Question: What was the first FIRST competition you attended?

[LindsayKnowlton]

My first FIRST competition wasn't too long ago... my first off-seasonal comp was Kettering Kickoff in 2005, and my first in-season was the Great Lakes Regional in 2006. As you can see, I'm a newbie to the FIRST program, as you can see from my recent rookie year and my lack of time on CD. (Actually, I've been a lurker for at least a year, but that's a different story. )

Though I was a first year senior to my team, I still hope I can mentor teams sometime while in college, and possibly be an advisor to a team when I'm a teacher one day.

I really do miss my team and I wish I had more time on the team, but the year I did have with them was definitely worth it.

[ambie_o7]

Back when our team was team 1056, I went to the pacific nw regional at portland oregon. we totally sucked that time, and were so much in debt from that time on (that was in my froshie year) we wernt able to participate until this year!!! both of us (the only two remaining from that team in the school) are sooooooooooo glad to be back to the stress of FIRST... botball and HURC (underwater robotx) isnt the same kind of stress... its great!!!

gotta love chiefdelphi!

[mtaman02]

My First In-Season Event I attended as a Team Supporter was the the Inaugural NYC FIRST! Regional in '01 which was part of a school trip. But the First Event I participated in was the NYC Regional in '02.
My First Championship Event was in Orlando, FL (WDW) in '02
My First Off-Season Event I attended was at Connecticuts Bash at the Beach in '01

[Gregor]

Thread Revival Time?

My first FIRST event was an the TDSB East Toronto FLL qualifying event hosted by team 188 in December 2010.

My first FRC event was GTR East of this year.

My first travel event was the FLL North American Open in California, May 2011.

My first travel FRC event was IRI of this year.

[dag0620]

First one for me was the 2008 (and first) Where is Wolcott Invitational.

It was June of my 7th grade year. My friend had called me up and told me his sister has/ is hosting a robotics competition in town, and asked if I wanted to tag along to keep him busy and check it out. I didn't have any other plans so I said why not and went.

I had heard about the High School's robotics team before, and had participated in a Lego camp run by them, but beyond that I didn't really know anything about the competition. I had an absolute blast going and watching the matches, dancing around, and I got to have GUS Pulled Pork for the first time. (YUM!). I pretty much was hooked, and made sure to attend every WIWI after that, and did end up joining the team in 2010.

[Jon Stratis]

My first FIRST competition... St. Louis regional for Rack 'N Roll.

My best memories from that trip:
- On the way down, there was a huge snow storm we drove through. The wipers on the bus weren't really working, so the driver pulled over at a gas station and bought new ones. Well, the new ones didn't fit onto the arms! 15 minutes later, we had them folly modified to work for him

- This picture is still my favorite FIRST picture of all time.

- Losing in the quarter finals due to a hanging piece of decorative tape

- Learning so much from teams like 148 about how robots should be designed, and how far our team had to go.

- Learning all about scouting from 1094

[bardd]

My first ever FIRST (and FRC) event was the Israeli OffSeason compatition of 2010. It was August 28th if I remember correctly.

I just finished 9th grade and joined the team. It was a slow event in comparison to the ones I attended later, but I liked it.

First ever non-FRC FIRST-event (and so far the only one) was an FLL district event, a few months ago.

[NaomiCS]

My first FIRST competition i attended was midwest regional 2012 (my freshman year) in UIC pavillion. I was pretty excited since i knew nothing about competitions. I walked around with 2 of my friends and we tried to start people cheering after alliance scelection with some other students from wildstang and from the two other teams on our alliance. Spending approzimately equal time in the pits and stands it was really inspiring for me

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

My first competition was the 2006 Ford Sweet Repeat held at OCC. We did terrible and didn't even make the playoffs, but I've been hooked ever since.

[Walter Deitzler]

First regional that I attended as a spectator: STL 2010. My sister's team (and my future team) were competing as rookies. They became the 5th seeded alliance captain and, along with 501 and 1448, made the semifinals, losing to the eventual champions.

First regional that I attended as a participant was STL 2011. 3397 played mediocre for their matches, but ended up getting picked by 1985 and 3284 as the 24th pick. When we ended up winning, and I have never been happier. I have become obsessed with FIRST ever since.

[whattsheorder]

my first FIRST competition was at a regional in new jersey where I had been picked to be the driver for the season, but I hadn't actually driven the robot from that year yet...took a lot of getting used to! Needless to say I learned pretty quick

[ZeroGAdam]

My first FIRST event was back in 2002 at what was then called J&J Mid Atlantic Regional, which turned into the NJ regional 2 years later. I was only 6 years old at the time and had no prior knowledge to anything related with the program. One day, my dad had talked to a few people at work(Bristol-Myers Squibb) and they talked about this robotics competition which the company sponsored. My dad was really interested in it, and found out how to get involved and mentor a team. Luckily, there was a team in our area, so he got heavily involved. TV shows that I was obsessed with around the time were Battlebots and Robot Wars, so I was thrilled when I heard my dad say something about "robots." Long story short, he'd bring me along to all of the meetings and competitions, and as I became older with the team, I began to understand more and more. We looked for an FLL team in our area, and there were none offered in my school, until about 6th grade, and then I got into the program officially. This exposure led me to go through all three levels of the program, and it also provided a full time hobby and passion for me since I could and still can't be involved with any sports due to a orthopedic condition(completely different story). Sorry to bore you all with these offtopic details, but I thought it was a better way to explain how I was involved at such a young age.
Anyway, that first event was absolutely incredible to me (even though the game was a little bland). I just enjoyed the music, the dancing, and the coolest part, these real live machines doing incredible things. It's something that I'll never forget...

[gracie.]

None other than the lovely Buckeye Regional- probably in 2008 or 2009. Really amazing. I watched some of the matches, but as a 6th/7th grader I was more concerned with collecting buttons.

ALL OF THE BUTTONS.

I wandered the pits - I wonder what people thought of me?

[z_beeblebrox]

2012 Utah Regional!!! Our team made it to the semifinals and won Rookie All-Star.

[Karibou]

Pittsburgh 2008 for me. I think it's still my favorite event that I've competed at. I was a freshman, and most of the students on the team at the time were juniors (with maybe only two or three sophomores and three seniors). Since juniors had state testing the Wednesday we were supposed to leave for the event, we split our caravan into two groups based on who could leave when. As a result, I got put on pit crew as a freshman, and I stayed on pit crew through my senior year. We also made it to the semifinals at that event, which hasn't happened again up until this past season.