Itchy and Scratchy Saturday

It's another big Saturday around our house as both Itchy and Scratchy showcase their talent in varied competition today.

Itchy is playing basketball again today as the undefeated Shamrock team is on the court again, and Scratchy’s Techno Tadpole FLL team is competing in the state finals to see who goes to Atlanta to represent Michigan.

You may remember from last week that our tadpoles qualified for the state finals and this week they are at it again. The Technology Tadpoles invaded the Rock Financial Showplace hoping to get their feet wet and improve upon their “gauntlet” best score. Scratchy has been learning to pilot the robot this week and she has done well enough to make a pass at the gauntlet. This week the Tadpoles take on 50 other teams in hopes of qualifying for nationals. On a good note we got a whole extra half hour of sleep this week as the state meet didn’t start as early as last week. (6 am) As I’m typing this the Tadpoles are in the judging rooms going over the technical aspect of their robot and research. This should be a good boost of confidence for them as this is also where they scored the best last week.

It seemed that they did fairly well during the judging and we hope that this will help them with their overall completion. It’s off to the Gauntlet. Scratchy is piloting the first run of the Mutant Cricket. That’s what the kids are calling the robot.

The Mutant Cricket had some issues with the first run and didn’t compete as well as it was doing during practice. This puts the Tadpoles behind the 8 ball. After the run, the kids check the program to make sure there isn’t anything wrong with it. It checks out and their off to for the second run. During the second run, it didn’t the Mutant Cricket doesn’t fare any better and only picks up a few points.

We eat lunch and it’s time to split the parent team capabilities… I take Itchy to the basketball game while my wife keeps cheering Scratchy team on at the State meet.

Itchy is starting again and her team looks confident. They start off slow with not many of them playing any defense while two of the Shamrocks have some nagging injuries that they are playing through. Lucky for them the other team can’t seem to find the basket and at the end of the first quarter they are tied 0 – 0…
During the second quarter the second team comes in and at least they find the basket, but the other team finds the basket more. As halftime approaches they are down 10 – 4. Starting the second half the Shamrocks start on a roll as they pick up the pace and start to cut into the lead with a few minutes left in the game they tie the game at 12. At this point, they seem to run out of gas and their composure and end up loosing the game 18 - 14. Itchy played well…

We head off to see the end of the FLL State meet. As we walk into the arena, there is load music blaring and all of the teams are line dancing to it. When the music stops, the teams head into the stands and the closing ceremonies get started. The arena looks like a bowl of M & M’s with all the different colors scattered about the stands. The competition is scored on 4 different categories…. Technical, Project, Team Spirit, Teamwork and The Gauntlet. As each category was revealed, five teams were nominated and a prize was trophy was given for first and second place. Our Tadpoles were nominated for both the Team Sprit and Teamwork awards and won the Teamwork competition.

Unfortunately for the Tadpoles their robot just ran into programming issues and didn’t perform as well as the team expected… what can you expect when you name it the Mutant Cricket?

So Itchy and Scratchy learned valuable lessons today. Sometime, it just doesn’t matter how well you plan and practice, you just never know how well you’re going to perform. Great job kids, I’m real proud of you.