Alright I made a thread similar to this a year or so ago on VF and people seemed to enjoy it so here it is again.
What is something you wish you knew before your first tournament and/or think new competitors should know before theirs?

Bring papper towels!

The amout of times I personly have spilled all over the pit is still luckly only both hands…

Expect everything to go wrong. Somehow your only batteries will end up not being charged for finals, and then your teammate will lose their safety glasses, you might not even pass inspection the first time, even though you were sure the robot fit into 18^3 last night.

Basically, prepare for the worst, and make sure you have everything you need to solve all the many problems that will happen. Bring extra building supplies, extra batteries, and anything else you even think about “will we need that?” because most of the time you will need it.

My first tournament was a month into me join my team so I couldn’t really prepare too much for the Vex aspect. One thing I wish I knew was how much time it would take. It was pretty much dawn to dusk, and very little breaks. I eventually got used to it, but the first year was dreadful for that. But being prepared Vex wise, I would follow what @Amanda said, that pretty much sums it up well.

Come to finals on time, the match will start without you

BRING AN EXTENSION CORD!!! You never know where you will be set up, and you could be far from the nearest outlet. Bring an extension cord; it will save you lots of pain and trouble. Also, check to ensure your robot is in size multiple times the night before. We had some relatively close calls, and it can be super stressful. Make sure you get a good night’s sleep, as tournaments are pretty taxing, both physically and mentally.

Go talk to people outside your org. It will benefit you tremendously.

I can’t believe saying that, but I wish I joined FTC instead and never sent even a cent Tony’s way.

On the other hand, all those wonderful people I met along the way…

I wish I knew we had a tournament before the day of the tournament…

Make sure you practice driving a lot before the comp if you want to do well

That you aren’t forced to partner with your sister teams, and how alliance selection works.

… that in the IQ match, you’re supposed to cooperate with the other team on the field, not fight them.

Don’t drive your robot 10 minutes before a match, you’ll burn your motor out and have a really slow robot for the match with your alliance shouting at you.

adding on to that, dont drive your robot in inspection, or at the queueing tables before matches. Along with killing your batteries ive seen too many robots drive off tables when people do this

how important comfortable shoes would be at an event

I just don’t wear shoes at events lmao. socks only

To make sure that your alliance charged their controller.

I wish I knew and talked to some of the other teams more, both before (online) and during the tournament. I spent two and a half years doing Vex before I really started talking to other teams very much, which was a big mistake.

Run skills asap. The line gets ridiculous as the tournament goes on.

want to add to this, make sure your alliance’s battery is secured

How important skills is. I literally ignored it during a good part of my freshman year, and then when I found out during the end of the season that skills could qualify you for worlds, I tried getting runs in. However, at the state tournament, because we had no practice with skills, and a really thrown-together auton, we made mistakes, and fell a few spots shy of making it.

I would also say how important having something autonomous-wise that can help get a win point is. We didn’t get a single program ready before our first tournament, and I felt so bad when we ended up in quals with really good teams and pretty much prevented them from getting a win point.

Then there’s no difference to wearing your shoes in the field or not, since yo socks are on the floor

The issue with shoes on the field isn’t the dirt so much as the leaving impressions on the tiles

I would disagree, one freashman wont take his shose off and we have to clean our flexwheels after 5 mins. I don’t see any impressions in the floor either.

I believe that it’s because shoe soles are much stiffer and more likely to damage the tiles

Dirt is a big problem, and our flex wheels look like a cat peed on it, then somebody rubbed hair and dirt on them. Nobody ever takes there shoes off except for me

I make my team take them off and there’s a guy who refuses to ever enter the field because of it.

Bring more than 2 batteries to the tournament.

also, have more than 2 batterys

Id reccomend doing your best to program your autons BEFORE competition day…

Preferably a while before, giving you enough time to make sure they’re still working by the time of the comp. My team has made many autons that worked the night before, only to fail miserably once we were at the competition.

driver practice is uh… pretty important lol

Adding on to this, practice under defence is crucial.

A 6m drive roller bot can do serious damage to an unexperienced defense driver

I wish I knew I was going to have the flu, so I would’ve done the journal (printing out online one and putting it in physical) before hand.

I threw up twice while doing it, sorry if I got any judges at Tiger Town fall sick.

If you have a larger team then be prepared to stand up for most if not the whole tournament while you are at your pits. Maybe this is just a local thing but we only get two chairs per table (two teams per table).

drink caffeine so you DON’T pass-out in the pits

I wish I knew beforehand that I wouldn’t really get along with my first teammates from my first season…

That the Indiana robotics scene is full of insanely good teams