The first big competition for FIRST took place at the high school, and I was just not prepared for the amount of work it took to help put it together.
We used the Field House at the school for the "arena"; it's essentially the size of three or four basketball courts side-by-side. First we had to lay down these 60' by 60' tarps over the entire floor, then we had to cover a large section of it with masonite, then we had to unroll red and blue carpets over the 20' by 40' section where the actual competition would take place.
After the floor was prepped, we had to set up the field boundaries and shields, as well as the pit separators.
We were completely exhausted by the time we got out of there, which was just past midnight!
Then on Thursday night, the pits were opened so all the competing teams could come in and get their pit areas set up. We came in and set ours up, as well as taking care of some last-minute setup issues. Another late night!
On Friday morning, the competition started. As a volunteer, I had to be there extra-early -- around 7:30 a.m. We completed the final preparations and helped the FIRST crew set up for the opening ceremony. I was in charge of handling the microphones for the group singing the National Anthem, for the Kentwood mayor, and for the school district superintendent.
The opening ceremonies started promptly at 10:30, and then then robots started to compete!
The competition went on throughout the rest of the morning and there wasn't a chance to take a lunch break until 1 p.m. We had one team who didn't realize that the break was only an hour and we had to call them (they were at Taco Bell) to let them know that they were supposed to be getting out onto the field for their next match!
It finally ended around 8:30. Everyone was excited and exhausted, so we didn't hang around yapping because we had to be back in the morning, early.
And we were.
The competition on Saturday was fierce since we had to get the Qualification rounds completed by 1 o'clock and then do the alliance selection before lunch. Red Storm (our team) hadn't done fantastically during the Qualification rounds, but we did get picked for the semi-Finals, which was a boost to morale.
Unfortunately, we didn't do very well in the semi-Finals, either, so we didn't make the cut for the Final rounds, which took place late in the afternoon.
But we did win an Award for our Marketing team!
After all that -- three solid days with very little sleep -- we had to stay late again to tear down all the pits and the field and the carpet and the masonite and the tarps, and load it into the trailer so it could be hauled to the site of the next competition.
We didn't get out of there til well past midnight. And the next day was Sunday, time for church.
Hey! When can I take a nap?
We used the Field House at the school for the "arena"; it's essentially the size of three or four basketball courts side-by-side. First we had to lay down these 60' by 60' tarps over the entire floor, then we had to cover a large section of it with masonite, then we had to unroll red and blue carpets over the 20' by 40' section where the actual competition would take place.
After the floor was prepped, we had to set up the field boundaries and shields, as well as the pit separators.
We were completely exhausted by the time we got out of there, which was just past midnight!
Then on Thursday night, the pits were opened so all the competing teams could come in and get their pit areas set up. We came in and set ours up, as well as taking care of some last-minute setup issues. Another late night!
On Friday morning, the competition started. As a volunteer, I had to be there extra-early -- around 7:30 a.m. We completed the final preparations and helped the FIRST crew set up for the opening ceremony. I was in charge of handling the microphones for the group singing the National Anthem, for the Kentwood mayor, and for the school district superintendent.
The opening ceremonies started promptly at 10:30, and then then robots started to compete!
The competition went on throughout the rest of the morning and there wasn't a chance to take a lunch break until 1 p.m. We had one team who didn't realize that the break was only an hour and we had to call them (they were at Taco Bell) to let them know that they were supposed to be getting out onto the field for their next match!
It finally ended around 8:30. Everyone was excited and exhausted, so we didn't hang around yapping because we had to be back in the morning, early.
And we were.
The competition on Saturday was fierce since we had to get the Qualification rounds completed by 1 o'clock and then do the alliance selection before lunch. Red Storm (our team) hadn't done fantastically during the Qualification rounds, but we did get picked for the semi-Finals, which was a boost to morale.
Unfortunately, we didn't do very well in the semi-Finals, either, so we didn't make the cut for the Final rounds, which took place late in the afternoon.
But we did win an Award for our Marketing team!
After all that -- three solid days with very little sleep -- we had to stay late again to tear down all the pits and the field and the carpet and the masonite and the tarps, and load it into the trailer so it could be hauled to the site of the next competition.
We didn't get out of there til well past midnight. And the next day was Sunday, time for church.
Hey! When can I take a nap?
2 comments:
Do you ever take time off just for yourself?
I feel guilty if I do. There's just too many things that need to get done around here. Cars need fixing, basements need finishing, children need guidance (which they inevitably reject). Plus there are so many things I want to do (by myself) that I can never figure out where to start. Programming, writing, drawing, singing, playing my guitar, fixing my cars, working on my house, getting into shape, reading. I just want to do them all at once!
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