2026 Chezy Champs
SEPTEMBER 2026
On September 13th, we flew from Oahu, Hawaii, to Chicago, Illinois, to visit the IMTS show, the largest manufacturing technology trade show in the Western Hemisphere, featuring over 1,800 exhibitors, 1.2 million square feet of exhibit space, and nine concurrent educational conferences. This was an eye-opening experience for our students and a huge learning opportunity, as some of this technology they had never even seen before. They learned the scale of robotics in the real world, and how the skills they learned in robotics can be applied to it. We flew directly back to San Jose, California, to compete at Chezy Champs!
QUALIFICATION MATCHES
We had a challenging time at Chezy Champs, as our intake broke. We made a mistake early on, which was changing the auto without properly thinking it through. This was a learning lesson for us, as this our capacity to compete in future matches and fix our hood. While we were in the process of fixing it, the hood of the shooter also broke when we ran into the trench during the Autonomous period. Battling these issues while also working on strategies was tough, and we tried our best to manage. Each match was a close fight, and it tested our abilities. We ended the Qualification matches ranked 33rd, with a record of 5-5-0 (Win-Loss-Tie).
ALLIANCE SELECTION
Qualification matches concluded, and unfortunately we could not become an alliance captain, but we had the opportunity to join Alliance 7 as a third pick, alongside Team 971, Spartan Robotics, Team 9496, LYNK, and Team 9032, RoboWhales. We readied our robot for playoff matches, ensuring we would be ready to face any alliance!
Alliance selections came to an end, starting off the alliance playoff matches. In our second match, 971 needed repairs so we filled in for them. Our alliance faced off against Alliance Six, and during this match, our team did excellently, and we won with a score of 571-382! After winning the match, our alliance moved on to play in the eleventh match against the third seed alliance, where we were unfortunately eliminated.
REFLECTIONS
PRACTICE DAY
We arrived at Bellarmine College Prep, San Jose, California, and got ready for the long road ahead! We unpacked our robot, set up our pit, and tested our robot out on the practice field. We made some adjustments to the code, and our driver got adjusted to all the controls. As out past driver graduated in 2026, this was our new driver’s first time competing on the competition field! While we were doing this, we also made time to talk to all of our fellow competitors and alliance partners, establishing connections and making plans for our upcoming matches!
PLAYOFF MATCHES
This off-season tournament opens a new page for us. Chezy Champs was a rebuilding competition to learn. With our driver, programmers, and pit crew from the past few years graduating, we will need to work hard to fill the shoes of those who came before us. Our main goal in attending off-season tournaments is to learn in a lower-stress environment and train new students, and we did just that! Thank you to all the teams who were a pleasure to compete with, and to our mentors who are the glue that keeps our team strong. Our connections grew past the competition field, and we enjoyed having dinner with 694, Stuypulse (all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue!), having conversations about the past few days and our positive memories. We brought back so much experience and lessons from this tournament, which we are ready to leverage at Socal on October 9th-11th. See you there, Imua Waialua!
Check out our other FRC Competitions!