Our team, the Lightning Machines, attended our first ever FTC competition, the Saratoga QT, today and it was such an amazing experience. 

When we arrived, the atmosphere was so energetic, and every team's innovative robots and trifolds were on display. We loved meeting other FTC teams and it was so exciting talking about different robot designs, outreach approaches, and learning new strategies. 

Throughout the day, we competed in multiple matches, experiencing what it's like to work under real match conditions for the first time apart from the scrimmage. However, we came across a couple of unexpected issues and rules we didn't know about, such as an illegal shooting zone. Despite the challenges, we supported each other from start to finish. 

The key highlight of the competition for our team was earning the 4th rank in the robot rankings during the qualification matches. Although we were eliminated after alliance selection, reaching this rank was a major accomplishment for our rookie team and showed how far we've come in our first season. 

Overall, this competition taught us many valuable lessons in robot design, match strategy, and team organization, and we are looking forward to implementing improvements before our next competition on 02/07/25.