2009 OKC Regional!!!

[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by pitzoid

Yea I talked with Joe Hershberger last night and he gave me the low down on alot of the things I didn't hear through FIRST channels and talking with Dave and Will at the event

Maybe the thought of "The Cleaner" coming got everyone inspired

All said, congrats to Dave the FTA for holding it together and making it through, you have been initiated And a big thanks to Joe for helping getting things back on track when it seemed the world was falling apart.

Who said FIRST was just about the robots?

Maybe it wasn't quite "baptism by fire", but we definitely smelled smoke!

I'd like to thank all of the people who held it together, especially the teams. I want everyone to know that in spite of the frustrations that certainly existed on Thursday and Friday, I consistently saw Gracious Professionalism at its finest. The mentors and students for fifty teams (who were certainly chomping at the bit to get it going on the field) showed great patience and understanding. Special kudos to Team 932 - they built the field and helped immensely in tear-down.

The technical support from FIRST (Matt) and 4FX (Bob) was critical in getting the Field Management System functioning. Mark Koors brought a great deal of experience to the field staff in OKC, getting things moving consistently throughout Friday and Saturday. He gave up the opportunity to watch his team win the DC regional in order to insure a successful OKC regional. We had a group of volunteers from Dell (Deborah, Nathan and Will) who made a huge impact Friday morning when we essentially had to start with a clean slate (new match schedule and new WPA keys). A host of other volunteers (queuing, inspection, scoring, referees, parts, pit admin, judges, safety, etc.), event staff, regional planning committee, etc. were all committed to doing the best job they could to make the OKC regional a success. Perseverance won out. In the end, we had a great set of elimination matches and a very deserving group of award winners.

Oh yeah, there was plenty of that good ol' real-world "lesson learning" as well !

Thanks, all!