Wednesday, March 6. 2013
Thursday, February 28, gave way to the start of the Finger Lake Regionals. Also better known around here as FLR. These competitions continued through Friday and most of Saturday. They started out on Thursday with only essential team members and of course, the robots! Friday saw the dawn of the qualification matches. The whole team got up bright and early to catch a bus to go over to RIT. Like always, we arrived a bit early and had to wait. That’s okay though, because we were able to practice our cheering for the judges.
They finally opened the doors at eight o’clock and we all rushed in. Though we had to be a little civilized for the judges. We quickly found seats in the top few rows and started laying out all our scouting equipment. We were fortunate enough this year to have prototypes of Harris tablets. We waited around and got to meet other teams before the opening ceremonies began. I don’t know about anyone else, but I got a lot of buttons!
Angry Eric came to the field and the ceremonies began. And after that was all over . . . . Let the games begin! Each team was randomly paired with two other robots in an alliance. The whole goal of the game was to get more points than the other alliance. Whether it be through shooting Frisbees, defending, or climbing the pyramids.
Unfortunately our robot decided it didn’t like competing, though our drive team was excellent under pressure. We couldn’t have asked for anyone better.
While they were all driving or scouting, the rest of us got to cheer on our friends and our teammates. Not to mention go down to the pits and get more buttons. Most of the team members went wild with the help of Tess with face paint, hair spray and hair chalk. Bright red hair and camo faces helped to pick us out from a crowd. Not to mention our normal uniform.
Friday ended with an award ceremony. Larry got the Woodie Flowers award and Cianna was named a Dean’s List finalist. I don’t think I’ve ever cheered louder in my life! They definitely both deserved it.
Saturday came with an even earlier awakening and off we went to repeat yesterday’s process. Waiting, talking, cheering, Angry Eric, and opening ceremony. We finished off the qualification rounds and began the eliminations rounds with the alliance picking. The top eight teams got to pick two others that they thought would help them the best. Though Rolling Thunder was not chosen, being a spectator was more fun that I had anticipated.
Cheering on our friend and teams, screaming support until we couldn’t talk or breathe. It was so much fun, and so tiring! Saturday ended and we got the Gracious Professionalism award! Running and high fiving the judges was awesome! Then, sadly, Saturday ended and we all had to go home. But we’ll be ready for Boston, you can count on that!
