101 Things I Wish I'd Known Before My First FIRST Tournament

[DanDon]

Don't leave the batteries connected to chargers when the charger isn't connected to power.

[JackN]

Within a year FIRST/Chief Delphi will consume your life and all you will think about is alliance picking and how much you hate water games.

What a post for my 494th

[Elpants]

Gunna have to go with.

Bring Ear-plugs when you get head-aches with loud noise.

[legotech25]

I wish I would have known that it could be more draining than a sports season....

yet incredibly addicting!!!

[Duncan Macdonald]

48. If your only drill is in the crate don't loose the game of rock paper scissors

49. Scouting should not be done during or after alliance selection

[Freddy Schurr]

50. Have fun and enjoy the FIRST competition!

51. This is a learning experience for everyone and at any time, if you have a question about anything FIRST related, remember you can always ask your fellow CD friends for some advice.

[y2d2]

Bring extra shirts for team members/family members who don't have any. (No selling though...)
Don't assume you'll have lunch (maybe just for Silicon Valley people). At SVR, all the food places were closed on Friday and Saturday since SJSU had no school or whatever. Sigh.
Don't lift things that are too heavy for you, and don't be afraid to ask people to help you! Sigh x2.

And most importantly, talk with other teams! This is possibly the only place (until college) where you'll be normal!! (Who knew )

[hallk]

Check to see which battery is the most charged. Don;t just assume they are all ready to go.

[BlondeNerd]

Remember, you will be wearing your team shirt for 3 consecutive days. Either bring more than one or wear something under it to prevent others from passing out.

[pyroslev]

You forefit any and all rights to any form of mental sanity at the beginning of week four.

[!DOM!]

Originally Posted by Jay Trzaskos

Don't worry, everyone forgets #33 one time in their FIRST career.

You WILL become addicted.

Christmas gifts will soon become plane tickets to Atlanta instead of PS3's

Going to extra regionals to watch is NEVER a bad thing.

Your second year in FIRST is your first year as a mentor. Always be open and willing to teach any skills or knowledge you have.

JT
229

lol plane tickets were my birthday present

[Rick TYler]

It seems like a good time to drag this old chestnut out of the fire. I'll add one to start:

Bring lots of water and even more patience.

[XXShadowXX]

- Parts don't fail engineers do.

- Organize for a parent or mentor to wash shirts.

- If you get more then 3 hours of sleep during a competition, you don't have the right room mates.

- If chiefdelphi hasn't consumed all of online activities yet it soon will.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Some advice for programmers

When your code works and then stops working don't listen to the engineers who tell you, "maybe the code broke." Code doesn't break. It also does not make mistakes.

Don't get irritated when people say that everything is the programmer's fault. They are just jealous that we can do our part in 2 hrs at 2am the day before the open house but it takes them 6 weeks to get a functional robot.

Caffeine is no substitute to sleep in a nice comfy, warm, bed. (You can tell that last year I lived 5 minutes from our shop )

Murphy was a genius, the only time you cant connect to program your controller will be in the pits, at nationals, before your last match.

Advice in general

In general, if 3/4 of people on CD disagree with your interpretation of some physics equation it is PROBABLY wrong.

Engineering decisions should NOT involve feelings. Don't get bent out of shape when your team mates don't like your idea, there is probably a good reason why the mentor says that it is impossible to do.

[Chris/Fish]

A few gleamed from 449's experiences

-Should you decide to not secure your battery, make sure it doesn't fall on the main breaker and turn off the robot (actually happened)

-don't store stuff on/in the robot before a match. If you forget to take it out...well, a flashlight jammed up our drivetrain once. We use headlamps now.

-A very important one: a) Have a first-aid kit and b) know where it is

-on a related topic, you might want a mini fire extinguisher (thanks 75). You probably won't need it, but if you do, you'll really need it.

-the crazy ideas sometimes work.

-have replacement parts for everything. Remember, "the only difference between something that might break and something that absolutely won't break is that the part that absolutely won't break is impossible to get at and repair." Douglas Adams (something to this effect)

-when talking to judges: be enthusiastic, but stay coherent. Having a designated spokesperson helps

-Make sure your scouts are your team representatives for alliance picking. They will know who to pick; drivers usually only see their own matches.

-if you are borrowing button making equipment, make sure the owners know that it will be used heavily ("the blade is dull! how many buttons did you make? A thousand?" "uh...yeah. Or more")

-Have a lot of fun