Great Lakes Bay District - Midland Michigan

[Analog]

I just wanted to thank all the teams that came out to this district competition. I volunteered as a robot inspector and I had a wonderful time meeting the teams. We had 20 rookie teams out of the 40 that were there. Although it made inspecting very tedious, it was worth it, because we had a great competition. All the rookie teams were inspected and competing.

I also want to give a shout out to the veteran teams that helped the rookie teams at this event. I witnessed several veteran teams taking time out to help the rookies get there robots competing, fixed or upgraded. That's what gracious professionalism is all about.

Walking the pits, I took note of team 703 Phoenix with their extra parts bins available for any team that needed parts - several rookie teams took advantage of this and were amazed that other teams were actually there to help them out.

I witnessed team 33, Killer Bees with several members sprawled out on the pits busy helping another rookie team fabricate bumpers (from scratch!) on the spot - way to go!

I witnessed several mentors from various teams help 5257 - Cometkaze with their wireless issues, yes rookie teams - we want you to be competitive.

Tom Nader was (as usual) an unbelievably great presence - how he can direct things, do play by play and simply bring his amazing skills to event after event is awesome. He is the glue that keeps these events together.

Renee Wirsing was the MC - and I must say I was floored by her execution. The audience came away thinking that this is just another "show" for her - yet it was her first time. Rack up another notch in her multi-talented resume. A Dow High and FIRST alum to boot.

The judging panel who was led by JA Louis Martin - well managed and smoothly executed. Most of the panel were new to judging and came away with not only a greater understanding of FIRST robotics, but are now advocates of what we do. Our FIRST family has grown.

To the 20 rookie teams at this event - I trust that it was a positive experience. I overheard rookie team members saying "this is the best" and "why didn't our high school do this 4 years ago". Comments like that make me feel great. A rookie team was part of the winning alliance - hats off to 5166 - the Freeland Fabricators - way to go.

Great job volunteers, without you this wouldn't have been possible!

[Alpha Beta]

Originally Posted by Analog

A rookie team was part of the winning alliance - hats off to 5166 - the Freeland Fabricators - way to go.

From the looks of the alliance selection thread a rookie replaced the captain of the #7 alliance and went on to win the event. Is there a story here?

Originally Posted by Shu

Great Lake Bay Region District (Midland)

2137-33-5203(SF)
302-66-5222(QF)
5282-2619-4382(SF)
5231-1243-2145(F)
5229-703-3770(QF)
244-2834-5238(QF)
288-68-4819(W)
894-5224-216(QF)

No Declines.

5166 replaced 288 after match 1 of quarterfinals.

[Ekcrbe]

Originally Posted by Alpha Beta

From the looks of the alliance selection thread a rookie replaced the captain of the #7 alliance and went on to win the event. Is there a story here?

The reason I heard through the alliance grapevine--which may be inaccurate--was that they had electrical issues involving some burned Talons. Even after taking the alliance's timeout, they were not able to finish repairing it. But 5166 played valiantly in their place, and I'd like to thank them along with 288 and 4819 for making GLBRD a memorable event.

[1stbaser]

I'm a member of 288, the human player for the first QF match, and the representative for the remaining elimination matches. Here's what I know really happened.
We experienced a weird electrical problem on our robot, and we still aren't completely sure what happened. It worked fine in the pit in testing just prior to the match, and then spun in circles on the field. The inspectors and CSA's thought it to be an electrical short on the robot, and one that fried most of our talons as well. As a result, we had to use both of our alliance captain coupons (time-out and backup robot) to give our alliance a chance in the next matches. We weren't able to resolve our issue in time. Luckily, the backup robot (5166) was perfect for our strategy and what we needed. They came out ready to play and stayed level-headed even with me running back and forth between them and 4819, making sure they were in the right spot at the right time. Combined with Truck Town Thunder's phenomenal defense on every opposing scoring robot, 4819 and 5166 brought us to the finals, and then won it. It couldn't have been done without any of the three teams. Thanks to all three teams for a great alliance and a job well done.

[jwallace15]

4819 also had a driver station problem in the first match. 68 was the only working robot in QF match 1, and we lost 122-18. After that match 5166 was substituted in for 288, and 4819 fixed their problem.

[Jacob.B]

Great job by the Flat Mountain Fabricating Thunder Dogs! Coming from 7th seed, is no small task, and I am very proud of my team. As well as a special thanks to all of the volunteers, as it was a great event!

[AllenGregoryIV]

Here is the link to the elimination matches if anyone is interested in watching them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBTZ6UqDxPU

[tr6scott]

Oh when too sleep...

Thanks to all the volunteers at the district! Your Gracious support of your time and efforts make all of this possible.

Always Kudos to Tom Nader and his lovely wife too. Congrats to Ms. Renee Wirsing I would have never guessed she was a rookie, looked to be a seasoned pro by Saturday.

Congrats to 288 and picking a great alliance of 68, 4819. I always love to watch 68 hit something, and I appreciated it wasn't us.

I think this is the first time we finished 1st overall, it was an amazing run... Except for a slight misstep on the human planer in the safety zone, it was almost undefeated... Wow, I did not think that was even a possibility at the start.

Hats off to our competition to the south, 302 Lake Orion, they made that first pick really, really tough. The day before our competition, I got to celebrate their driver's and our driver's Eagle Court of Honor as they are in the same troop. Pretty special week, pretty special team. Congrats on the Engineering Inspiration.

Thank you to team 66, we held the high score for much of the competition while we played a bot short.

Thanks to the Killer Bees, it's a tough game, I am sure a little hive time and you will be a force to contend with at States. Thank you to the 5203 that turned out to be a great golden ticket team, a perfect inbounder, and a soft touch pass.

Congrats to the 5155 Ubly Bearcats, our long distance rookie mentor-ship team. This team has so much heart, work ethic and creativity that they can not be stopped. Congrats on the Rookie All Star award, see you at States. Hope your success shows the community what a great program you have started, and you get the support you need for the program to take hold.

Thanks to all the judges that donated their time to support FIRST, and thank you for finding us worthy of the Chairmen's award.

I have posted many photos to the team facebook page, I will probably be thinning out the lot later in the season. So if there is something there you like, they are all available in full resolution for download.
https://www.facebook.com/team2137

Thanks again, what a weekend.

[Josh Crain]

I am Josh Crain, Chairman of the Student Board and Pit Captain for Team 4819, The Flat Mountain Mechanics.

First off, I would like to say a great big thankyou to 288, the RoboDawgs for picking us, and to their awesome human player who continued to help out in comunication between drivers during all the matches. Awesome job, well done! Thanks to Freeland, an awesome rookie team who stepped in and played some awesome Arial ASSIST with major emphasis on the "Assist." Thanks also to T3, Team 68 who stood in the way and cleared a path for us to score. We could not have done it without you!

I would like to talk about the captain of our opposing alliance there in the final 3 matches: Team 5231, the Radical Jays of Shepherd. Shepherd is our rookie team, the team we have been mentoring all year. And to have seen them come this far, and completely dominate the competition was a thrill that cannot be compared with. It almost hurt to beat them in the Finals.

I can only imagine the joy and the feelings of the Freeland Team who were ready to pack up and leave, when they get a call to go out on the field. And then to have gone all the way to the top and win it all! What a thrill. Everybody at home is laughing at me because I can barley talk, having screamed myself hoarse watching the matches. I can't wait for States!

[J@GMFlint]

Thanks to Rookie Team #5231 who recognized our potential and selected us from the #26 seed as their first pick- 4th overall. We had too many self-induced challenges that made for a less than impressive showing during qualifications, Thank-You again for showing faith! This is another example of the importance of scouting and matching complementary team abilities in this game. Team #2145 you should be proud of all that you have accomplished this season, in particular for taking time away from your robot to assist rookies during build, it was fun playing with you! Thanks also to our combined tech. and field crews who got everything together and brought the best of what we had to the eliminations to keep the alliance operational. Taking it to three matches in the Finals was simply outstanding! Good Work!

Thanks/Props to the sponsoring teams of the GLBR and fine folks from H.H. Dow H.S. in Midland! We also greatly appreciated the opportunity to meet the Veteran troops from 82nd ABN Association on Friday!! The FRC Volunteer organization and support staff were also as good as ever! We hope to return to Midland again in the future.

Aerial Assist has certainly provided its share of upsets, and probably as much (or more) inspiration to average teams this season. I personally think that the way the game is set up such that EVERY team on the alliance can make it or break it- through scores or penalties, has added a new dimension to the season. Pure offensive capability of a single robot, or robots, must at times step-back to allow, or enable assists from their alliance partners, (much easier said than done in the heat of the match) or be overcome by those alliances that effectively do. Split-second decisions to defend/disrupt smartly and cleanly or set-up for your own cycle sways matches. It’s really been interesting to see how the defensive game has evolved. How everyone plays makes a huge difference, and yet pure luck/bad luck- how the ball bounces- still remains an exciting and often determining element of an FRC event!