I felt that the young ladies that sang the National Anthem on Saturday Morning deserve a standing ovation for their arrangement and performance of the National Anthem.
I go to a lot of sports events and have heard the National Anthem performed in 100s of different ways. When it is done well, I get goose bumps. These girls gave me goose bumps and left me a bit teary eyed. By far one of the single best renditions of the song I have ever heard.
I think they were from Fresno, CA but can’t remember a team number.
If anyone knows them, please give them a high-5 from me. Excellent job, ladies!
At first, I thought the “BLOWN AWAY” was literal–I heard it from the pits, and the volume had been set to 11 (either bumped by accident or set without checking). So it was a little painful to listen to, but only because it was literally dangerously loud. (We texted our point of contact for the Robot Service Center, and this was remedied a minute or two after the anthem.)
But yes, they were fantastic! Give them the standing invitation for future years.
Yes, the girls are from Fresno, CA, Team 3303. Our safety captain, Abigail Callis, and her three younger sisters. I cry every time they sing it. And I don’t mind admitting that after hearing from Matt Reeves and finding this thread, I am shedding a couple tears this morning, as well.
I’m a mentor on Team 3303, and I’ve heard the Callis sisters sing at CVR twice, LAR once, a football game, and at least 10 other times standing right next to them, I even heard them sing it in a minor key. It literally gets better and better for me each time.
A bit of background, last year they contacted FIRST to see if they could try out to do the national anthem at champs (it was our teams first year qualifying) but FIRST said it was too late. This year they bought plane tickets right when 3303 qualified and sent an email to FIRST before they knew if they sing the anthem or not. FIRST replied and told them that they already had contracted a group to do it for Championships (it was the kid’s choir you might remember from closing ceremonies). A little bit discouraged, one of the four sisters still hand-made some really amazing costumes and they made arrangements to join the team in Houston. Our team heard the recording of the national anthem that FIRST played to kick off Thursday and knew our girls could do better. So we got to work talking to people at FIRST until we got to Blair, one of the coordinators for the fields. Fortunately, Blair heard us out and pulled some strings for them to sing on the Galileo field Saturday morning. We had no clue that it was also being broadcast in the pits, every other field and on the Livestream. They sang, and then we realized that everyone had heard! Their trip out to Champs wasn’t in vain and Team 3303 is proud to share our favorite singers with what ended up being teams from all over the world. So thank you to FIRST leadership that allowed them to sing, and thank you all for your kind words.
Also, you may have noticed the salute at the end, saluting has become an integral part of Team 3303’s image and unity. We salute our drive team in the beginning of each match, we salute as our robot is climbing, we salute teams that have won prestigious awards, and we salute after the Callis sisters has sung the national anthem.
Agreed.
I listen to the national anthem quite a bit at school rallies,sporting events, etc. It typically is an avenue for the singer to try to show off. And that is very off-putting.
The anthem at Houston was impressive, but not in any showy fashion.
Team 8 has a similar story that is however more anticlimactic. Our ensemble, which included an instrumental backdrop, performed at Ventura and SVR. When we qualified for champs we too inquired about performing, and were also told there was no opportunity. So, we did not bring our instruments.
Suffice it to say that some of my students were a bit salty when treated to Thursday morning’s generic anthem recording.
Too bad for FIRST, since our lead singer was also a Dean’s list winner. Such a perfect PR thingy — I bet we could have worked in all the Dean’s list winners — even if not at the highest level of singing quality, that would have been really neat to witness. Ah, but we did not know then who was going to win… so … all the finalists! Impromptu choir! I bet it could work! Who wants to coordinate a Dean’s list finalists perform the national anthem at Champs?
Meanwhile…
I am glad someone got to perform Friday — I personally missed it but I understand it was delightful.
A bit off topic, but I miss the years when FIRST got Jesse McGuire to play the anthem. Hearing him play it was the one time I’ve ever been truly floored by a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.
There was a man who sang the national anthem at the Long Island Regional who absolutely blew me away. He was in the military if I recall correctly. Phenomenal.
