World Champion Series: Part 6 "Homeward Bound"

  The bus ride back seemed longer than the bus ride going there had, but not in a bad way. Everyone was so tired but also happy. We had built a robot in just six weeks that was good enough to attend two district competitions, the Indiana FIRST State Championship, and the FRC World Championship. Not to mention place 37th in the entire world. We wouldn’t figure that out for another couple of days. Pretty good for one season’s work. And a pretty good way to spend my last year on the team. Truthfully I’ll miss FIRST. There was one moment, on the bus, where I just sat back and realized everything that I had gained as a member of this team. All around me were people who were laughing and smiling and enjoying each other’s company

Leaving St. Louis after an exciting competition

At one end of the bus a group of students took turn playing Xbox while, at the other, a mass of people crowded around a little table for a marathon card game tournament. And not just students, mentors and parents too. In that moment I realized I guess I owe FIRST a lot. Not just in the academic aspects but also in memories and lifelong friends. Because everyone on that bus that night was nothing short of a best friend to me.

In case you missed part 5 "Einstein On The Edge" Check it out

World Championship Series: Part 5 "Einstein On The Edge"

Once each division had a victor, we packed up our pit and got a good seat for the finals. For these last eight alliances, they tore down all but two fields and called them Einstein. Never have I seen a more intense set of FIRST game played. These were the best eight alliances on the planet. There wasn’t a single team there that didn’t deserve a spot on Einstein and was good enough to show why. 

The Crowd Awaits Einstein

 One after another the finals were played and FIRST really pulled out all the stops. There even was a “Match Break” desk where two First officials would sit. Between every match, they would come on like sports casters and break down what happened in the last match. Reporters walked the two fields, getting interviews from the competing drive teams that would suddenly play for the whole stadium to see on the building sized screens. They even had cameras that would sweep across the packed house of cheering fans when a good dance song came on. That’s one of my all-time favorite things about FIRST: It doesn’t matter if you’ve lost, it doesn’t matter who it is that beat you, every team genuinely wants every other team to do the absolute best that they can no matter what. Good luck finding another sporting event where both sides want theiropponent to play their best, even in defeat.

Confetti From Above

In the end, it was the alliance from our division that would win it all. Confetti rained from the ceiling as the last official match of Recycle Rush came to a close and FIRST crowned a new world champion. As for our little team from Indiana, we loaded back onto the bus and said goodbye to St. Louis. It might be the last time for me, but I am sure with 100% confidence that the PhyXTGears will be back to St. Louis again. Or, at least wherever the World Championship is being held in the coming years.

Did you miss Part 4 "Glory Road"? Check it out! 

World Championship Series: Part 4 "Glory Road"

I will never forget my first time stepping onto Newton Field. I was our driver and was purely humbled by being able to be here and get to drive at St. Louis. Stepping onto the field was especially significant for me. This year, because we assumed each competition we attended would be our last, I never knew when it would be my last time on a real FRC field. I guess it was only fitting then that our first match was one of the worst we had ever played. It was time to come back to reality. We were here, but it was time to buckle down and do what we came to do: compete.

Over the next several days we rose through the rankings one match at a time, each one with seemingly a whole new set of challenges, rewards, and struggles. The low point of the qualifications came before they even started when we realized we were missing a key robot component and had to improvise a spare that we would then use throughout the competition. The high point was when we randomly got paired with the team that would go on to be the world champion and nearly broke the world record in number of points scored in a match. In the end, we made it to the top eight and held onto 6th. 

The Team Driving "Not Yet"

At alliance selection, we were hoping to be picked by a higher team but were also prepared to be Alliance Captains ourselves. The latter ended up being the case and we went into the quarterfinals of the Newton Division as the fifth Alliance Captain. We moved a condensed version of our pit into the Dome and prepared to see if we could go all the way. After a few matches in the quarterfinals, it was clear we would not move to the semis.

"Not Yet" in Action

Our best few matches were those last few, but we were simply not as good as the competition. And I don’t think a single person on our team, or on our Alliance Partner teams, was unhappy with how those last few matches turned out. We played our best and that was all that mattered. If you missed out on Part 3 "The Fields of Science" Check it Out!

World Championship Series: Part 3 "The Fields of Science"

The competition was held in the Edward Jones Dome, home of the Rams, with the pits in the America's Center. Our first challenge was offloading all of our tools and getting inside to set up our pit. Just like at every smaller competition, each team would get a 10 by 10 by 10 foot cube of space to set up a mini workshop called our “pit” where we would keep our robot in between matches and do any necessary repairs. Normally, the pits would fill a high school gym. Here, with 600 teams in attendance, we filled the America's Center. The only way to describe the size of this building would be to say that it took a good fifteen minutes to walk from one end to the other.

Edward Jones Football Stadium filled with eager competitors

 But nothing would compare to the size of the “Dome.” Eight different fields, eight different divisions, inside the Edward Jones Football Stadium. Each one named after a different famous scientist from history: Newton, Hopper, Tesla, Archimedes, Galileo, Curie, Carver, and Carson. Each field had its own massive LCD screen hanging above it where the match data would be displayed. Each field also had its own section of the stands where all the members of all the teams in each division would sit and cheer. Each field would be played on by the best teams from all around the world. We were no longer in a high school gym. We were at the World Championship. This was what it meant to go pro in FIRST.

Part 2 "Journey to St. Louis"
Part 4 " Glory Road"

World Championship Series: Part 2 "Journey to St. Louis"

We didn’t really start to realize this year was different until we got to our second competition in Kokomo. For the first time in my memory we were not only easily hold a spot in the top 8 during qualifications but we were fighting neck and neck for first place. We didn’t win at Kokomo, but we more than qualified to go to State Championships. We qualified in the top ten teams in Indiana.

The PhyXTGears at State

At State, our good fortunes continued. New robot upgrades and two competitions worth of practice paid off as we found ourselves easily holding the top 8 again and contemplating the possibility of being picked by the number one alliance captain. Still though, it didn’t seem real that we were going to St. Louis until they called our name and I went down to the field to get my picture taken with the other team representatives. We were going to Worlds. And I wasn’t day dreaming this time.

The team after learning that they would be going to Worlds!

The competition was in just a couple of weeks. We needed money, organization, and did I mention money? We had pulled together as a team to raise more than enough to go to State but World’s was another matter. Still, I don’t think anyone was very worried. The common opinion among everyone was that if money was the only thing standing in our way we would do anything necessary to raise it and that was that. The entire couple of weeks leading up to World’s was a blur. We did everything from buying a trailer and decorating it with custom vinyl graphics to writing a team “Bible” which every mentor would have a copy of for rules and general team information. We also owe a big thank you Tony Soverns and Scott Ray, mentors on team 447 out of Anderson who came to speak to our team about what we needed to know once we got to Worlds.

All team members are eager to arrive in St. Louis

The morning of Wednesday April 22nd, we loaded everything up on a truly massive double decker bus and set off down the highway. On the bus we played cards, video games, and even got to hear stories from our head mentor, Mike Koch, who spoke about his life experiences that brought him to be where he is today. Then, in just short five hours, we entered St. Louis.

 Part 1 "The Senior in St. Louis
Part 3 "The Fields of Science"