Kettering Kick off 2010 event

[J@GMFlint]

As an MMRA Team supporting the Kettering Kick-Off, Team #1243 thanks to all who supported this event. Every year this has always been a great event with lots of fun, friendships and great competition!

Another special thanks to Team #1946 for making the trip over from Isreal. It was nice to meet you all and we were happy to be of help Thursday evening with batteries, and a ride to Target!

To our Winning Alliance:

Team 2619- Your hanger was a great inspiration to us- I’ve been a fan since seeing it in action at Ann Arbor- and although we haven’t used our version of it yet (one more chance at WMRI) we’ve learned a lot along the way and appreciate the support and insight you have shared with us. Your robot was just awesome with its elegant and highly functional simplicity that gave it great game play flexibility (loved those Auton. Modes )!! Also, thanks for the programming pointers throughout the season, and for helping us to get a handle on some of the nuance of LabView. Being able to have you guys in our alliance was a great honor and privilege to us. To borrow a quote from the celebration dinner- “you were phenomenal”!

Team 494- Your midfield based design and simple rebounding capability was key in our alliance. Being able to rebound and score from the middle, then doing so at critical moments, gave us depth of play that proved very effective. Good Job! Your new field team has great potential and a lot to be proud of! Then there’s also a peculiar intangible I’ve noticed over the years… in addition to having great students, mentors and robots, Goodrich always seems to be a part of the winning alliance at a large number of the Kettering events! So, I knew we had that going for us as well!

When alliance selections were completed- after getting past the psychological hurdle of “who” we would, and could be playing, we knew we had a well-balanced alliance with everyone in their natural positions & would surely give it a good run. With "phenomenal" execution & a little luck at the right moments we were able to pull off our 2nd major “upset” this year. Note to rookie scouts who may find the job "boring": From our experience and observation, the 3rd robot (last pick) has been just as important as the 2nd (first pick) and that decision is based on the quality of YOUR information!! Scouts rule!!!

Personally, one of the most exiting moments was in QF’s when both 2337 & 2619 (my favorite hangers) were starting to go up, & then seeing our robot clean-up the field just as the clock expired. Ultimately tipping the scales our way in a very close match. As many of us know, you can never really trust the “real time” field score, but in that match, in those few moments you just knew everyone on both alliances had played their absolute best to the very end and at least to me, it had all the makings of great FIRST competition- no matter the final score, it was the kind of match everyone could be proud of. These types of efforts and experiences were repeated throughout the day, particularly by all of the teams in the tournament- especially those outstanding and even legendary teams we played. Great job to all!!

Not to be forgotten- the students of Team #1243. Year in and year out it is each one of you who inspire me to continue supporting FIRST. Although we have a long way to go to build the team by some measures, we continue to make progress every year and work being a small team into an advantage. Keep up the good work and stay focused as we continue to prepare our new folks for 2011!

See some of you one last time again in 2010 at WMRI!