With people recently taking to the fourms to talk about the few cases of possible injustice in competitions, and the controversy surrounding some refs for the competitions, I realized that we ignored all of the good people and things in VEX competitions. For example, at a recent competition, an opposing alliances team’s robot commuted a rule violation, the refs were great, they heard out both sides of the argument and made a final decision quickly and justly. I think that we all have a tenancy to focus on the bad and not the good. So, I open it up to everyone else, think about one (or more) good thing that you saw or experienced as a VEX competitor, and feel free to share it. Thank you for taking the time, and please, seriously think about it, I find that we all have a more positive experience when we put things behind us and focus on the good in something. Especially with worlds coming up, many are under a lot of stress, and it would probably be best that we all take the time to think about even the smallest good thing. It may sound cliche, but perhaps it is time to focus on the great people and things that go into a competition, which often get ignored. Thanks again.
How about the fact that so many events are volunteer-run, created for the students to come together, learn, and have fun? Events aren’t easy to run (or so I’ve heard), and it’s huge that so many are willing to put in the time and effort required to make it happen.
Every event I have ever been to I see teams helping other teams out with parts or programming issues. It has been one part of why I love being a part of it. The students support each other.
The bonds you make with other teams is very satisfying. One of our team’s cortex caught fire at AR State Championship. Luckily, a team we had met at a previous tournament was gracious enough to loan us a cortex. If it wasn’t for this team, our “B” team couldn’t have made it to Worlds!
The fact that there is so much integrity at the events makes me want to give it my all, for the benefit of all the teams there and the people arranging the event. And I feel like practically all the other teams feel that way also.
In my area most of the refs and judges a great people and are as excited about the game as we are and when stupid things happen you can usually laugh about it with them.
Also all the kids that help with field setting, It’s great to see them having fun and most likely in the future they will join the robotics program. I know thats how I got into robotics.
Seeing the teams that put something fun into their robot. Like the robot that plays Darude Sandstorm or Bill Nye. Talking to someone you’ve never met before and having a blast doing it.
Exactly! I am so annoyed at posts of teams proclaming “Injustice in the RECF”, and I completely agree that we should focus on the good parts of VEX competitions. Just coming from a first year team where we’d have competitions where we lost EVERY qualification match, it was still a fun time. Things happen. For me, my wins are just as fun as the time my claw falls off my robot, or when my Plan A,B,C,D, and E for alliances all fail (long story).
I guess what I’m trying to say is that every part of a competition is a satisfying experience. And while it can be frustrating and sad when all of your efforts fail, I go through it with my team, friends, and family, and it just pushes me to learn more about STEM and to do better in the future.
In other words, failure in VEX has not thought me to give up, but instead to pick yourself up and try again. To find a way around your obstacles. These failures have given me the resolve to stay positive through the worst. That’s not to say I don’t care about success. When I was in season, I stress-cried all the time with my mentor. But that doesn’t change the fact that losing and winning in VEX this year was hands-down the most positive experience of my life. Period.
Something that has been really good about Colorado is the fact that teams will call timeouts for each other in finals matches to make sure that everyone has the ability to compete to the best of their ability.
I remember during quals at Worlds, when we had a suuuuper janky bot that had to be carried most of the time, and we were paired up with the Harambots (by far the best team name I’ve ever seen). At one point, we were particularly overwhelmed by the opposing team scoring on us, and the Harambot flipped over. Somehow, I (as the driver) made my way over to their robot, slipped the claw under their back, and flipped them back over. With a high hang and further scoring, we won that match. It was epic.
Thank you all for contributing, it means a lot to me and I bet many others to look at vex and see the unity and fun associated.
Also, the VEX forum is a great example of this, a community of hundreds upon hundreds coming together to help each other, learn from each other, and just have fun together.