As the first person [strike]suckered into[/strike] [strike]drafted for[/strike] assigned to the Defense Coordinator role, I had a lot of feedback to share with FIRST HQ. Some of it was bugs (as those who follow me on Twitter saw), some of it was just display improvements.
But you know what really gnawed on me after the fifteenth time?
“I’d like the teeter-totter…”
“That one!” (points)
“I’d like the rock wall, the rough terrain…”
“Wait, these aren’t the ones we go against?”
“Give me the (whatever the audience selection category is…)”
“We’d like the door.”
You’ve had six weeks, people! The number of times like this at Palmetto was surprising to me, since Palmetto is usually a decent regional. I was able to sort out everyone eventually, but your event [strike]may not[/strike] will not have me working this job! Here are your protips to make the DC at your event happy:
Know the defense names!
This alone was infuriating. I learned them at the same time you did. There are only eight you’re picking from. You have at least a few days. Bone up on this. Make flashcards. You really sound silly (at best) when you make up names. (Free pass on “shuffle the fries”, though.) - Have your picks ready!
The DC screen is organized to take picks from position 2-5, left-to-right. (1 is the Low Bar.) A lot of teams ended up putting, say, category B in 2, C in 4, and D in 5. You don’t have to do that at all, but it helps the flow immensely when you can reel them off in order. Most of the teams that were on point here had them written down on a board or tablet or paper. Check with the queuers at your event, but you probably want the alliance’s one representative (and please, just one because you totally have your act together, right?) to be at the front of your alliance’s line so you can go directly to the DC stand. - Don’t make us chase you down!
Know Section 5.5.10 and the deadlines in play. It will be even easier for DCs in later weeks to call up randoms than it was for me. It gets very hard in playoffs in particular; about half of our randoms for the whole regional were issued there. Have your gameplan ready. - Know the audience selection category.
It’s on your match schedule for a reason. It’s okay if you don’t know which defense got picked, because you don’t pick it anyway. Just know that you will irritate the DC and look pretty foolish if you pick from that category. - Understand the printout.
I didn’t take a picture of one, but the printout is always the defenses that will be on the far side of the field, starting in position 2 (because 1 is the low bar). On practice matches, they will also be the ones you selected. In qualification and playoff matches, they will be what the other alliance selected. Don’t overthink this, or you will confuse yourself. - When it prints, don’t ask for changes.
You won’t get them, because I’ve already given the bottom third of the sheet to the field supervisor so he can be ready with that match’s defenses to speed up match cycles.
Have fun out there, and take it easy on your DCs. They have a long day!
This is very helpful Bilfred thanks. We made a strategy board for this year where we can lay out defenses and I encourage all other teams do this as well. It only cost us about $20 for the printout at staples as we already had some lexan laying around.
Audience selection is done by the scoring table, and I have nothing to do with it. The three matches before it takes effect mean there’s enough time for the alliances to submit their picks knowing the winner.
Maybe asking the DC’s for the 10th defense won’t be as funny as I thought…
I’m assuming nicknames are fine as long as they make sense?
Cause I’ve been shortening the names since day 1…
Here are my (snarky) thoughts on the listed bad selections:
Did they also ask about whether they can triple balance too?
At least they pointed… some people assume you know what you’re looking at and thinking of. Just ask anybody that works a meat, fish, or deli counter at the grocery store.
They must have thought it was Burger King, as they wanted to have it their way. Did they also ask for $1.49 Nuggets and a side of onion rings?
Nicknames may be tolerated, as long as they are obvious and unambiguous. “Cheval” is. “Sally” is. “Port”, no. (Portcullis, or Sallyport?) “PC”, you’re getting a funny look until I figure it out–so just call it “portcullis” and be done with it!*
Training materials will be out this week. They just weren’t ready for Week 0.5. Lucky me! (Alex from FIRST had me up to speed on their system in a few minutes; the bigger challenge was dealing with some bugs and then the people. They’re fixing the former in Manchester, I’m fixing the latter here!)
I’m a reasonably astute person, and I would not catch this one without you pointing. Make it easy on the little old lady that will be assigned to your event, call it the portcullis.
Here is a printout from one of our matches from Week Zero. Correct me if I’m wrong but you receive this after both Red and Blue have submitted their selections to the DC. We did this in the que line two matches before ours (so double deck or in the hole however you want to say it).
I’ll echo Billfred when he says be prepared. At Week Zero we showed up into the que line and were immediately asked what we wanted so talk to your partners BEFORE you go to the que line.
That’s the one. (I think they abbreviated it to “QUAL”, but whatever.)
Palmetto stacked them two deep in the field area and a third match in the hole, and we would catch them going from the hole to Queue 2. They technically had until the buzzer of the match they spent in Queue 2, but the red alliance wasn’t coming back over without me escorting them back to get their picks in (and yes, I did that quite a few times). As soon as both picks were in, they got their printouts; we did not stress if we were early with that release as long as we were simultaneous (or as simultaneous as a cross-field walk allows), which appeared to be the intent of the rule from talking with Aidan.
Billfred, thanks for exhibiting GP while being the GP (in the second case it stands for Guinea Pig). I have been working to get our whole team knowing the proper defense names (OBTW to all, Cheval de Frise is pronounced Shevel duh Freeze, not Shovel duh Fries) with a bit of success, and I’ve even tried to adjust our mentee teams, probably with less success. We’ve also made it a bit of a point as to which defenses are the same category, even if we’ve been a bit slack on what the category letters are. By the time we get to Bayou, our drive team should be fully ready to specify appropriate defenses on the first try.
Edit, and not necessarily just for Billfred: OBTW, what’s the current story with the Cheval de Frise (CDF)? Is this expected to be fully available in coming weeks? I watched a number of Friday matches and saw the status that the CDF had been benched, but have not had time to watch many Saturday matches, though I have heard that the CDF re-appeared on Saturday.
One more thing I’ll add: On practice matches, you CAN select from the same category (but not more than one of any defense). This is intentional, so that your alliance can practice on any defenses you deem necessary. Use that to your advantage if you want, but don’t get used to that.
Upon seeing this thread, I thought that my team may be amongst those that are perhaps “defense challenged”, so I made a quick doc for them. Each row of the doc is a group, obviously, and they go in order - though I probably should have labeled them.
