As a rookie team attending the Wisconsin/Milwaukee Regional, 4531 had a lot of great moments. Besides getting overly excited anytime the announcers mentioned us and winning Rookie All-Star, my favorite moment was a match where we were allied with 2077 and 1091.
In queue, we noticed that none of us had working shooters, except for one team that could score 6 points in autonomous, and that we were matched against teams that had been pretty high-scoring. We quickly realized that two of our robots had 10 point hangs and one had a 20. There was a possibility that if all three robots/drive teams managed to play good defense, we’d have a slim shot at winning. Before the robots were placed on the field, each drive team member and media person put their hands in and shouted “1, 2, 3… Blue Alliance!”
Our alliance came out victorious by 3 points, but I love this moment because of the collaboration between the drive teams and the intense “we can do this” feeling.
I personally had that same feeling at an offseason event called battlecry last year. The eliminations are set up as a 16 alliance tournament, and we were on the 11th alliance with 175 and 716. We ended up beating the 6,3, and 2 seeds before falling in the finals to the 1 seed. Every match was intense and we had so much fun.
Hey! Loved you guys at Wisconsin, you guys really mastered the steampunk look! Looking forward to seeing you in St. Louis (Congrats on the Rookie All-Star Award!), and next year in Milwaukee!
For my part; Not much can top winning the Regional Chairman’s Award of course. But if I had to pick something else, I think it was when the robot totally wrecked itself during our last practice match, due to some untested code, and our drive team really stepping up to the plate, staying until 8:00 to fix it, and having it run perfectly the next morning.
My favorite moment this year was when we were going into our first seeding round on Saturday after having an awful and unlucky day on friday. I found out that we were on an alliance with one of my friend’s team and was determined not to let his team down considering their robot had started to work really well in recent rounds. Let’s just say that was our one and only round that we were personally 3 for 3 in the high goal for autonomous and we made several full court goals. It was the first time that our robot was working to its full potential and I got to share the excitement and memory with not only my drive team but also a good friend too! Oh and when I being named a Dean’s List finalist wasnt too bad of a memory either
STEMpunk, you were awesome at Wisconsin! Can’t wait to see how you grow in the future! Good luck at Championships
As for my favorite Regional Moment (I am not sure if you just meant this year, or in history? I will assume history, and if it is an incorrect assumption I can delete my post :P)… It is a really close tie between two.
The first was my Freshmen year on the team (2008). Having one returning mentor, and one returning member on the team made us feel like “The Rookie Team that Wasn’t”. Looking back now, we really had no clue what we were doing. Oddly though, it was probably my favorite year as coach on the drive team because we really enjoyed the moment for what it was. Every match was so much fun, regardless of whether we were winning or not. Even though our robot was very simple, we were proud of what we had done and soaked in every moment of the competition. As the years have gone on our team has improved, and pressure has increased on our team to win awards and secure a ticket to Championships. I feel that it becomes easy to forget those first moments we were exposed to the pure awe that is a FIRST event and that we need to remember that simple spark.
I also could not consider a favorite moment without recalling the momentous gift my team and the Wisconsin Regional judges gave to me by nominating me for the Dean’s List. As they began to announce the award, I sat comfortably in my chair at the arena completely unsuspecting, wondering what incredible actions they would describe for the two winners. At that point in my FIRST career I had accepted that our team did not get awards, and we should just be happy for what amazing accomplishments other teams make and continue aspiring to them. When they called my name, everything went blank. I could not hear anything and everything around me was incredibly surreal. Someone had to help me and point me where to go. I somehow managed to glide down to the stage (I will never know how!). Never having gone on the field to accept an award before with our team, it was truly a magical experience. I walked onto that field in front of too many people to count in a silly Burger King crown (from the team social the night before) with the largest grin my face could handle. I looked like a complete idiot, but I couldn’t have been happier. I wish I had a better memory of the whole event, because it was probably one of the most momentous in my life, but everything was such a blur it is difficult to recall. All I can say is that it was such a precious gift my team gave to me, I can never thank them enough. I hope teams continue to nominate students for the Dean’s List, because you never know what can happen.
My favorite moment? The Semi-finals at the Alamo Regional along with our alliance captain 1477 and 1st pick 624. That was an awesome 3 matches, even though our alliance fell, it was an awesome matches
Eliminations matches in Spokane. The crowd was great but the matches were all ours to loose. We knew that and channeled all of our energy into working as a team, which led us to advance through some close matches to play in the finals. Finals match 1 was particularly memorable. I was standing in the unprotected loading zone listening to debris hit the plexiglass as team Mean Machine shot the top of our shooter to bits. I found myself cheering them on!
My favorite moment was probably when we won Sacramento. That, or at SVR, when 1662 managed to push one of their fallen alliance partners back up. Gotta love that.
When our robot finally fed another one at competition, in our last match, we were super ecstatic, as it proved that our robot could do what it was designed to do. This was, unfortunately, our last match, so it was a short lived victory, but we cherished it all the way.
Every match watching our 30 point climber begin its autonomous ascent of the tower and watching it get faster as the season progressed!
Winning the Pine Tree regional was exceptionally emotional. Our team has really rallied after a less than desirable run at GSR. A lot of elbow grease, late nights, and dedication by our students was put in to get our robot to where it is. We went into the weekend expecting to do well (in that our robot would actually be shooting) but we did even better than our time on our practice field and with rookie drivers too. Making it through the quarters, semis, and finals was emotional but finally taking home a gold was the icing on the cake and not expected after the season we had but it goes to show where hard work can get you!! Seeing the scores go up after Finals match 3 is a moment I will never forget!
For me personally, my favorite moment was at Palmetto this year and being the first seeded team. While our robot wasn’t the best, some lucky scheduling allowed us to go undefeated in qualifications. This year was the first time I’ve gone to eliminations since my freshman year in high school. I was pretty ecstatic about being undefeated through quals and being the 1st seed team.
Match 25 at Razorback was my favorite so far, but there are so many great moments. Our shooter piston was literally in pieces 5 minutes before the match. We tightened the last screw as the buzzer went off from match 24. We ended up scoring 74 points and narrowly winning 126 to 116. The night before we had rated our matches on a difficulty scale of 1 to 5 and we rated that match a 6. It took a while for my heart rate to come back down after that one.
Equally amazing was earning our way to Champs via the first ever wild card. It was an amazing experience and I can’t wait for St. Louis. I’m often in disbelief that I get to do this as part of my job.
After a long practice day at Crossroads back at the hotel I was giving a pep talk to the team to get them ready for the next day. I asked them who are we going to cheer for tomorrow? Several of my students said “Everyone!” This caught me off guard, I was expecting the team numbers of our partner teams and friends. Just shows what a great bunch of kids I have and the values that FIRST is helping to instill in them.
Basically, several were injured in the shooting. The Petersen Center (which the regional is held) was a prime location to shelter the patients in the hospital. Amongst the turmoil, the SWAT team was called in to secure the surrounding area. The greatest act I’ve seen at a FIRST Regional is the thoughtless acts of volunteering to load in the witnesses, injured, and non-effected patients into the venue. Busses were packed with the patients, which pulled up to the loading bay where just days before we loaded in our robots. Mentors and FIRST Volunteers alike dropped their tools and picked up both stretchers and cots.
And that, is my favourite moment EVER at a regional.
Gotta love that.