Lesson Learned: The Negative

[David Noll]

This years game was a lot of fun and a really amazing idea. Unlike most I don't have any problem with the breaking the plane penalty, my team had an issue and I, as coach, told them to learn to drive. Complaining about a penalty concerned with robot control is not good, the only bit of that rule that was unfair was when the bumper (which they required this year) went over and you got the penalty for that.
The issue that my team is very upset about is the inconsistent or incompetent reffing. FIRST made a big deal this year about training refs and making them pass a test and yet the reffing was worse this year then any other. Next year the game either needs to be easier to ref, or the refs need to take an in depth course on training. Aside from inconsistency, there was a general lack of enforcement at a lot of events. This game was supposed to be non-impact and non-defensive; penalties were stressed on impact, pinning, impeding, etc. And we had refs who didn't call a robot getting hit while hurdling and then pinned up against the rack