I wish I had written this last Saturday, when it was all fresh in my mind, but I’m hoping that the enthusiasm of the day will carry forward into this account.
For those who weren’t there on Saturday, Team 4180 — The RoboRiders — was monstrously successful, and it was a blast!
We were 4-7-0 in matches and finished 33 / 45 in our division. We scored basket points, balancing points, and cooperation points and competed in all 11 of our scheduled matches. Many FIRST people told me that that last fact alone is an awesome accomplishment for a rookie team.
In addition, we are intensely proud of Team 4180, in no small part because this was truly a team effort. Over the course of the three days, I saw a very dedicated, very focused, very excited group of engineers really pulling together and operating as a unit. I often just stood back and watched the work unfolding.
A frenzy of repairs, strategy, talking, helping, cooperation, and learning. And then time for another match and to roll the robot out of the pit and over to the field.
“ROBOT! ROBOT!”
In addition, one thing I noticed about a lot of the bigger, more experienced, and better financed teams was that they had beautifully outfitted pits, well-designed, very fancy carts, awesome outfits and marketing materials, and of course impressive robots. But many times as you looked in their pit, you saw a lot of mentors doing a lot of the work with not so many students in evidence. We can say with great certainty that our student team definitely did all of this themselves. Mentors and coaches helped, supported, guided, and pitched in, but never took over. That is worth many bonus points in my book.
Thanks to all the family and friends and Mr. Vance who came out to support us on Saturday. I wish I had been better about documenting the days in photos, but it was pretty all-consuming just being there. I hope we can collect good photos from lots of our visitors and assemble an album.
Your coaches and mentors graciously congratulate all of you on the success of Team 4180!
We’re already looking forward to next year.