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5. Building Robots and Memories

It is said that your team becomes your family. Well, for me, my family has become my team. Vex robotics competition has changed my life in many ways. It has united my family in a way no other hobbie could.  When my father founded the team he shares a dream that would soon become my own. Robotics is about creativity, dedication, discipline an passion. You don't need to be a genious to build a robot, the only thing you need is curiosity and commitment.   I've learned so much this past year; and not only about math and physics. I've learned to present my ideas and be confident about them, yet not forgetting that as a team you have to listen to others. I've learned to commit and attend to constant meetings, even if it means not going out one (or multiple) weekend.  Short after the team began working together, robotics became a part of my life. Soon the family dinner conversation would be about robots, and the napkins would be used as a provisional design sketch pad.  I love to watch how much my father enjoys coaching us; sharing our dream has helped us get to know each other better. It does sound funny, getting to know your family, but it’s true, you can always learn so much from even the closest person. As our coach, my dad leads by example. He has taught us to help others with no other interest than to see them achieve their goals and enjoy the path to get there. With this iniciative we have made a great alliance with a team that had similar ideas to ours, the START ALLIANCE. We have been working with team 4131 for a year now and this alliance has gone beyond robotics. From the youngest team member to the oldest one I can tell that there is no age barrier or such existing in our team, everyone gets allong, even my father is like a teenager when it comes to enthusiasm and passion in robotics. Our alliance now consists in more than 10 teams, all of them participating in the START ALLIANCE LEAGUE. All this opportunities and experiences would have never happened if wasn’t for this robotics competition, evidently not just about building a robot.