Hawaii Regional 2008

[hoorayforpink]

The first FIRST Hawaii Regional was easily one of the best experiences of my life. The competition was fierce and the matches were exciting. The first couple of days of competition you could tell many of the rookie teams didn't get it, but by the third day they had it. The crowd was loud and created an awesome atmosphere for the event.

Hanging out with 254 was so much fun. I especially love watching the poofs running through the streets of Honolulu, from a hotel room 22 stories up. I really do hope we hang out in Atlanta and thanks for being such an amazing partner. During competition you guys were a bit quiet to begin with, but by the end of the competition days the poofs were making themselves heard. Thanks for making me those five bucks.

2454 did some great defense and we couldn't have won the semi-finals without their last second heroics. In our second semi-final match 2454 's knocking a ball off and keeping the other alliance from crossing their finish line won us the match and allowed us to ultimately win the event. Thanks for being a great alliance partner.

Congrats to team 359 on Chairmans and good luck to all in Atlanta.

And finally thanks to all of the planners, volunteers, sponsors, and anybody who made the event possible.

ps-Special thanks to Mark Leon, Dave Lavery, and Dean Kamen for coming on the trip and making the Hawaii regional even better than it already was. And uh thanks for signing my shirt to all three.

[riskkeeper205]

Hanging out with 254 was so much fun. I especially love watching the poofs running through the streets of Honolulu, from a hotel room 22 stories up. I really do hope we hang out in Atlanta and thanks for being such an amazing partner. During competition you guys were a bit quiet to begin with, but by the end of the competition days the poofs were making themselves heard. Thanks for making me those five bucks.

i was one of the guys running from the hotel room that sunday night and i gotta say it was awesome getting being cheered on from the pink team's balcony as we ran. it was kinda lame that the last image they got of us in Hawaii was us running out of the hotel and down the street . i was disappointed that i didnt get a chance to say bye. o well i had a lot of fun hanging out with Pink and i must say that Pink is awesome. i am awaiting the pants story and the pics.



GO PINK !!!!!!!

[Wayne C.]

I just got back to New Jersey today and I wish to congratulate the Hawaiian Regional Committee on hosting a unique and wonderful event. Our team has been to Regional Competitions all over the country and I can confidently state that we all felt that this was one of the most welcoming we have ever experienced. Many of the Veteran Regional Committees should take a lesson from Hawaii and follow their lead.

[TySSM]

Yes hawaii was fun and i think everyone one are team is wants to see the pictures

[TySSM]

i meant to say everyone on our team wants to see the pics

go pink!

[waialua359]

A special thanks to the mainland teams for coming, especially 25, 233, 254, 597, 846, 968, and 1572 as we have seen them on several past regional tournaments in the past ranging from San Jose to Las Vegas to New Jersey.
You all made it a great show for our audience and for showing especially the rookie teams many of your experiences ranging from GP to robot design, to veteran leadership.
It really was for three days, like being in the zone where you forgot about everything else (work and school) and had a grand ol time. I cant say enough how you've impacted many of our rookie teams and ourselves as we try to up the level of all of our programs to be as successful as yourselves.

Wayne, you are really making it tempting for us to go back to NJ. Maybe this time, you can take us as your 3rd partner after 103.
To Cory and EJ, maybe we can partner up again like the good ol days back in San Jose.
Darrel, we will always get a chance to partner up again in the near future like 2006.
And to Ms. P., if we decide to go to your FL double field regional next year or in the near future, our team made me ask you for pink shirts! They are so jealous that I got one and will wear it at CMP this year.
It looks like Dorothy and Toto will meet the Hawaiian Kids next year, as we travel to Kansas, Hawaii, ????? (East Coast) VCU again? and if we qualify, CMP.

[MasterRobot]

i would just like to echo what waialua359 said and really thank all the mainland teams for coming down. this has been the first live FRC competition that i have ever seen, and it was amazing. one of the reasons i want to especially thank them is that the mainland teams made the competition really interesting. for example, the 2nd semi-final match was one of most awesomest and amazing events that i have ever seen. im happy that all the mainland teams enjoyed hawaii and i hope you come back soon.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by TySSM

i meant to say everyone on our team wants to see the pics

go pink!

Some of our dear friends took 100's of pics with links to them. Email waialuateam359@yahoo.com and I will forward the link. Its has many of the mainland teams also in there as they took pictures of everything the entire weekend.

[SU 39]

Besides the great competition, I thought one of the best parts was the (by my estimate) approximately $50,000 team social. I've never ever seen or heard about a social that was that big and entertaining. The food, the fireworks, the entertainment were all great. I only wish I had heard about the poi chugging contest. Sadly, I was on the far side of the luau and didn't hear about it till hours afterwards, otherwise I definitely would've been there to down some poi.

[Yohan]

Aloha teams!

As the captain of Team Kika Mana (368), we would like to thank the many people and organizations involved in making the Hawaii Regional a success.

To Governor Lingle and Dean Kamen, we're very thankful to each of you for getting the Hawaii Regional started in record time. The Governor and Lt. Governor's "Innovation Initiative" is the cornerstone of economic change that our team has been advocating for years.

To NASA and Dave Lavery, we're very thankful for the generous grants you donated to the Hawaii rookies as well as veteran teams throughout the country which made this regional so competitive. Without your support, the budding Hawaii Regional would not have even been conceivable.

To Jim Beck and Alex Ho, Western and Hawaii Regional Directors, we would like to thank each of you for taking on the enormous task to bring about the sudden emergence of a new regional especially with all the unique challenges that needed to be overcome. We would also like to thank both of you for your everlasting support of our team.

To Mark Leon, we thank you for supporting our team and Hawaii throughout the years and for bringing your entertaining yet insightful message with you. To Blair Hundertmark, we thank for coming all the way to Hawaii to be such an awesome game announcer and emcee.

To Art and Rene Kimura, two very special people who started robotics in Hawaii, we owe you our thanks. For all that you have done to advance robotics in Hawaii over the many years, it was most appropriate for you to receive the first Volunteer of the Year Award for the Hawaii Regional.

We would also like to thank Team 359, The Hawaiian Kids, for choosing us to be an alliance partner. It was awesome to be finally working together with you after five years and with your guidance, we once again made it together to the finals.

We would also like to thank Team 2437, Lancer Robotics, for being such awesome rookies. When we talked strategy, you girls knew what needed to be done without a doubt. Without you, we definitely wouldn't have made it to the finals.

Congratulations to Team 233, Team 254, and Team 2454 for winning the first-ever Hawaii FIRST Robotics Regional. We would have liked to have given you folks more of competition in the finals, but we unfortunately suffered a major mechanical failure and became crippled in the end (a roll pin in our AM SuperShifters failed and broke into three pieces, causing our clutch to be stuck in and out of neutral for most of both final matches).

And finally, thank you all the judges, referees, volunteers, Hawaii rookie teams, and mainland teams for making the inaugural Hawaii FIRST Robotics Regional so fantastic!

See you all in Atlanta for our last Overdrive!

John Paik

[ducttapedude]

Originally Posted by TySSM

i meant to say everyone on our team wants to see the pics

go pink!

The Hawaii Regional was definately the funnest regional I have ever attended, I made quite a few new friends and had quite a good time with kids from team 254 and 1138.

Also, I was completely amazed with all of the Hawaii'n teams and how amazingly GP they all were. The govenor gave us a Very very warm welcome every day of competition and Hawaii itself was just plain beautiful.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone, kids, mentors, and volunteers that attended this competition.

Btw: Go Poof Pants : D

[TKM.368]

By the way, the photo montage played on Saturday before the elimination matches can be found here for those who want to relive the memories.