Team 48 continued it's second year of preseason classes to teach it's new students the fundamental skills they would need during the build and competition season as well as sharpening the skills of the veteran team members. These classes proved to be valuable in the 2004 season because the mentors and veterans members could focuses on the important tasks at hand rather than teaching the new members things they could have learned in the preseason. Through these classes we have passed on the importance of safety in the shop, the proper way to use equipment from large machinery to video cameras. At the end of these classes a final was given to every team member, rookie and veteran alike. This final test tested the students on their knowledge of our team, F.I.R.S.T., and safety in the shop.
For the eight year our team gathered into our school library to view the long awaited 2005 F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Kick-Off. The veterans came in like they had been through this a hundred times and were ready to do it again. Yet as for the rookies it was a whole new experience and just got better every minute. The team members listened intently as the F.I.R.S.T. officials gave hints and teased us with bits and pieces of the game. After what seemed to be an eternity, the game, "Triple Play", was announced. The veterans seem excited and overwhelmed all at the same time, on the other hand, the rookies saw it as a game of 3D Tic-Tac-Toe with robots, but we had no idea what was in store for us during the next few months. That night the teachers and mentors told us to go home and think about what we had seen and what kind of robot we could make to be as competitive as possible.
Well this past weekend was the first regional for Team 48 and it turned out to be a very successful competition. We didn't do as well as we'd like on the field, where we finished as the 14th seed with a 5-4-1 record, but we made a lot of progress in the pit. Team 291 picked us to join them in their alliance as well as team 49 and together we were able to climb to the semi-finals where we were defeated by the regional winners. During the awards ceremony, we were given the new FIRST Safety Award. Our team was able to come home from Pittsburgh with valuable knowledge about how to move forward through the rest of the season and we can't wait for the remaining competitions.
The Buckeye Regional started out like any other regional; however, by the end of the weekend it had become a regional none of us would ever forget. After working out some technical difficulties on Thursday night, we were ready to go Friday morning. There was enough team spirit to go around even before we got out of the parking lot, with each team yelling out cheers of are own, you can tell we were ready to compete For anyone who has never been to a robotics regional you just could not imagine the excitement and adrenaline throughout the building. Overall we did fairly well in the competition before losing in the quarterfinals.
During Friday night's awards ceremony we had a surprises in store for us. As a representative of the Web Team, it was the best surprise of the night when the announcer proclaimed Team 48 the winners of the Website Award.
It came down to the last award of the night and although we knew we had a chance of winning the Chairman's Award, we tried not to get our hopes up just in case we did not get it. In a recognition that seemed to take an eternity, once we figured out we had won, the announcer called Team Number 48 down to the field to claim the 2005 Buckeye Regional Chairman's Award. After recovering from the shock of winning we made our way down; when we gathered for our photo there was not a dry eye on the team, including our coach Mr. Neifer. This proved to be the most emotional day of our robotics lives and surely not one we would forget any time soon.
The Greater Toronto Regional always had been a great regional for Team 48. On Thursday, our scouters were out making their detailed observations of the other 65 teams there.
Friday's matches went very well for our robot and our alliances. Our promotions team was out passing out our give-a-ways, which included the very popular flashing button! Our scouting and drive team met to discuss what teams they felt would be good alliance partners.
Saturday we packed our luggage onto the bus and headed to the Hershey Centre for our final day of the regional. Opening ceremonies were short that morning. Our scouters quickly made some final observations about the teams we had listed for alliance selection. We ranked fourth at the end of qualification matches which got us to a point we weren't used to this year. We put together a great alliance of teams 48, 1503, and 84, which we thought could go all the way. Our alliance was doing an awesome job. Then finally the finals came and we were put up against the number one alliance of 1114, 1305, and 1511. Match one of the finals was nerve-wracking, and unfortunately our alliance took a close loss. The second match of the finals turned out to be very exciting. We chose an aggressive combination of offense and goal-blocking defense to attempt to limit the scoring of the opposing alliance. Our teams were on their feet, shouting their lungs out - jumping and screaming over each goal we capped. We knew every tetra capped would be needed, as would good defense, for we were outgunned by the opposing alliance offensively. The final match was over and from the looks of it; it was going to be a close one. We all stood in the stands, waiting for the score to pop up on the screen. The time came and the scores were posted. It had to have been the closest match out of all 3 days of competition, but we lost by a single point. We were all thrilled that we made it as far as we did in the Greater Toronto Regional, and we were all happy that we would be taking home at least a silver mental. After the scores were posted we chanted our team cheer, Delphi..E.L.I.T.E.! The day definitely ended well for Team 48, and the Greater Toronto Regional was again a great trip for our team - even after we had to drive through a blizzard to get home!
