Hello my name is Surya Arakere and I am the operator for Texas Torque and a current Junior. Since I am a Junior that means that I’ve never actually been through a full season and haven’t been able to experience this hype that is the World Championship. Just wanted to hear some of everyone’s favorite things about worlds and stuff to do while we do have that possible free time. Congrats to all teams who have made it and I am excited too see all the teams and compete next week.
5 Likes
The ̶d̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ hype of waiting for divisions to be revealed.
15 Likes
Talk to as many teams from outside of Texas that you can. The best part of the Championship experience to me is being able to see so many teams that you would typically never get to interact with!
15 Likes
- The FIRST merch is pretty sick
- Checking out other programs is really fun, especially the younger ones. They do some crazy/adorable stuff in lego league.
- The Innovation Fair is super cool, tons of cool tech to mess with
- Seriously seeing hundreds of super awesome teams under one roof watching 6 FRC regionals happening at once is so insanely cool
- Watching Einstein no matter who’s in it is a crazy experience, in 2019 the entire state of Wisconsin joined together and lost their minds cause one of our teams made it, it was a truly insane and amazing experience
6 Likes
Getting the phone notification was like getting a USPS notification that your Lego set was delivered.
Quickly followed by the dread of being in a division with 118 and 1678 where you’re likely the third wheel…
The free merch is pretty sick too, Kettering tshirt is easily top 10 of all the FRC related tshirts I own.
5 Likes
Congratulations, Surya! Worlds is a trip! It’s a treasure! It’s huge! It’s overwhelming–even for adults!
The most important advice: Take care of yourself. You’re little help to your team if you’re run down by mid-Friday. 
Everything is a distant walk, so the experience will physically wear on you. Wear good shoes. Get a good night’s rest every night. Eat. Stay hydrated!
Second: Accept now that you won’t be able to experience everything. There’s only so many hours in the day, and you’ve got a robot to operate. Take the advice others are giving you, but don’t sweat it if you don’t check off everything on the list this year.
Third: Take pictures. 
People, robots, places… there’s so much joy in and around that convention center, every photo bottles a little of it up. Looking them over a month or a year or a decade from now will remind you how it felt to be in the stands, in the pits, in queue, watching a bunch of people from some other team dancing to whatever happens to be playing at the moment out on the Discovery Green.
And don’t forget that you earned this! 
6 Likes
Go to conferences. It can be hard as a member of drive team, but there are some you can likely go to during practice matches or other times. It’s not just for the content of the presentations (though many are great!) but the experience of going to a large conference and networking which you may not get again until many years into your professional career.
1 Like
About the “stuff to do” part of the question…Texas Torque is nearly a Houston-native team just up the road in The Woodlands and Conroe, right? I’m guessing that your stuff to do question is more about stuff to do right there at the event rather than stuff to do around downtown Houston. If it actually is about stuff to do around downtown, how about catching an Astros game? They are in town during Champs week which is probably the reason that Einstein is at GRB this year rather than Minute Maid Park. If you haven’t walked in the downtown tunnels, that’s a fun thing to do. While enjoying the controlled climate, find an eclectic restaurant and enjoy some food you wouldn’t typically have. As long as it’s not raining, explore the Discovery Green park. Check out the gardens and the art and anything special that might be there during Champs week. Bring something to throw or kick and unwind from the competition stress.
If it’s things to do at the event, it looks like previous replies have provided some excellent advice. There is a unique opportunity to check out the most amazing robots in the world, but finding the time to see many of them will be tough if you are part of the drive team. Maybe you can make a last-minute change to pit scout 
to maximize your time with new people and new robots from all over the country and world.
Bring extra socks and change your socks halfway through the day
(I’m not joking, and if you are a veteran and have never tried this try it and get back to me)
3 Likes
Sit back, and just enjoy it. When I was a team captain in 2018 and we made the finals on Einstein, my biggest regret is not just savoring the moment more.
3 Likes
Honestly, as an alum reflecting three years out from being a student, the people I met and friends I made along the way are people I still talk to long after my time as a student. It can be hard to find time in between jobs and duties you have with your team but if you get a chance, walk around the pits, and talk to teams you admire and the ones you typically don’t see in competition. Heck, in a funny case of events, FRC is what put where I’m working this summer on my radar. Now I’m just trying to keep up with everyone I’m trying to catchup with in a span of 2.5 months 
Other than that, if it still exists in GRB, the Dippin Dots I think on the FTC level (top level) slap and I cannot recommend them enough.
3 Likes
HI, I’m Katelyn on Team SCREAM 4522 from Sedalia, Missouri and I hope I can meet you in person! First off, congratulations on qualifying! I am a senior in high school currently so I have only experienced Worlds one time. With that said I have been itching to get back to all of the fun being there! Definitely meet with other teams, especially those that aren’t from the US. Everyone is so friendly and fun! I absolutely love the hype at competition. Now what you have experienced at regionals/districts are only a little bit of the fun you’ll have. There is also a Innovation Faire that has a lot of cool things to go and check out that you don’t want to miss. I will warn you though, food inside is expensive so I would go out to eat at the mall which isn’t too far or eat at the food trucks outside which are a little cheaper. There also is a lot of walking so be prepared with some good walking shoes and maybe a drawstring bag to carry stuff in if you need it. I always say better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. You will have fun though so don’t stress too much about it. Main take away, go explore teams and other things to do while your there and make sure you take the time to relax.
This topic was automatically closed 365 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.