The Stereotyping of Successful Teams

[sanddrag]

At our regionals this year, several people came up to me and said "Wow, you have a lot of sponsors, you guys must have a lot of money" or "Wow, you have a trailer, you must have a lot of money" or "You guys have a CNC? Your school must be rich." We do okay, but in reality, it's not as much as anyone thinks, and plenty of teams with mediocre robots and pit areas are running larger budgets than ours. If we happened to qualify for Championship, we wouldn't have been able to afford to go. If any one of our major sponsors dropped out, it would be a real hit to our budget. I was mostly okay with it, because most of the people making these comments were nice about it, and saying it in a more complimentary fashion. However, it does show that speculation forms without having the facts.

My favorite was "How do we make our team be like your team?" That's the sort of question everyone should be asking of these so-called "elite" or "powerhouse" teams.

[Kidney]

Wow. I just wanted to say thanks for making this thread. It's surprisingly inspirational and nice to see the "real" side of things on "elite" teams, especially a hall-of-fame team.

Your post really puts things into perspective. My team won its first FRC regional this season and it took us six years to finally do so, and to hear 341's story is quite eye-opening to me. Thanks for posting.

[Siri]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Al & company: Thanks a ton for what you do for teams in the Philly area and in the world. You are THE local inspiration for 3929 and are our standard of excellence in terms of sponsorships and robot quality.

Thanks for this thread.

Us too. "What would Daisy do?" We ask it in our shop. We ask it in our strategy. Ok, really, we ask it anytime we want something done better.

To everyone out there (and to Daisy, if you don't know), this is not an isolated incident. Not for Akash, not for 1676, not for us. I can walk by pits at MAR districts and hear people saying "what would Daisy do?" (Or if they're there, "we could ask Daisy!")

They and MOE 365 are who people in this area turn to to see what's "right". We don't do it to complain, we don't even do it to worship in awe. We do it because we know we can do it to. Because they're not magic, they're not "rich", they're entirely accessible--and they'll help us!


I'm completely comfortable saying that MAR as a region would not be what it is today without both 341 and 365.

[MisterG]

In my own experience it was largely an education issue.

2011 was my rookie season and my first regional was Wisconsin. There were many good robots there and one phenomenal one (went on to win worlds). In my ignorance and frustration I gave in to the dark side, swallowed some silly rumors and did some hating of my own.

Two seasons and lots of education later I like to think that I am largely cured.

I have seen first hand how the great teams are not only the ones that are pushing the sport forward, they are the ones making it happen period. Many many many of the volunteers that make events happen come from experienced teams.

I think we need to constantly remind ourselves, our students and each other, that we need to look externally for inspiration and internally for goal setting. As FIRST there are more things that unite us than divide us so lets get focused on the positives.

-al

[PVCpirate]

I think all consistently good teams inspire others to be better. In our initial design meetings for Breakaway, we were trying to decide where to shoot from, and were considering being a striker or maybe shoot from the middle. Then our head mentor was like "Hang on a second, 40 is going to be scoring from across the field, why can't we?" (referring to the late great Team 40 from Manchester NH). We pushed ourselves and made a robot that could score at will once at 100%. 40 had a great robot, but we were right there with them, and came home with our first regional win.

[NXTGeek]

Thank you so much for this- after making Einstein this year, my team found out how the intense effort of developing strong programs for community outreach and engineering, as well as the incredibly long hours through build season and beyond pays off. It was a pleasure talking with you guys on Newton, always a delight to find another team on the same page as us.

[NXTGeek]

Originally Posted by PVCpirate

I think all consistently good teams inspire others to be better. In our initial design meetings for Breakaway, we were trying to decide where to shoot from, and were considering being a striker or maybe shoot from the middle. Then our head mentor was like "Hang on a second, 40 is going to be scoring from across the field, why can't we?" (referring to the late great Team 40 from Manchester NH). We pushed ourselves and made a robot that could score at will once at 100%. 40 had a great robot, but we were right there with them, and came home with our first regional win.

Lol what a great 341st post

[Kevin Ray]

Ditto--GREAT POST!!!

My only personal experience with Miss Daisy is the evening of their winning the Championship Chairman's award. We happened to be in the same hotel and ran into them in the lobby in the evening. Instead of gloating and basking in the glory, 4 of their mentors spoke with us (we had been there for the chairman's as well) for over 1/2 hour telling us tips and tricks they've learned over the years. In 14 years of competition, that was the most useful time I've ever spent with another team!. We have used most of what they told us and are genuinely a better team as a result.
This post explains their team concisely and those who lambast their team are probably upset that they have not found a (nonexistant) shortcut to success.

[OZ_341]

Originally Posted by MisterG

In my own experience it was largely an education issue.......

I kept meaning to highlight this comment. This is what its all about on some level. In St. Louis, I had a conversation with some MAR Board members and a FIRST RD about this very topic. I do believe that the FIRST/CD public discourse and FIRST event behavior is going in the wrong direction. Coaches need to EDUCATE their students, parents, and fellow coaches about FIRST principles. The education has to be continuous because our programs keep turning over every 2 to 4 years.
We can't just repeat these principles for the judges. We need to live the principles at competition and within our teams at home. Thanks for making that post.