On Thursday, April 4, at 6 am, thirty-one ACC students and two adults boarded a bus to Petersburg, Virginia, for Chesapeake District Playoffs. They were the Koibots, preparing for district championships A few students had driven down beforehand to set up and a few students were driving down later, so in the end, there were forty students cheering, driving, and working on the robot.

Qualification matches lasted the second half of Thursday, all throughout Friday, and Saturday morning. The KoiBots arrived around 8:30 for opening matches and setting up in the pits, our space for the robot to hang out when we weren’t competing. Our first qualification was just after lunch, so the whole team was ready to cheer as loud as possible for our robot, Anglerfish.

In the two qualifications before our match, robots were moving slower, but the matches still went on. However, at the beginning of the third match, staff and volunteers were speaking about this issue. As it turned out, drivers could not operate the robot due to connectivity issues. This delay lasted about an hour until staff could get the robots back online, but our match still had issues. Luckily, there was a shorter delay this time, and matches proceeded. Our match, along with the two before ours, were redone the next day after lunch.

Throughout the rest of Thursday, the KoiBots remained loud and proud, despite not doing that well during matches. That night, students went to a mixer, which included dinner and the opportunity to socialize with other teams. While most students were tired and headed back to the hotel early, a few stayed back for the dance, which was the second part of the mixer. 

The next day was full of qualification matches, and the KoiBots continued to cheer loudly. Luckily, there were no significant delays this time, and we were able to redo our match from the previous day, performing much better. However, we did not do as well in our other matches. We maintained our spirit, though, and the team decompressed that night at team dinner in a Mexican restaurant.

Saturday morning finished off the qualification matches. We only had two, and unfortunately we did not do the best. However, we still shouted and cheered at the top of our lungs for our team. When qualification matches ended, we placed fairly low. However, we are looking closely over what made things go wrong and how we can fix things next year.

Saturday afternoon consisted of playoffs, which were incredibly exciting, as these were the best teams in the district racing across the field and back to score points. During one of the matches, a robot swerved so quickly that it fell onto its side. The excitement in the stands made the experience all the more fun, even if our team wasn’t playing.

Awards were presented between playoff matches. Our team’s cheering paid off, as we won the Spirit Award and took a group picture. We finished off the weekend tired but happy, looking forward to improving our team so we can score even more points next year.