Hey, I was wondering what FRC students are most excited for at competitions? What do you look forward to most when you go to the regionals or districts with your team? 
Probably my favorite part of competitions is being able to see teams and friends I haven’t seen in a long time, see what they all made for this year’s game and just shoe off our robot. Although not directly at the events, back at the hotels can be fun. My team created a tradition last year to bring a XBOX 360 and 4 controllers and have Catalyst 2012 tournaments, which anyone on my team would agree they can get fairly intense, going as far as pushing robots off the field.
The absolute chaos from the minute you load in till your back on the road (because there’s no way an event is organized enough to not have chaos lol).
Most of all the realization that you may all be on different teams from different cities, states, and countries but you are all on one team working to the same goal on the same team, The FIRST team.
The hour before and the duration of the Chairman’s Presentation. Finally getting to bring something I’ve worked so hard on into the light is an amazing feeling.
the matches where the robot actually works as intended
Winning
When I was a driver, stepping on that field and competing. Now that I’m a mentor, strategizing and helping the drivers/pit crew keep their cool and attack the game to the best of their ability is the most fun part to me.
QFT. Favorite part by far post-student career has been volunteering with, imo, the best dang crew this side of the Mississippi. It’s great getting to hang out with some seriously awesome people, and help give back to a program that gave me so much to boot too.
no… sorry but that not why were there
Winning is part of the competition, Drew just happens to think that is the best part.
I also enjoy winning, I’m competitive so I find it enjoyable. As a student I loved each and every 2 minute 30 second match, no matter the outcome. I still enjoy that as a drive coach now.
Our team has been trying to win a regional for a long time and we get better each year. Some team’s main goal is to field an extremely competitive robot (which IMO inspires students to pursue STEM) and I don’t see the problem with seeing satisfaction in seeing your hard work pay off by winning.
For me The most fun part is seeing how other people solved the same problem and explaining our robot to those who are interested. I like going around the pits on practice day and seeing what other people have made. When the robot is functioning and we are winning matches that’s pretty fun too.
My old team since there rookie year 2 years ago has been beaten out in the semifinals of our division at worlds by the same team lol (#180spam) but winning should be a side effect of being a well built and organized team
Well I’m glad you guys had the opportunity to go to world championships…
I agree that a having a well built team is important, but I don’t think that winning is a side effect of being organized or well built. Some HUGE teams win chairman’s award almost every year and don’t build the best robots. I think the biggest factor that helps you win is the robot. A team that analyzes the game well and makes a good robot has a much higher chance of winning.
The whole idealistic realization of meeting all the people you talk to over the years via email, phone,etc and putting a face to a name.
The competitive yet spirited nature that a Regional/District event holds.
The team bonding through build season into the competitions.
As a student so heavily invested in our team, my absolute favorite part is driving and finally seeing and feeling the satisfaction of building something from the ground up to fruition. This year I just cannot wait to drive our bot, and it’s not even built yet! Sure as a competitive person I love to win but just being out there driving has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life to date.
Being forced to make a mechanical fix that would normally take half an hour in just five minutes because of a tight match turnaround.
+1
This for me, especially at DCMP’s. You cant beat the crowd there, and it feels amazing.
For me, the best part of comp is seeing how new members get hooked on competing and cheering for their robot. The change from a tired “we just drove for an hour at 6 am” feeling to that of excitement and energy is awesome. More generally just seeing some of the crazy stuff other teams come up with 
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