The Spirit of FIRST

[Doug G]

Ok instead of the usual... "bash the post", which is already well done in this and other threads, I'd like to offer some advice and wisdom that comes from 10 years of experience.

In 2001, our first season, we built the scrappiest robot and went out and competed fairly well and had to go against the Bionic Bulldogs from Kingman, AZ. It was a fun quarterfinal and had that David and Goliath feel to it. The following year at SVR, we went against them once again in the Finals and lost. For those that know about their robot in 2002, it was a marvel of engineering on par with Beatty (71). But our team felt a sense of, "that's not fair, they had they help of Ford engineers, more sponsers, etc..." . We had very little engineering help or sponsors and it really just seemed unfair. We then witnessed the rise of the poofs, wildhats, and many other NorCal powerhouses. We were quite jealous of them all, could we ever compete on a level playing field with these teams? It's just not fair.

BUT then a few years back, we stopped comparing ourselves with other teams and just focused on the best WE could do with the resources we had and if we needed more, we took the steps to improve. Now we raise over $50,000 each year, started a non-profit, build partnerships with sponsors and community and while building a great bot is always a goal, it is NOT our focus. Because of this we feel a lot more successful, garnered a few more awards, AND still no banner to show for it (yet).

So as others have already stated, focus on your team and robot - don't worry about other teams. If you want to go through life thinking about what's not fair or unGP then your missing the point of FIRST. Dean doesn't strike me as a type of person that focuses on what's not fair, and perhaps that's why he has the success that he does.