FIRST 101 [9/17/05]

[Andy Grady]

Good morning class!

Welcome to a new discussion gimick which I am calling FIRST 101. Each week I will be posting a lesson on FIRST in order to enrich your young (some not quite as young) and able minds as to why FIRST has become what it is today. The beauty if FIRST 101 is that it is totally interactive! Feel free to ask the professor anything you want to know about subjects, ideas for future subjects, questions on various things in FIRST, and just plain old goofy things you want to know about life in general. Be forewarned...if you ask the professor, your answer will not always make a load of sense!

Todays Lesson...

Rumble at the Rock!

OK kids, its time to open up your text books to chapter 1, and notice the heading of Rumble at the Rock and a picture of a Woodie Flowers Award winner that many of you don't recognize!

Many people in FIRST today do not understand how much of an impact this event had on the competition as we see it today in general. First, lets go back to the year 1996, and be introduced to a hall of fame team known as PNTA out of Plymouth North High School. Plymouth North was a team who was well known for its beautiful machines, excelent defensive capabilities, and more importantly known for its innovative ways of promoting FIRST and science and technology. PNTA was also the home of Woodie Flowers Award winner Mike Bastoni. Mike's leadership along with current all star FIRST announcer Ron Partridge made for excelent direction with the team. They were at the forefront of the pack when it came to promoting FIRST, even traveling outside of the mainland USA to drag teams in.

The most influential creation of PNTA was Rumble at the Rock...the first ever offseason competition! The innaugural Rumble was held in a shopping mall in Plymouth Mass. during a hurricane. The field barely fit inside, and there was litterally a pillar sitting right inside the field! The competition was small, only a handful of teams made it out...however, it was the spawn of something that would never be duplicated in the history of FIRST. In 1997 the field was taken outside near the shore of Plymouth MA only a stones throw away from the Mayflower 2 and the famous Plymouth Rock. It was also probably the only time in my life I have ever seen a field endure major downpours overnight and still be competition ready the next day. The site of robots zooming across the rug with water splashing up behind the tires was amazing. As the years went on, Rumble became more and more popular. Teams would come from far and wide. The final Rumble hosted such superstar teams as the Technokats, Beatty and Hammond, GUNN robotics out of California, Wildstang, Buzz, Gael Force, Aces High, Robo Raiders, HYPER, Aztechs...the list goes on. It was a virtual all star game which many people considered winning as having more value than even a national championship.

Soon after Rumble, competitions started spouting up all over the place. River Rage which is the current oldest running competition, Battlecry, IRI, BOMB...they all led off the example set by PNTA and Rumble at the Rock.

Without offseason competitions, can you imagine what FIRST would be like?

Its a scary thought!

Class dismissed.

-Professor Grady


Any questions or ideas for future classes, e-mail me at skrach42@aol.com, IM me at QuietRiverRage1, or PM me!


NERD '06' Gonna hit you when you least expect it.