Fri, Aug 22 2008
|
|
Published February 06, 2007 12:00 am - T-Wolves find inspiration; Whittier fields two teams It's a whole new year for botball By Tony Pennington The Norman Transcript T-Wolves find inspiration; Whittier fields two teams
By Tony Pennington Transcript Staff Writer The Norman North High School botball team has been distracted. In the past, the Timberwolves splintered and chased other robotic pursuits like the OK Best competition. This left last year's team with four core members and lacking in direction. In contrast, Norman High School was anything but fractured. The Tigers pounced and dominated the local botball scene by stringing together back-to-back national championships. But this is a new year. The pack has reformed and found inspiration and wisdom from a former mentor. And for the first time in a long time, they have found strength in numbers. "We are more organized this year," said sophomore Zac Jennings, 16, of North's re-dedication to the sport of botball. In previous years, NNHS has had many disappointments and even faced a year without a botball team. "Now we have a larger and stronger team." Norman North has watched Norman High build and program title-winning robots for two years. It wasn't that NNHS didn't have botball talent or students. Several of the current team gained robot experience as young botballers at Whittier Middle School. For some reason it didn't carry over to high school. Team veterans said the team didn't communicate, and it seemed like work and got less enjoyable. They had to turn things around. And to do that, NNHS remembered how Whittier teacher and botball sponsor Charlie Bevers prepared them. "Mr. Bevers always had a lot of team building stuff," said Kyle Ferguson, 14, freshman. "We got organized and assigned different tasks for different groups. That way we don't have people trying to do random things." The culture change worked. The North team became relaxed and focused on having fun and staying organized. Many Whittier alumni soon found themselves back in the workshop trying to figure out how to make robots complete several tasks on a competition field the size of a pingpong table. With more than 13 members, their ranks are swollen with talent. "I think it's going to be a lot of fun this year," said ex-Whittier team member Robbie Terrell, 15, freshman. While NNHS is finding its feet again, Whittier has plans to continue to build on past successes. According to Bevers, Whittier has been a consistent top 10 to 15 team each year. 
•
Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.
Click here to load this Caspio Bridge DataPage.
Click here to load this Caspio Bridge DataPage.
More from the Local news section
Disguised as a hospital worker, man caught stealing discarded narcotics Charge filed in May fatality accident OU freshman class the highest ranked in state history |
Print this story
E-mail this story
Post to del.icio.us
Discuss this story
 |
 |
 |
||||||
|
||||||
 |
© 2008, The Norman Transcript P.O. Drawer 1058, Norman, OK 73070 Phone: 405-321-1800 Fax: 405-366-3516 Send us your news tips & comments. |
Popular Business directory links - Norman Apartments | Norman Attorneys | Norman Auto Dealers | Norman Auto Parts | Norman Auto Repair | Norman Beauty Salons | Norman Car Rental | Norman Dentists | Norman Doctors | Norman Flowers | Norman Hotels | Norman Insurance | Norman Loans | Norman Mortgages | Norman Movers | Norman Pizza | Norman Realtors | Norman Restaurants | Norman Storage | Norman Tax Preparation | Norman Travel | Norman Featured | More...
|
|
Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. • CNHI Classified Advertising Network • CNHI News Service |