Rough Play in Rack N Roll

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by Stephen Kowski

I knew how many I could put on with defense when we won peachtree two weeks earlier.....to defend my team heavily for two straight sessions and then one of the teams backing off only to make room so they can ramp up to ram us at high speed on thursday when they can't be penalized for it.....i won't thank them for it....to come across the field around the rack to ram us at high speed.....i won't thank them.....i don't appreciate other teams doing things against the rules on thursday because they can....

I cannot comment on any particular hit, but I've found that most hits that happen in practice, also happen in compitition. I've also found that since the bumper rules were in force (since last year) the referees are allowing much more physical contact between the robots (which I think make for a better game ... from a publics viewpoint).

I've also found that the definition of "high-speed" ramming is different from referee to referee.

My suggestion is to expect High-speed rams (your definition) to happen and just accept it. Complaining about it (either during compitition or in practice) does little good. The referees have a feel for what they consider a high-speed ram, and they will enforce the rule to that 'feel'.

I'll tell you now, my team has a defensive ramp-robot. As such, a bit of hard hitting (not ramming from the other side of the field) should be, and is, expected. I've asked my driver to hit the corners of the opposing robots so as to spin them. I have tried ro emphisize that we do not want to hurt the other robot, just not allow an easy shot at the rack.

You may consider defense unfair because it does not allow you to score. We consider each score that you cannot make a score for us. And we need to practice that defense as much as you need to practice your offense.

I am sorry that you feel that the defense played against your robot was too much. I agree that referees should be there during practice matches, so that teams get the idea of what is a penalty and what is not. But I completely disagree with you that defensive robots should just avoid you because you are having a hard time scoring during practice, and I think you should consider it a prelude to what you will see on the field.

Again, the above is JMHO