the 2000 Florida Regional, then held at Kennedy Space Center. That regional was incredible, fields in the rocket garden and team party in the Saturn V building.

When I saw that cherry picker robot in the last 30 seconds bring out its secret claw and start stealing balls from the other trough, I knew I was hooked.

[Jeff Rodriguez]

Hmm, I think it was the 1999 UTC Pre-Ship Scrimmage.
The first official competition was the 1999 UTC regional, and honestly. I don't remember anything about it.

[ColleenShaver]

1995 NH Regional Competition.. I didn't want to go, it was just some thing my older brother was in at school. I literally was forced to go with my dad's infamous words of "if I've gotta go, you've gotta go..." I don't know that I ever came back.

I walked in the gym and I was hooked; it was an insane, unmatched atmosphere. The next year it was the first thing I signed up for as a freshman.

[Tom Schindler]

1997 UTC scrimmage...

same comments as everyone else, the atmosphere is what got me, people screaming, robots tipping and falling everywhere, news crews everywhere- it was a pretty insane environment

Tom

[Steve W]

My first experience was as a spectator. I had volunteered to help at the new Canadian Regional and I had never seen an event before. I went to Cleavland for their first event (I believe). My main objective was to see what they did good/bad to help make our event the best. I was not prepared for what I saw. I left the people I was with to tour the pit area. I was approached by so many students that really were enthused about their robot and team. Kids that were interested in something and wanted to tell me about it. When I exited the pit area an hour or so later I met up with Mark Breadner and the first thing I said to him was that I HAD to join a team. The rest is history. The more I put in, the more I get back. This has been one of my best experiences. This also the reason I say that if you can get Teachers, potential mentors or sponsors to an event then you will have them hooked.

[Matt Krass]

Nationals. 2000.

Best. Birthday. Present. Ever.
My parents took me to Disney for my birthday and lo and behold there was that little old robotics thing on the side. OF course once I noticed this I had to check it out, unfortunately I couldn't stay long, but I saw enough to know I was hooked.


They had only intended to let me see Disney's millenium celebration, I don't think they realized the damage they had done when they let me find FIRST

Now back to counting the seconds until kickoff....

[Jaine Perotti]

My first robotics competition was the 2002 Bash@the Beach.

I was new to the robotics team and knew only one other person on the team at that point. I was overwhelmed by all of the people, and I didn't know a thing about robots, so most of my time was spent standing around wondering what I was supposed to be doing.

I had alot of fun though. It was amazing for me to watch something that I had so little understanding about. I was fascinated by the robot, and wondered what exactly made it work the way it did. I loved to watch the veteran members of the team working on the robot. My most distinct memory was watching Tom, our driver, fix our robot's frame, which was made out of aluminum extrusion and had been skewed out of place in the last match, by whacking it with the hammer.
(the "fine adjustment tool" as he called it )

I also was fascinated by the matches themselves; I had never seen anything like it. The competition as a whole was very exciting to me; the smashing of robots, the oddly dressed and strangely behaved people

I was also the team's operator for one match, which I remember we lost. But being on the drive team for one match gave me a better understanding of how stressful and difficult that job is. The experience augmented my appreciation and admiration of my fellow teammates, mentors, and other FIRSTers.

After Bash was over, I left with feelings of great admiration for my team. I wanted nothing more but to be able to do what they do... and learn. I was inspired to follow in the footsteps of the veterans who came before me.
At my first robotics meeting, one of my teammates said, "Once you go to your first competition... thats when you fall in love with it."


And I did.

[abeD]

2001 KSC....and obviously I was hooked.