A word for everyone.....

[lallamavolador]

I have seen many posts lately that are complains about the game. Every team built a great it to be happy because winning isn't everything. I think it is great that we have an opportunity to compete in FIRST, many people don't have that opportunity. We all worked hard on our robot and build it in 6 weeks, if your robot didn't do as well as you expected don't worry. Sometimes you might get discouraged when you see other robots that you look at them an all you can say is "WOW", be happy and cheer for your team. Going to the competition and seeing your robot functioning should be the greatest reward of all.

FIRST isn't only about winning, it is about making friends, gracious professionalism, and having fun. Winning is just a bonus. Everyone should be very proud of their accomplishment. Our team attended Florida Regional this year and I learned something, you don't need to have the best robot to win. The alliance that won used great game strategy. I also must say that I truly admire team 1902 (Exploding Bacon), although this was their first year they were finalists, this shows that you really don't need to be an old team with hundreds of sponsors to win. For everyone, winning isn't everything, it is what you get out of the whole experience is what is very important.

Let me share this story from a couple of years ago. A few years ago our team discovered when we opened the crate that the whole inside body of the robot was missing and all that was left was the frame. The team worked all through practice day with the help of other people to get something to work. The whole competition the robot would simply sit there and twitch, our team never lost hope and spirit, we won the spirit award despite what had happened.

For those people that still haven't been to regionals good luck and remember be proud of your robot no matter what happens.

[Dillon Compton]

Originally Posted by Dillon Compton

Everyone always swears that FIRST is their life, and in many ways it is; it certainly dominates my thoughts for 6 weeks, and is at least present the rest of the year. But when you get down to it, FIRST is really not so much about the robot, and actually not even about the experience. FIRST is really about opening your- and the worlds- eyes to the reality, wonder, and challenge that is inherint in science and engineering. I know that before FIRST, for me at least, robots were mystical things that I never hoped to understand; I planned on going to school for law, and being a lawyer. I hadnt even considered careers in math, science or engineering (I am now planning on dual majoring in neuroscience and engineering in undergrad and doing graduate work either in biomimetics or organic computing). Additionally, after dealing with "the build" and the stress of competitions, I will never claim or let it be claimed within my hearing, that "that science competition" or "the robotics team" is NOT a real sport/challenge. This is probably, as Woodie Flowers once put it, "the hardest thing [we've] ever done". And thats the way, uh-huh uh-huh, we like it (uh-huh uh-huh).

If nothing else, remember that you can look down on the field with pride, at something that moves (and no, not everyones robot moves- ours didn't sometimes in 2004)

Excerpt from a post I made a few days ago- I think it fits with this theme.

-Dillon Compton
Team 1394

[65_Xero_Huskie]

i agree with this, this game may not be as good as it was last year or any of the years before, that is your opinion, but its not about the game, its about how you can come together as a team and face the challenges that are presented to you, if you think that the game is the whole reason FIRST is here, then you have the wrong perception of what it is truly about

[Michelle Celio]

Originally Posted by lallamavolador

I have seen many posts lately that are complains about the game. Every team built a great it to be happy because winning isn't everything. I think it is great that we have an opportunity to compete in FIRST, many people don't have that opportunity. We all worked hard on our robot and build it in 6 weeks, if your robot didn't do as well as you expected don't worry. Sometimes you might get discouraged when you see other robots that you look at them an all you can say is "WOW", be happy and cheer for your team. Going to the competition and seeing your robot functioning should be the greatest reward of all.

FIRST isn't only about winning, it is about making friends, gracious professionalism, and having fun. Winning is just a bonus. Everyone should be very proud of their accomplishment. Our team attended Florida Regional this year and I learned something, you don't need to have the best robot to win. The alliance that won used great game strategy. I also must say that I truly admire team 1902 (Exploding Bacon), although this was their first year they were finalists, this shows that you really don't need to be an old team with hundreds of sponsors to win. For everyone, winning isn't everything, it is what you get out of the whole experience is what is very important.

Let me share this story from a couple of years ago. A few years ago our team discovered when we opened the crate that the whole inside body of the robot was missing and all that was left was the frame. The team worked all through practice day with the help of other people to get something to work. The whole competition the robot would simply sit there and twitch, our team never lost hope and spirit, we won the spirit award despite what had happened.

For those people that still haven't been to regionals good luck and remember be proud of your robot no matter what happens.

Kinda reminds me of my team, rank wise. We were sitting there on Friday, lost all but one match, ranked 48 out of 51 and we just kept cheering in hopes it would get better.

But you are completely right...it isn't about winning

[Zyik]

Interesting story from CA state last year in Lego League: Team: Some Assembly Required was in dead last. We'd been there all day, our programs had been earased by a stray programming beam twice. We managed to win the last match, bringing us out of last. Depending on where you win, it's all relative. We celebrated and cheered because we were in 43rd, not last.

Let me share this story from a couple of years ago. A few years ago our team discovered when we opened the crate that the whole inside body of the robot was missing and all that was left was the frame. The team worked all through practice day with the help of other people to get something to work. The whole competition the robot would simply sit there and twitch, our team never lost hope and spirit, we won the spirit award despite what had happened.

Off topic:
How exactly did that happen? Any ideas or are you still stumped.

[tbush503]

I agree with this thread; the focus of FIRST is not who has the better robot or who won that regional, but who has the most spirit of FIRST, and the most willingness to show that spirit.

Even if your robot got eliminated or was not selected to be in an alliance, be happy that it worked and you tried your hardest and had fun doing it. Thats what counts; not how many regionals you won or high scores you received. Still challenge yourself to accomplish these goals, but don't get upset if you don't succeed and no matter what don't loose that FIRST spirit.

[lallamavolador]

Originally Posted by Zyik

Interesting story from CA state last year in Lego League: Team: Some Assembly Required was in dead last. We'd been there all day, our programs had been earased by a stray programming beam twice. We managed to win the last match, bringing us out of last. Depending on where you win, it's all relative. We celebrated and cheered because we were in 43rd, not last.



Off topic:
How exactly did that happen? Any ideas or are you still stumped.

What happened was that, that was the first year that we split with another school and they basically came and said the whole inside of the robot was theirs and left so that basically left us with the frame, but you know what I am glad that happened because we all learned to always help everyone because you never known when you need help.

[i like dirt]

I agree with all of you, first isn't about winning. It's about being proud of how hard you worked on that robot. You are the winner, when you see your robot out there, performing. All the while you're saying to yourself, I help make that, that's my bot.

That my friends, is the true meaning and message of F.I.R.S.T

We should all be proud of what we did this year and hope to make next year better

[lallamavolador]

Good luck to eveyone to the competition and remember the true values of FIRST!

[JoeXIII'007]

I have been a member of FIRST and chiefdelphi for 3 years now, and for some oddball reason, every season a thread like this is destined to show up where after several complaints about X, Y, and/or Z, something to center attention on the main goals of FIRST comes up.

Here are my thoughts:

I, personally, hate hearing complaints.
I, personally, do not like to complain.
Further more, I, personally, would not complain, but be careful if you must, about anything even slightly related to FIRST, including but not limited to, NASA, Microchip, InnovationFIRST, etc. etc. Your reputation can suffer beautifully if you go liberal in thought and complaining.

SO, remember GP, its like MP, or HP, but nothing to deal with Magic or Health Points. Gracious Professionalism is a way of life.

Finally, remember that you put hours, even days of work into your robots, teams, organizations, etc. Now remember that just like you, other engineers, including those who help keep the games at competitions up and running, spend just as much if not more time on similar things.

2 more cents into the jar.

-Joe

[lallamavolador]

Originally Posted by JoeXIII'007

I have been a member of FIRST and chiefdelphi for 3 years now, and for some oddball reason, every season a thread like this is destined to show up where after several complaints about X, Y, and/or Z, something to center attention on the main goals of FIRST comes up.

Here are my thoughts:

I, personally, hate hearing complaints.
I, personally, do not like to complain.
Further more, I, personally, would not complain, but be careful if you must, about anything even slightly related to FIRST, including but not limited to, NASA, Microchip, InnovationFIRST, etc. etc. Your reputation can suffer beautifully if you go liberal in thought and complaining.

SO, remember GP, its like MP, or HP, but nothing to deal with Magic or Health Points. Gracious Professionalism is a way of life.

Finally, remember that you put hours, even days of work into your robots, teams, organizations, etc. Now remember that just like you, other engineers, including those who help keep the games at competitions up and running, spend just as much if not more time on similar things.

2 more cents into the jar.

-Joe

I agree with you....I might be new to chief del phi and I am already getting sick of the complaints!