Team 1626 would like to thank its Alliance Partners 229, and 375 for a tremendous effort and their contributions to our Regional Championship at First SBPLI . We would also like to congratulate our opponents 564,271 and 287 on their great run to the Finals.
A Special Thank You to all of our fellow competitors and to the events volunteer staff. You all made our experience something special!
As a senior on Team 375, I remember my first visit to the SBPLI FIRST Regional. It was my freshman year of high school, and my very first FIRST Regional. Coming back three years later, I was so happy to find that the great spirit of Long Island FIRST had only gotten stronger. From all of the teams cheering despite any problems they may have faced, to the gracious aid every team gave out, even if they were working on their own robot, Long Island FIRST definitely epitomizes the message of FIRST.
We loved being a part of this regional, and it certainly made our season. After the NYC Regional, our team was pretty down due to every sort of malfunction you could think of. When we came to SBPLI, we were proud to bring ourselves up in standings, but didn’t expect to be picked… However, we are only too glad to have partnered with FIRST Teams 1626 and 229. Both of your teams are great! Between the two of you, your strategical sense and ability to repair in almost seconds blew us out of the water. Thank you so much for believing in us! We could have never done it without you, and we know that our partnership has strengthened a friendship between our teams that we hope grows in the future.
Congratulations so much to all of the teams competing in SBPLI, and all of the other FIRST regionals so far! FIRST Team 329, when you won Chairman’s, it was like deja vu for us! You guys definitely deserve this award, and we were humbled to have seen you win it this year, and in the past. FIRST Team 870, it was a pleasure to be next to you in the pits! Always willing to lend a helping hand, you guys form one of the most gracious teams we have met.
Thank you to everyone for helping our team show all our new recruits the true meaning of FIRST!
Congratulations on a Job well done to all the finalists!!! thank you to Bayshore and William floyd for choosing us. It was totally an honor to be aligned with you. I am very proud to be a member of the FIRST family.
Marissa, I can not agree with you more. My first year was 2001 as a coach and I have developed many friends throughout the years. It is a family that I am proud to be part of.
Good Luck to all in your future endeavors!!!
Coach Lang from Longwood!!!
First team 1626 also owes a great deal of thanks to Team 2168, the aluminum. Falcons. We utilized their scouting software leading to our alliance selection. Results count. We couldn t be happier. Thanks again guys!
haha, kind of funny how that scouting system was developed by a 229 alum 
229 would like to thank 1626 and 375, it was a blast running with you guys!
i love this. i cannot get the picture of that mentor screaming angrily out of my head!
If ANYONE has video of the reactions of the regional winning DRIVE TEAM, I am absolutely dying to see it. If ANYONE has the video PLEASE SEND IT TO ME at [email protected]. It would be very much appreciated.
1626 why did you guys go so hard when the 5th seed team made their 1st selection?
It was against the rules. Simple and plain.
what happened?
358 had denied a previous request to partner up, then accepted a request later on.
I know and you guys were right never said it wasn’t, but then again i’m sure there were better ways of notifying them it looked like he wanted to take that little girls head off or something or you guys were intimidated by them am just saying
how un-gp it was for him to angrily scream and point like that as if the regional was conspiring against him, it was just just a mix up. An informative messenger would have done the job just fine. It did not make your team look very professional when your large mentors are screaming at the top of his lungs at high school students he does not know but regardless congrats on the win good luck at champs!!
I personally know the mentor in question and I’m sure he didn’t mean to come off as ‘scary’, it was simply heat of the moment.
Regardless, thank you! Having been my first time at sbpli it was a very fun event!
Our team has never won a regional, and this was our first shot at doing so. The mentor in question is very passionate and didnt want our chances to be thrown by a rule mix up. Im sorry if he came off as being unprofessional, but he is just very passionate. So stop trying to make it out like hes a monster.
So to not ruin your chances, you ruin another teams chances in such a way? 1796 is such a small team, what was the purpose of creating that scene? So much for Gracious Professionalism haha.
A 358 and 1796 alliance with 329 would’ve been interesting, unfortunately we never saw them together… and it wouldve been a better match to have watched in the finals since they would have been a much harder alliance to “win” against but this is my opinion im “just very passionate about”.
Good Luck in Missouri. ::safety::
You do understand that regardless of how good their alliance would have been its still illegal right? For somone who seems so stuck up about “gracious professionalism”, your the first to ignore the rules? Doesn’t make too much sense to me.
One of the First things we do at Team 229 is instill in our Students and Mentors that It is crucial to know the rules to every aspect of that year’s game. We expect that out of our students, and we also expect that out the volunteers running the competition. We know mistakes can be made, but when they are, they must be addressed.
When the 5th seed chose team 358, it was in DIRECT VIOLATION of the Rules. It appeared that all of the field crew and all other teams besides both Teams 229 and 1626 did not realize that this was in direct violation of one of the most fundamental rules in alliance selection. In fact Team 229 had sent a message runner down, but he was being ignored in his attempt to inform officials of the error. We wanted the issue to be addressed before the crew went to far in alliance selection. Usually this rule is addressed before alliance selection, but in this case it was skipped, which we realized may have caused some confusion. I know it may seem odd to see someone yell like that in alliance selection, but attention needed to be drawn before we had to break up several alliances in an effort to fix the problem.
Don’t over exaggerate now. No one is calling 1626’s Mentor a monster. All I’m saying is he conducted himself very poorly, and represented your team in a very negative light when one of your adult mentors, chose to in a very angry and hostile manner poke his finger at the field yelling at high school students, literally yelling, with anger in his voice saying you can’t do that, scaring everyone, Including myself. Now, I’m an adult; and was in the stands not involved. I can only imagine how startled those kids were on the field, to have him screaming and pointing at them. GP in the heat of battle? Not quite…
Not really the way you want a mentor acting at a high school robotics competition while everyone is sitting quietly watching them pick their alliances. Your team was correct in trying to correct the error, but how he chose to do it will always be remembered and reflected on your entire team for years to come just so you guy have a chance at winning; winning is not what FIRST is about i think your team need to straighten out their priorities. Like Inspiredbybot said its my opinion am just very passionate…
I did say it was an opinion…
and as a high ranking team who did so well, it was surprising you didn’t take up that challenge to prove on how well deserved that title you now have is… just “doesn’t make too much sense to me.”
Goodbye 1626.