Defense?

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Andy L

I went to my first regional for this year this weekend and I was very surprised at how easy it was to defend robots, but yet how few teams did it. I know in qualifications it's not good to defend to much, I don't want this thread to turn into an argument about that.

We had a few matches where we were 2v1 or even 3v1 with us being the 1, and we held our own while our team mates scored. The other big surprising thing was the teams that have broken/failing kickers that don't attempt to defend or show off any other aspects of their robots. Our strategy Thursday was offense, our strategy Friday and Saturday was defense, it put us at 20th in the rankings, but we caught the eyes of most of the top 10 teams at SVR I think.

Has anyone else noticed this? It just seems like teams are focusing on qualification points instead of their strong points

If you win a match 2 to 1, it is worse than losing 7 to 2.

Despite that, I somewhat agree. Defense isn't too hard to do with a good drive team, good drive base, and good robot. Defense wins Championships. Many teams also don't really have a knack for solid defense, while it seems yours does. Take advantage of that! Defense DOES have a place in quals, so play smart, use small amounts of effective defense, and you'll do well.

Here is one's daily reminder that pushing and defense are not synonymous.