2008 Arizona Regional

[Matt H.]

I had a great deal of fun both Thursday and Friday, but felt that alliance selection was a bit of a toss up and Saturday was very stressful as we struggled to fix electrical problems (we believe we have a loose connection, but can't find it--trouble shooting tips are welcome) and also attempted to support an alliance.

I was very impressed by the rookie teams and their turn out however I do have one gripe. If teams are going to "start" 30 rookie teams each year then they also need to support them. There were many examples of rookies having no idea how regional events worked or of basic robot design principle--things which I believe are the responsibility of the mentoring team. What made this especially obvious was a rookie team with absolutely no idea how alliance selections worked picking numbers at random. Perhaps the prestige of the chairman's award has led teams to simple start up teams and then leave them rather than forming a mutually beneficial relationship. (It looks much better to have started 30 teams than to have started and worked with 3.)