Part #10: Competition Culture | SUMMER ROBOTICS: Tips and Tricks for Your Team

Now that you've got an idea for how to build and program your robot, and how to get your engineering notebook off the ground (see our last three blog posts), We'll give you some tips about how the competition works. There is a certain culture to FTC competitions, and there are a bunch of strategies for how to tackle them. The most important is to always display team spirit and gracious professionalism, but here are a couple more tips to make the most friends and have the most fun at competition

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Tip #1: Read the entire game manual

We made this mistake during our first league tournament, and we were all freaking out when they started the alliance selections. The game manual spells out what a competition looks like, all the awards, advancement requirements, and basically everything you need to know to be prepared for competition. Most of the information that pertains to almost any season's competition is in the game manual #1 on the FIRST website (https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc/game-and-season). A lot of the information in the manual is technical jargon, and you'll probably never need to know all of that stuff, but pay close attention to all of the qualifications for certain awards so your team can meet as man of those as possible. Of course, you don't have to memorize the game manual, but it's not a bad idea to download it to your computer or print a team copy to take to competitions as reference.

Tip #2: Gracious Professionalism

That's right, everything your coaches and referees and judges said about gracious professionalism is true. It really gives you the step up to meet the most teams and work well with your alliance partners. It also make competing so much more fun. It only takes one braggy team or one sore looser to ruin the whole vibe of the competition so, don't be that one team. Gracious Professionalism is applicable beyond the competition too! Reach out to other teams and offer your advice or seek advice from other teams about how to approach problems your team is stuck on. We reached out for advice about our engineering notebook all the time last season, and you would not believe the amount of support we received. If you ever have the chance to help another team, don't hesitate because you think you'll ruin your team's advantage. There is so much more to robotics than just winning with your robot; it's about learning how to work in a competitive environment and still support each other.

Tip #3: Take the initiative to talk with other teams and your alliance partners

Every match, you'll be partnered with another team as alliance partners. There are a lot of things to coordinate with your alliance partner before the match begins like strategies for each of the periods, where you're going to put your robot, and who should be where and when. Most teams will go around and meet up with their alliance partners in the pits before you start to que up for the match. But theres almost always more strategy to discuss than time to talk about it; it's just the nature of the competitions. We recommend meeting with your alliance partners as soon as you get your match schedule. That means taking initiative and finding your partner's pit. You should also carry around a diagram of the field to reference and let them know exactly how your robot will move and where you can drive it. A notepad isn't a bad idea either to mark down the strategy you're going to be using. Negotiating and figuring out what you're going to do with complete strangers in a ten-minute time window is really tricky and it takes several meets and maybe even several seasons before you really master it. Keep trying to work things out, and try to take the first step towards getting to know your partners and their robot.

Tip #4: Celebrate everyone's wins

Of course it's super exciting when you take home a trophy or make it to the top just before semifinal matches, but in order for you to win, other teams have to loose (or at least miss out on winning). When your team succeeds during the competition, your first instinct should be to congratulate the other team on a great game and thank them sincerely for competing. If you happen to think of something about their robot or their team that you can complement, that would be even better. But more times than you'd like to admit, you don't come out on top or bring home a trophy. Do the same thing when that happens. Congratulate the other alliance and compliment their robot. If you're super duper impressed with them, maybe get some contact information so they can help you for the next season (I know we've gotten contacts for so many teams from competition). They can be a great resource to learn from, seek advice from, and a role model to inspire your team.

Tip #5: Don't stress it

Competition is fun, and there's nothing wrong with not preforming your best, as long as you had fun doing it. It's not winner take all; it's not the end of the world if you don't advance. Don't worry about those things because they'll never help you to become the best you possible. Being at the meet and displaying your best Coopertition and Gracious Professionalism is all that matters.

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Be on the lookout for our next blog post with more tips and tricks next week about how to finish off your season with a bang! We hope you enjoy this SUMMER ROBOTICS series and put some of these tips to good use with your FTC team.