Picking for the people

[Molten]

Every year we all know that there are some teams we like being on an alliance with and some we don't. Sure, them having a great bot makes your alliance better...but lets neglect the bot. Let's focus on the team.

Things I would consider:
1. Professional
2. Nice
3. Strategy
4. Teamwork
5. Fun
6. Anything else

These are all things that effect what I think of a team. I won't be posting any team numbers myself because I'm not on the drive team and don't really see enough to make a fair assessment.

Please post teams that you really enjoyed working with because of the people. Feel free to post a bit as to why you enjoyed working with them.

Avoid posting teams you didn't like working with. It can only lead to conflict.

[Akash Rastogi]

At regionals and championships we pick strictly on robot, driver, and coach performance.

At offseasons however we just go to have fun and pick fun teams. The two times I've been able to make the decision on picking at Brunswick Eruption, I chose 1676 in 08 and at Monty Madness 09 I chose 1089. Both are really fun teams and our teams are good friends. In the end, its all fun and games at offseasons.

[EricLeifermann]

For the most part i like to pick the best robot but there are times when i don't care how good your robot is you did something that i felt was unprofessional and down right wrong and i wouldn't pick your team even if it was the only robot left.

In the 2 years I've been on the field, my senior year as the driver and this past year as the coach, i can name a few teams that i really enjoyed playing with and against.

135-in 2005
66- in 2005
107- in 2005
71- in 2005
141- in 2009
2826- 2009

im sure there are more i just can't think of them now.

[smurfgirl]

When I was a student on a FIRST team, I did a lot of alliance picking. More than anything else, what I looked for was a team that could fit into our general strategy. What this usually meant was a team who was willing to work together with us, as an alliance for the best overall strategy. Not all teams necessarily had "the best" robot (whatever that even means), and a lot of them weren't ranked very highly either, but recognizing each team's strengths and weakness and working together on dynamic strategy we were able to make some surprisingly strong alliances.

If a team said something like "I'm the alliance captain so what I say goes" or "I can do x really well so I'm going to do x all match regardless of what our strategy was" or "defense is for people who can't play offense so we're not doing it", we definitely wouldn't accept their invitation to play with them or invite them to join our alliance, because that wouldn't be fun or successful. Basically, being a team player, being able to strategize, and being nice people makes you stand out.

There are a lot of teams I've really enjoyed working with or spending time with:

11, 121, 126, 175, 176, 177, 178, 181, 190, 195, 228, 230, 236, 500, 558, 716, 1024, 1071, 1099, 1100, 1592, 1816, 1902, 2064

In particular, our alliance at the 2007 CT Regional stands out to me- our partners were 195 and 558. We just had a great time. The mentors were inspiring, the students were friendly, we had a lot of fun playing matches, and our strategy squeaked us through some really close and competitive matches. I had a blast, and I made some friends that I'm still in touch with today. Other members of my team feel the same, our alliance just clicked really well.

You're all filled with wonderful people who are a pleasure to work with. Thanks to all of you and many more for making my FIRST experience so special.

[ttldomination]

This will be my fourth year going at FRC and I mainly work in the pit, so for me to hear about a team making a good impression has to be a good thing.

One team, 1057 I believe, was a real pleasure to work with. The guys on that team were the most humble bunch of guys I've ever met, but when they played, they always followed strategy. I can't say how many teams don't play according to strategy, and then ultimately that leads to a loss, but these guys played their hardest, and that ultimately led them to their best.

The second group of people who I've had a positive experience with is team 1746. They have offered us their practice field, and twice so far, we've gotten together on an alliance in the finals. I remember in Palmetto, when my team went 1-8 and ranked 40th, the members of 1746 chose to pick us because of what we had done in previous competitions/the practice field. Then when there was a controversial call, their coach came around to each team and personally apologized for his actions. I immediately told him that he had nothing to worry about and that we were thankful to be there, but that sign has put 1746 in my good graces for a long time to come.

Another team who I've had a positive experience with is team 1771. It's unfortunate because I always talk to Sean and my team and I always want to work with them, but we never find a true oppurtunity to. I think that...this relationship is especially sweet is because our schools are rivals. And instead of showing that rivalry on the field, we can't wait to team up with 1771 and take the competition by storm. Although we have yet to play a single match with 1771, we still find 1771 to be one awfully good team.

And I think I spead more for my team than myself, but team 47 was a blast to be with this past season. They shared their leopard-clothes with us, and we shared our caution tape with them, and I think it was simply a FUN time.

The teams above have made FIRST amazing for me, and my team mates. We hope that this upcoming season, we'll have another team to put in our extreme good side, as a new rookie team joins the Gwinnett County cluster of teams. .

[Chris is me]

There are many factors that go into how my team (and I in general) try and pick people. Obviously the robot is a big part of it and driver skill is almost as big, but being friendly and working well with us is a significant boost. If a team has a qualifying match with us they are significantly more likely to be bumped up or down the list because we know exactly how to work with them.

2826- 2009

I couldn't agree more about 2826. Basically 2826 was "the whole package" at Minnesota; an extremely competitive robot at the regional, very easy and fun to work with, with very smart minds coming up with great strategy (guess that's what happens to your team when you work with Tyler Olds). We knew before lunch on the first day that they would be first on our list. Good things are coming from a team that has it together like that. Some of the coolest people I've ever worked with. I could never be dissapointed working with them.