Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?

[StephLee]

I voted regional chairman's, because our team has already won one regional championship. I'd love to see all our hard work rewarded on both ends of the deal.

[Alexa Stott]

I'm really one the fence with this one. We won both this season, and with the Chairman's, it was really nice to be rewarded for all efforts to help bring FIRST to many different high schools.

However, when going out into your community, whether it's for sponsorship or just to spread the word on your team, a championship always looks better in that sense. People outside of FIRST don't really know what Chairman's really is, and often, there is not enough time in your short, minute long sales pitch to explain it to them.

To me, winning the Chairman's was a truly amazing experience because it not only rewarded work that we had done that season, but all the time and energy students from years before put into our team.

[RoboMadi]

Day before yesterday, i was trying to convince a friend that Chairmans is more important than championship.........well, now poll results speak for themselves.

Why Chairmans?
Chairmans is awarded to a team that shows good organizational structure while at the same time committed to spread the message of FIRST.
So, without an organizational structure there would be no robot.
What comes FIRST?
Organizational Structure........ so the chairmans award.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but so far I've noted all the awesome Champion Robots backed by Chairman Winning Teams or Teams with strong organizational structure.

[KelliV]

I have been on a team that has won The Championship, a few regionals, two Regional Chairman's and the Championship Chairman's. My choice is Chairman's hands down.

Why?

A championship is nice at any level but, like it or not, it is the product of the teams that work on the robot itself, not the other teams that make up the program like marketing, video, etc.
Chairman's is something that can be shared by everyone on a team, past and present. It doesn’t matter if you were on the team just to hand out buttons or had your hand inside the robot 24/7. Chairman’s is for more than your team members, it is for your mentors, alumni, school, community, and parents. It is for everyone that helped you on your way. I was proud to go in front of my old high school at our assembly and tell all 2000 or so people in those stands that they helped us win. I hope that everyone someday gets the experience of winning the Chairman’s Award, it is one of the best you will ever have.

[Richard Wallace]

I voted for regional chairman's, based on the same reasoning already expressed by several previous posters.

My team has won a regional chairman's award. We've never gotten past the semifinal round in elims, though.

Of course, a competitive robot has always been our goal during build season. And it will be again this year. I have a feeling this may be our year to set the right targets for robot capabilities, and get ourselves on a winning alliance.

But the chairman's award will remain our yardstick; it's the one that the great teams win.

[rees2001]

I guess what it comes down to is do you like the excietment of winning a regional championship or the satisfaction of winning a Chairman's. We've won both a couple times & sometimes the regional victory can feel either very excieting or a bit hollow. It really depends on your team's role. You are part of an alliance. The Chairman's is all about your team. If you're a competitor you love the Championship, if you are a dedicated worker, you love the Chairman's.

[Dylan Gramlich]

I had to say Regional Chairmans. I have experienced several regional championships and found that that feeling is amazing, to know that your robots combined to make the most powerful, potent, and formidible alliance at that regional. But that feeling only lasts for so long, that year you are considered more for nationals because of winning a regional. But the next year not many people care because your robot was great in LAST YEARS GAME!!! Last years performance does not affect the way teams look at you as much as a Chairmans award would. If you have won a Chairmans award you are sorta looked up to by the younger teams or teams that have not won one. They look to your team to see what the embodiment of FIRST is(my opinion is not a reflection of my team, although i think at least some of them agree with me).

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by Dylan Gramlich

Last years performance does not affect the way teams look at you as much as a Chairmans award would.

I have to disagree with you one this one. Each year, I know for a fact that many people sit there in build season thinking "What will Beatty/Wildstang/Cheesy Poofs come up with this year?" Now, two of the teams I named in there are, in fact, National Chairman's Award winners, but even before 111 won it this season, people were still thinking that same thing.

Beatty just won its first regional chairman's this year, yet they are one of the most feared teams in FIRST.

[JaneYoung]

418 spends time working with young students who have not had access to engineering concepts. We have been very fortunate to be welcomed into their communities and schools. At the end/beginning of each year (it really is the same) I always remember these children and their smiles when the light goes on. The first time their car clears the maze and pulls in to park because they programmed it to. That's a very special moment. In my mind, that is part of what winning a Chairman's would be about, those moments and sharing them with our communities.

Just a thought.

[Nica F.]

Chairman's award gets my vote because it goes beyond the build season. Of course regional champs would be a great reward for all that hard work, but Chairman's give you a sense that not only have you helped yourself and others on your team, but you've made a difference in your community and beyond.

[savage301]

I voted regional championship, not because I do not value the Chairman's Award, but because I am more a part of the robot side of the team. While I do participate in our team community service events and go to expos to help spread FIRST, I am more devoted to the mechanical aspect of team. There fore I would rather see the robot do well and win a regional, than win a Chairman's Award. But I would be ecstatic with either one.

[Tim Delles]

Okay so i guess i can put my 2 cents in.

I would have to say that in my opinion the best thing to win is a regional championship. As a previous high school student and now as i mentor, i know that personally for my team, the students are more excitted, and more willing to participate the better we do. So if continuing to win inspires them then we have succeeded in one aspect of FIRST. Now with the inspiration we can only hope that our high school students will eventually want to go out and spread the message of FIRST and to show other people how exciting it is, but you can not do this without them being inspired themselves.

This is just coming from my stand point as a previous high school student. I know that the thing that inspired me the most was to help drive a robot i helped build, into winning a regional. The exciting and culimnation of the 6 weeks was roled up into one final match. This helped me to try and inspire other students, and I am now a mentor on the same team I was a high school student.

But it really depends on the team, and the students which is better for your team, because sometimes inspiration can best come from winning, and sometimes it doesn't

[Donut]

Regional Champion. This almost always sounds more impressive to people who don't know the FIRST competition, I'm a very competitive person so I like to win, and to most of the students on our team this is why they are in the robotics club; this is their big project.

We have never had a seperate group for marketing or media stuff on our team (we finally created a media group starting this fall), which means in the past everyone has been involved in the robot building. Now we'll have people who will focus more on animation and website (occasionaly helping with the robot), but our marketing and all of that will still be done by the club as a whole (the brunt of the work is our officer's job). Since everyone on our team is involved with the robot, a Regional Championship will mean something to all of them.

My choice also has something to do with my mentality; when I first joined our robotics team, I cared about building a robot, and one that would perform well. I did not join our robotics team my freshman year with the intention of doing community service and teaching others about technology. After 4 years I do those things now; however I expect everyone who joins our team to have the same attitude I had at least their first year (more likely their 2nd and maybe beyond), and I definitely don't expect most of the members to get as involved with our team as I have become.

To me the competition will always be about how our robot performs. I would be ecstatic for a Regional Chairman's, but I want that Championship more.

[Lil' Lavery]

This is my personal opinion and should be used in no way to reflect the opinion of my team as a whole.
While I'd readily take either award, and pour my soul into striving to win them both, I'd rather be a regional champion at this point. I don't need a judge to tell me that I have helped inspire and that I'm working to spread FIRST. I know I am. I may not be doing quite as much as the top notch teams we've submitted against the last few years (namely 341 and 1002, both of which have won 3 RCAs and have been CMP CA Honorable Mentions), but I am doing plenty. I have seen and heard the reactions at our outreach events, to our publicity, to our team, and I know I am helping.
I also know the feeling, the buzz, after winning a big match. I know the excitement when taking the field during the eliminations. And I want that again.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

This is my personal opinion and should be used in no way to reflect the opinion of my team as a whole.
While I'd readily take either award, and pour my soul into striving to win them both, I'd rather be a regional champion at this point. I don't need a judge to tell me that I have helped inspire and that I'm working to spread FIRST. I know I am. I may not be doing quite as much as the top notch teams we've submitted against the last few years (namely 341 and 1002, both of which have won 3 RCAs and have been CMP CA Honorable Mentions), but I am doing plenty. I have seen and heard the reactions at our outreach events, to our publicity, to our team, and I know I am helping.
I also know the feeling, the buzz, after winning a big match. I know the excitement when taking the field during the eliminations. And I want that again.

There is a lot of honest truth in Sean's post. I know it reflects the comments of many VIPs that I have escorted at FRC events, who understood all of the judged awards as consolation prizes for teams that worked hard but did not seed high or do well in the tournament. For these visitors, their tour of the pits is like a peek backstage, while the real show is on the field. The ones that we recruit to be judges change their minds about that.

But many top business leaders (who don't have the time to serve as judges) share Sean's view of the competition; i.e., the teams that 'get it' already know that they do, and at the event they are the ones that will succeed on the field. Or not, since sometimes the breaks don't go your way.

I still think the awards are important recognition. Especially the Chairman's award. As Woodie says, we get the best of what we celebrate. But I do understand that some FIRSTers would rather measure their team's success by its record in competition.

I want to say there is something very American about that; does that seem patriotic, or just US-centric?