Well, I am not sure how people view this… After all, different teams have different goals.
But really, why do every team want to go to Nationals so badly? Well, a few obivious answers came to my mind: To become the best of the country, to meet every other teams, to attend the award ceremony…
But when FIRST go infinitly larger, how are teams going to meet every other teams? With the division last year, team’s area of contact is already cut down to a little bit more than 1/4 since they are all so busy with the competition anyway… So, that is already limited no matter what happen to Nats.
So, what’s the point of going to Nats? If we are participating in a competition, then shouldn’t it make sense to be the winner… or should it?
If awards aren’t the most valuable thing in this competition, then why attend to the award ceremony? Why bother to spend all these money to go to a really hot and crowded place and fight for something with 300 other teams? Why not just take what you already gain and be settle with them? Do teams really want to be recognized so badly?
Is it because of the vacation? Is it because of the rides?
Do we feel the need to be physically in a really large group of people (who have the same goal as ours) in order to realize that we are doing something bigger than anything in our lives?
*Originally posted by Ken Leung * …But really, why do every team want to go to Nationals so badly?..If awards aren’t the most valuable thing in this competition, then why attend to the award ceremony? Why bother to spend all these money to go to a really hot and crowded place and fight for something with 300 other teams? Why not just take what you already gain and be settle with them? Do teams really want to be recognized so badly?..
My first instinct over all this is to rant and rave. My second to steam quietly and think, and the third…well, I haven’t gotten that far yet.
But as for the awards, I’m going to answer your question with one of my own Ken.
Why bother? I think we should ask the rookies why they bother. Or the teams with little to no funding, no engineers, and lets face it - a very very slim chance at coming out as #1 in the country. Why do they bother every year???
Ever talk to some of these teams? They come because they have the spirit to try…and really for me, that’s what FIRST was always about. I have the sinking feeling that now, now the Epcot Invitational will have something vital lacking…
Going to nationals is one of the biggest adrenalin rushes I’ve ever felt, and my tea didn’t even do well, at all. It’s mob mentality in a positive light. The same reason football fans go to the Super Bowl, even when their team isn’t playing. It’s the feeling of being involved in something of that magnitude. Even if your team doesn’t make it to finals it’s fun to sit and yell and scream for another team. My feeling is that if you leave nationals with a voice you did something wrong.
Why bother? I think we should ask the rookies why they bother. Or the teams with little to no funding, no engineers, and lets face it - a very very slim chance at coming out as #1 in the country. Why do they bother every year???
Ever talk to some of these teams? They come because they have the spirit to try…and really for me, that’s what FIRST was always about. I have the sinking feeling that now, now the Epcot Invitational will have something vital lacking… **
Well, there you go. This seems like a really good reason to go to Nats. Teams (especially rookie teams)will be inspired by a high goal such as Nats, and challenge themselves to the limit, trying to get themselves to do good in Nats, maybe even get a taste of winning awards. And winning isn’t the most important if teams have tried their best, or even double their best to do so well…
I am sorry if my original message came out as really negative. What I was getting at is that people should think about the different values of Nationals.
There are times when sometimes when people say “winning is not important”, they are forgetting the benefits when teams are trying to “win” the competition… And then, when people say that they want everyone going to Nats, well… I want to ask: “Why is that?” I am not trying to hint that their opinions are wrong, but rather just curious about the origin of their statement.
Then, if they say something like: “Every teams should have a chance to meet other teams”, well then, I am going to question: “Is that really possible?” And so on…
I really want people to think about what they want to get out of Nationals, and why they think that. And maybe at the end, we can form a few statements that really represent what we are feeling, and presentable to FIRST and staff.
I guess I really am very much a FIRSTer in that I really look foward to nats, year after year. I started going to nats in seventh grade when my team first started in 1998.
I love it from the beginning. I have to be honest that I will still go and probably have still a good amount of fun if my team winds up not going. I have enough friend’s teams who may take me in as their own and let me root for their bot in competition, which is about as involved with my own team that I am at nats each year.
I mainly look foward to nationals becuase it lets me see my friends I know from all over and just for the thrill of hoping that some team will win (which usually is my own team until we get knocked out and i begin to root for the underdog).
I know that I will still go to nats, but the idea of my team not going as a team is upsetting. I just hope that everyone else focuses on that chance that we may still get to go, not that we may not. And that the freshies and newbies will work hard along with us veterans to make it so that we can enjoy attending nats as a team.
~Angela who strayed off-topic, but knows it’s alright
Originally posted by Ken Leung *
**
…I am sorry if my original message came out as really negative. What I was getting at is that people should think about the different values of Nationals. …*
Ken, really it didn’t - I was still rather emotional over the whole limiting system when I replied.
I had the honor of being with two very different, yet equally incredible teams this past National. One, brought home the divisional gold - the other, hearts full of memories, and the simple knowledge of a job well done. I could not say one was better than the other. I met kids I hadn’t known before, watched them cheer for their team, felt their agony in defeat - found great friends in late nights at the hotel.
This year, I spent time simply sitting at the top of Einstein and observing. I watched the robots battling it out on the field, I saw the ever growing conga lines down on the astroturf. I saw people in teams shirts that spanned the rainbow mixing, making friends.
Sure, the winning is a part of FIRST, a part of Nationals. But there’s a spirit at Epcot when we are all there together. FIRSTers seem to share something unique, I’ve never been quite able to put my finger on it. It’s the mix of east and west coasts, US and abroad, girls and boys, north and south. Rookie and veteran. It’s a mix of all of us that makes Nationals even more unique than any regional. I only hope that that same feeling will remain with so many teams left behind.
Ken-
Teams go to Florida because its the big show. Teams try their very best in order to compete and to have their faces shown in Florida. For some, Florida means everything to them. I think limititing the qualification to Florida will make some teams very upset and some people may lose faith in FIRST. “This is not a way to expand FIRST by cutting down on teams.” I just hope that they figure something out so that everyone has a chance to go to Florida this year.
I must agree with a few of the previous posts. Last season, I experienced FIRST in 2 regional competitions and at Nationals. And I must say that they were all some of the most exciting moments in my life. FIRST does a great job keeping the level of excitement equal to the amount of hard work and dedication all of the teams put into the bot. Even if my team had not done as well as we did, I think meeting other teams, hearing inspirational speeches, and finally competing right at Epcot was a life altering experience. It even steered me to my chosen career path in mechanical engineering which I will most likely persue at Rose-Hulman Inst. of Tech. Nats is not about the awards, or even solely the competition, its about changing lives.
Well, I guess I’ll be the lone dissenter. I’ve gone to many different regionals over the past 5 years and the Nationals twice.
I have never understood the draw of Nationals. To me, they are big, unwieldy, and impersonal. They are chaotic, exhausting, and somewhere down the bottom of the list I’d put fun. The crowds at the Nats are always rotating in and out of seats after every match, I don’t like that. It seems like people watch their robot and take off. The whole thing seems so transient.
I enjoy the smaller venues of the regionals. I enjoy the personal atmosphere. I enjoy seeing the same teams every year, with a few new ones to make things interesting. The crowds at the Regionals are always intense, probably exaggerated by the smaller venues. You have all that energy and excitement bottled up. The spectators sit down and watch for the whole day. I feel like we’re putting on a show.
Probably my favorite point on the Regionals, FIRST is the center of attention at every single Regional. There are no other distractions. At the Nats, Disney takes the main stage, and FIRST just seems like a side show there, and that’s exactly what it is.
I guess I like being a big fish in a small pond. I also prefer watching a band play at bar rather than in a stadium. Probably just me though.
*Originally posted by jasoni * Well, I guess I’ll be the lone dissenter. I’ve gone to many different regionals over the past 5 years and the Nationals twice.
You’re not the lone dissenter. For the past few months, I’ve been expressing my feelings that Nats are not as fun as regionals. But I could never get my point across as well as you did.
I too like the atmosphere of Regionals over Nats. At Regionals, people mostly stay in the stands and watch all the matches, but at Nats people only show up to see their team, if at all. The excitement at Regionals is also missing at Nats.
So why do I go to Nats? (in no particular order) To see other teams robots, to see people I know from other teams, to watch the matches, and of course to win.
