A Senior's Reflections on FIRST World Championship in Houston
This was it. My last competition on my robotics team. I had been anticipating the trip to the FRC Houston World Championship the entirety of the year. The bus ride down was just a 10 hour excuse for me to be anxious while I awaited the competition. When we finally made it to Houston, I was thrilled. Driving in Houston may be miserable, but the location truly made the World Championship feel as grand as I always wanted. The George R. Brown Center has always been a great location in my mind to host over 400 FRC teams as well as the FTC, FLL, and FLL Jr. programs.
The GRB Convention Center brought back fond memories from the previous year of giant Jenga tournaments with other teams, achieving the high score on our field, and being surrounded by countless friends from other teams. I knew this was a place full of members of the community that had shaped my life. Everyone there had similar interests and goals. Everyone there had a different talent to change the world in the future. FRC has always been a competition unlike any other in the world, and I have always been thankful to be a part of it.
The first day was a blessing because we were able to rest in our hotel rooms after the long bus ride and even sleep in the next morning. Wednesday was a great day to re-familiarize ourselves with everything’s location, spend time bonding with my team at my last competition, and then pit scout some of the teams. Pit scouting is one of my favorite ways to interact with other team members, see their robots, and maybe even talk with them about their community outreach and learn for the future.
Thursday is when the real competition began. We were awoken at 5 A.M., which roughly translates to “too early”; and unfortunately for me, we would continue this trend of rising early for the duration of the trip. We left for the convention center and played our first 5 practice matches. We also were able to go to the party with all of the other teams that night. It was a great experience like the year prior, though we were not able to continue our tradition of 90 minute Jenga games. Our team was able to “dance” at the Silent Disco and serenade Dean Kamen with our rendition of 5541’s parody song, Deanlicious.
The next day was rougher. We lost several of our qualification matches that we did not expect to lose. It was a disappointing feeling to underperform to our expectations, but we did not let it discourage us. That night, myself and the other scouts stayed awake until one in the morning for our scouting meeting, as if I had not already been running off of low sleep.
Saturday morning we were chosen for our alliance and were, unfortunately, knocked out of the tournament during quarterfinals. I was sad to go out so soon, but I knew we had played to the best of our abilities. I am anxiously awaiting what the team will create next year.
While the results were overall upsetting, I knew the event had been a great learning and bonding experience for everyone present. We were even able to celebrate as a team at the Main Event that night before our long return trip to Searcy. I am happy that I was able to spend this trip with my team, who has really become my family. My only hope is that all other teams were as happy to experience the event as I was. I expect great things in the future and I want to return to mentor because of the impact FRC and events like the World Championship have had on my life. I am thrilled to be a part of great community like FIRST and I am anxiously awaiting returning to competitions as a mentor or a spectator.
We love our sponsors!
