Dealing with disapointments

[uid60001]

Akash,

Let me first thank your for extending your help to team 2554.

This year, many teams have come up good design independently. One of the successful model is similar to your team's design. Since there are a lot of the functioning robots out there, that level the playing field to some extend. The one example I witness in NY regional was the team 694. It has a very reliable robot and every thing work flawlessly on first day. It was in very dominating position at the practice and first day of competition. By third day, other team has come up idea how to defend again 694. At the end of the preliminary round, it was ranked 9th, which is out of picking postion. I guess luck was not on its side. A good design is base for success, but luck can play a very important factor in real competition.

[Chris is me]

I really don't have a good reason to be dissapointed. Our team had our first >50% record since 2006 and won the supermajority of our matches for the first time ever. We won our first regional this year and got picked first overall in Minnesota. I'm extremely happy and proud of my teammates and alliance partners for that. But I dunno, missing a great picking spot in Atlanta by 2 little 9-inch balls just really bothers me.

I've watched that match on TBA 6 times now and can't think of anything we could have done differently at all. The strategy was fine, our alliance partners did really well, our drivers did an awesome job... yet I'm still not content with myself for this reason. I guess I'm just never satisfied.

Yet I feel kind of... guilty... for not being happy with an Atlanta record teams would envy, you know? Grass is always greener on the other side and all that. There's no rhyme or reason for my dissapointment in Atlanta, it's just kind of there. I had fun and I learned something, so I did what I went to do. I just wish things went just a little differently.

At least this way I got to cheer the unheard-of 2970 on as they led an alliance of legendary low numbered teams to the semis. That was pretty cool.

[Andrew Schreiber]

I would like to point out that Akash, instead of blaming others for the losses, looks to himself and how he can personally cope with his disappointment. Too often around here I see people saying, "We would have won if it weren't for our [blank] breaking" or "Our partners did such and such and we lost because of it." All the whining in the world is NOT going to get that match replayed.

I just wanted to say thank you for not whining about your season and blaming it on others. This is a productive thing, we all deal with disappointments, perhaps we can all learn something from each other. Thank You.

[115inventorsam]

We were actually quite disappointed when we didn't get picked in Atlanta. Our robot was performing better than ever at the end of quals, but hardware issues plagued our second and third matches, which caused us to lose comm repeatedly. After we gave 67 a tough battle in our last match on Friday, we thought we had a decent shot at making it, and then one team(1676?) passed around a scouting sheet on Saturday that ranked us 15th, which really got our hopes up. So I felt a little down when we weren't picked.

Looking back however, we've come to appreciate how well we've done this year. Our robot had very few problems the whole competition season, we were finalists at Sacramento, and won EI there, which is how we even ended up going to Atlanta. And our mentor and alumni Patrick noted that this was definitely the team's best robot since 2003(last year's wins were all luck), making this year one of the best ever in our 12 year history. It's all about looking at the positives. I'm sure our team is really looking forward to next year and further building on our successes this year.

[waialua359]

Akash,
Its an example of real life. Sometimes it aint fair, objective, or realistic. Control what you can and live by those principles. At the end of the day, it will allow you to sleep at night and give you the positive outlook and things to look forward to in the future.

Personally, I thought we worked harder this year more than last, but yet our awards weren't indicative of that and we made eliminations last year with a losing record.
Sometimes that's how the dices roll and you have to roll with it also.
There is always next year. That's the best part of it all.

Thanks for the shirt by the way.

[NorviewsVeteran]

After 4 years of competition and Worlds narrowly slipping through our fingers once, I have 3 words of encouragement: At Lan Ta.

I know how it feels to get knocked off your high horse, we got up to 10-0-0 and lost in 3rd round of the finals by four points. I, along with plenty of other people (the others on 1793, to name a few) would kill in the most gracious and professional way possible to even get to where you guys were last weekend. So tell people the good stories, and eventually all the stories will be good ones.

As far as "lessons for next year" go, LEARN from your experiences, just don't FRET over them.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

I would like to point out that Akash, instead of blaming others for the losses, looks to himself and how he can personally cope with his disappointment. Too often around here I see people saying, "We would have won if it weren't for our [blank] breaking" or "Our partners did such and such and we lost because of it." All the whining in the world is NOT going to get that match replayed.

I just wanted to say thank you for not whining about your season and blaming it on others. This is a productive thing, we all deal with disappointments, perhaps we can all learn something from each other. Thank You.

Thanks for noticing this Andrew. If a team blames others for losses, it is both unproductive and hurts TWO teams instead of just one. We know that blaming others for a loss will get us nowhere. Its just something we've never done and never plan to, maybe its an old veteran thing? Either way, thanks for noting this. Each year, whoever we pick or get picked by and whoever we work with in qualifications, we accept losses and wins and move on....kinda where our secondary slogan came from (See my signature)

Originally Posted by Chris is me

Yet I feel kind of... guilty... for not being happy with an Atlanta record teams would envy, you know? Grass is always greener on the other side and all that. There's no rhyme or reason for my disappointment in Atlanta, it's just kind of there. I had fun and I learned something, so I did what I went to do. I just wish things went just a little differently.

Haha, this is actually the perfect way of putting to words how I felt right after Atlanta as soon as 971 got picked (which we were surprised was still around lol)

But yea, this thread has helped a lot, if you read through all the posts I'm sure you'll find some relevancy in a few of the posts that will make you feel better.

[Jon236]

Has anyone see this article about Team 1432's struggles at Franklin High in the Portland area?

http://www.thebeenews.com/news/story...22143848652900

[rcmolloy]

Jon,

I'm really not suprised that many teams are going through tough times right now with cut backs. I know that our team is trying to help team 87 revitalize and get them into the competitions this year. RVR's sponsoring high school basically took all their funds and told them to sort the problems out. The unfortunate thing for all of us in NJ is that were taking a huge hit just from the cutbacks.

I'm sure that we will get the team back on track but it may take a few years until they situate themselves again.

[Jon236]

It seems the issue there was a lack of a responsible 'staff' member.....they had funds raised; they just lacked school support.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Jon236

It seems the issue there was a lack of a responsible 'staff' member.....they had funds raised; they just lacked school support.

The tone of the article gave the impression that the problem runs much deeper than merely "lack of support". It sounds like the school (or the principal at least) is openly hostile. It's bizarre. There must be more to this story.

[Jon236]

I agree. Another reason for teams to solicit support from their local Boards of Education. In Lyme-Old Lyme, the Ticks even had 3 Board members with kids on the team, including the Chairwoman. Our concept of 'infection' with FIRST went beyond the HS Principal, to include the BOE and local town organizations, such as the Lion's Club. It never hurts to have too many friends, especially in high places.

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by Jon236

I agree. Another reason for teams to solicit support from their local Boards of Education. In Lyme-Old Lyme, the Ticks even had 3 Board members with kids on the team, including the Chairwoman. Our concept of 'infection' with FIRST went beyond the HS Principal, to include the BOE and local town organizations, such as the Lion's Club. It never hurts to have too many friends, especially in high places.

I'd like to echo this thought as well. We experienced a recent change in principalship at our school that has added a few roadblocks for us, but luckily we are well trenched in the BOE, superintendant, county office of ed, and have an outside 501c3. So while there's a few bumps in the road, the team will continue on regardless.

While I'm sure many of the folks reading this thread won't find themselves in the same situation as 1432, I urge you to make it a point this year to reach out to the less experienced teams in your area and get them the info they need to build a sustainable program. Teams that rely on one teacher running the show will eventually run into a situation like this.

[Joe G.]

Originally Posted by Ether

The tone of the article gave the impression that the problem runs much deeper than merely "lack of support". It sounds like the school (or the principal at least) is openly hostile. It's bizarre. There must be more to this story.

Without going off on a blistering rant about my former team, I just wanted to say from experience that, most unfortunately, this happens. And at least in our case, the "more to the story" was surprisingly mundane...budget cuts, liability of students with power tools, etc. Its unfortunate, but it happens. Hopefully, 1432 will find a way to survive just as we have.

[fuzzwaz]

Whenever a season is about to start a team (or at least each member on a team) comes up with some picture perfect goal for their team to achieve. When they do it often comes up along with the words "this is our year, our time".

Anyone who knows me personally knows I’m a sportsy guy. I've been on many sports teams and I love watching sports in general. Whenever anyone compares FIRST to Sports I get excited beyond belief because I firmly believe that FIRST teams can learn some lessons from the athletic world.

However, there is one key difference between a football team and a robotics team. The words "this is our time" fit way more with the football team then the robotics team.

First we got to know what they mean by that. When a sports team says "this is our time" it really means that this is their season to go all the way and win it all. This is not necessarily what it means for a robotics team... Sure, most of the time it probably means being champions at worlds, but it could also mean winning the chairmans award at any level or being an alliance captain at a regional.

"Our time"
-High School football team: State Champs
-Robotics Team: World Champs, Chairmans award, Recognized success

So now we see the very very very common goals or ideals a team sets for themselves in their head before a season starts. This is where the differences between FIRST and sports come into play however. A football team must only rely on themselves for their misfortune. I live in Michigan, the Lions lose to themselves every week, but they control their future never the less. If they win, then they win it all.

A FIRST robotics team is not that simple. A team can win every single match by blowout numbers and not get picked. Why is that? No matter what you do, you are always relying on other members of the FIRST community to recognize it. It’s hard to completely control your fate on a FIRST robotics team. You can go all the way to the finals at worlds and watch as one of your alliance partner's robots breaks down mid match. You were not there when they built their robot. You really had no say in what happened.

This is really why I believe a lot of teams face disappointments. Good and well deserving teams don’t always make it where they should.

To answer your question, you have to be proud of what you've done. And sure, being a tad disappointed is nothing but normal. But with what you are given for being on a FIRST robotics team you can’t always expect to put in your good hard work and come out as world champions. So take what you have been given and use it as hope for the future. And whatever the future may be, it’s going to be better just because you were part of the FIRST program in general, so no disappointment is needed. ;D