2010 Pittsburgh Regional

[M. Mellott]

Team 3193 had a great time at their first regional competition. Several of our students commented how suprised they were when they found themselves sweating and their hearts racing over the stress of competition, and they all loved it. I know from personal experience that all it takes is that first competition, and you're hooked.

Travis's comments not withstanding (though his help this season was invaluable), we'd like to thank some folks on our own!

Thanks go out to the Pittsburgh Regional planning committee and all of the volunteers for a terrific event. Also, thanks to those in the queing lines for their understanding of those of us teams that couldn't make it to the lines 2 matches ahead of time when there was only one match between matches (more to follow on that topic).

Many thanks to Team 1038 for chosing us as their partners for the playoffs, and thanks to Team 306 for rounding out the alliance. Hopefully, things will go better in Cleveland!

Thanks and congratulations to Team 1114, our neighbors in the pits, for showing our students your professionalism on and off the field. Your 3-second hang was something they couldn't stop talking about.

Congratulations also go to fellow rookie Team 3138 for their Rookie All-Star performance.

Thanks to all of the great comments on our team's robot--our team worked very hard...and yes, Travis, we especially loved the bumper comments. Thanks go to our sponsor, Red Diamond, and to our team leader's wife, Denise (who works there), for our uniforms and those bumpers.

My only disappointment of the regional, was the schedule of matches. In my years of FIRST, I've never encountered such a brutal, overly-tight, schedule. I'm glad that FIRST is trying to get us more matches to play for our money, but when you don't have time to make simple repairs or follow your pre-match checklist between matches, it's insane and unnecessary.