Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans?

[KathieK]

Speaking strictly as an adult mentor (and not reflecting my team's opinion), I'd rather win a Regional Chairman's Award. The CA honors teams who are doing above and beyond creating a great competitive robot. It recognizes the efforts of team members who may not be into the robot design and building process (but who may have skills in marketing, computer programming and animation, accounting, writing, etc. - all skills that are necessary on a well-rounded team). It recognizes year-round efforts by team members and their impact on their community and partnerships with their sponsors and schools.

Of course it is an honor to win a Regional Competition as well, which is recognition of an intense 6 week build cycle.

But in the end, it doesn't matter whether you win or lose, it's how you've played the game that counts. The goal of FIRST isn't to win anything, it's all about the process you went through to get there.

[Courtneyteam330]

This year I was really into actually building the robot and I did a lot of that but I also put in a lot of work writing the entry and doing the interview. So both were great experiences and I would say that winning one isn't really better than the other for me but I am sure it is different for each person depending on what your role in the team is.

[Joel J]

Originally Posted by Eric Bareiss

Here's a question I've been thinking about. Would you rather win a Regional Championship or Regional Chairmans Award?

I'm not asking which is better, or which one is more prestigeous. The question is which one would make you happier. If you had to choose one which would it be? You can say why if you want.

I am a competitor. The atmosphere created within a team that makes them chairman's award worthy is the true goal of FIRST; it should be second nature. One would expect that all teams would be "chairman's worthy" entering into a competition and would then be able to compete against one another for something more physical. An award to single out a team whose unity and outreach is better than others may eventually be played down. Regional Champion.

[HalloweenDMB]

Personally for me, I would like to win the regional chairmans. Because it's a culmination of years work and dedication



Melissa

[Koko Ed]

I would prefer the Chairman's award. It is the truest measure of a FIRST team.

[Alex Cormier]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

I would prefer the Chairman's award. It is the truest measure of a FIRST team.

yup, we have already won a regional anyways.. next: get chairmans...

[Combat Chuck]

I'd have to say that I'd rather win a Regional Championship. Doing things all year long is nice and all, but it's not the robot itself. I'm one of those build with their hands kinda guys, so to me, the robot is a more real accomplishment. I would rather have the best robot than community outreach.

[fred]

I was just a rookie last year and our team won both a regional chairmans and also the galileo division at nats. I would put a division winning almost over a regional win cause there are only 4 divisions per year and all that. But anyway, a lot of the seniors on the team were crying and getting broken down after winning chairmans and while everyone was still really psyched to win the division at Nats, I think that Chairman's was the best experience for me personally.

[Nate Edwards]

We won the Chairman's Award last year and it was one of the greatest moments of my life. We won the Regional this year and it was dissapointing, because we didn't win the Chairman's Award. There is no doubt in my mind that the Regional Chairman's Award is better then the Regional Championship. We work so much harder for the Chairman's Award then the 3 days for the Regional Championship.
Nate

[Solace]

chairmans awards and what they represent are nice and all, but i joined this program to build robots, not to spread peace and goodwill towards men. We play to win, and winning the UTC regional this past weekend made me happier than any mere award could have. it is a reflection of me as a driver, and of how hard our team has worked to build it. to me, time spent trying to make a chairman's award submission is time that could have been better spent making the robot more competitive.

I'm not saying that the Chairman's award is not important, cause it is. it just isn't as interesting. kids don't join a robotics team so that they can mentor another robotics team, they join the team cause they want to build a robot and build it better than everyone else. we learn as we go, and the learning is more fun because we know that the robot we make is a representation of us as a team, so we do the best that we possibly can.

[gsensel]

Well it is nice to get both, but truely a chairmans award has more prestige behind it especially if you can win at the national level.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by Solace

chairmans awards and what they represent are nice and all, but i joined this program to build robots, not to spread peace and goodwill towards men. We play to win, and winning the UTC regional this past weekend made me happier than any mere award could have. it is a reflection of me as a driver, and of how hard our team has worked to build it. to me, time spent trying to make a chairman's award submission is time that could have been better spent making the robot more competitive.

I'm not saying that the Chairman's award is not important, cause it is. it just isn't as interesting. kids don't join a robotics team so that they can mentor another robotics team, they join the team cause they want to build a robot and build it better than everyone else. we learn as we go, and the learning is more fun because we know that the robot we make is a representation of us as a team, so we do the best that we possibly can.

I am in total agreement... Its such a great feeling to see 6 weeks worth your sweat blood and tears out there competing. Its just such a rush to see something YOU created up in the lime light, performing to perfection.

[Bridgette]

I really don't think I could decide. I did the most work on my team's chairman's award submission, and I'm on the drive team. So either would be great. A lot of work is put into both the robot and the chairman's award submission. There's no way I could choose.

[Jones571]

Originally Posted by Solace

chairmans awards and what they represent are nice and all, but i joined this program to build robots, not to spread peace and goodwill towards men. We play to win, and winning the UTC regional this past weekend made me happier than any mere award could have. it is a reflection of me as a driver, and of how hard our team has worked to build it. to me, time spent trying to make a chairman's award submission is time that could have been better spent making the robot more competitive.

I'm not saying that the Chairman's award is not important, cause it is. it just isn't as interesting. kids don't join a robotics team so that they can mentor another robotics team, they join the team cause they want to build a robot and build it better than everyone else. we learn as we go, and the learning is more fun because we know that the robot we make is a representation of us as a team, so we do the best that we possibly can.

That is the best way to put it jake we worked so hard builgin a robot not writing an english paper! even tho chairmans does take lots of work winning a competition takes a great deal more.

[Billfred]

WARNING: This post may be loaded with excessive amounts of rookie mentality, and is not necessarily the view of team 1293.

Personally, I'd have to side with regional champs. For starters, I helped build the robot this year more than anything else, and I've also been trying (and probably failing miserably, due to my lack of reading CD) to think up some strategies--and regional champions says that your combination of robot, driver, HP, and strategy was the best of the breed.

It's also easier to explain to non-FIRST folks. (Yeah, I know it's hard to believe that said people exist.) If I say my team won the Chairman's Award, the reaction ranges from "Cool" to "Wuzzat?" The term champion, for whatever reason, just seems to be more well-understood.