A team that had to work when I was not the person holding it.

My school had no team. To compete I had to help build one, then keep it from depending on one student.

I spent seasons on an older four-digit team first. Then I helped start a community team whose members were often younger than the work required — middle school, some still in late elementary. I did the unglamorous parts: parts runs, parents, roles that kept changing. Once a match opponent was missing a part. We lent them ours.

I was better at the robot than at leaving the robot alone. When I stepped back, work bunched up again. I was one of three names on a shortlist for an individual leadership award. The award went to the other two.

More time on who could run a subsystem without asking me. The loaned part is the thing I still trust: I wanted the match, not a half-built opponent. The team is not finished. That is the point of a team.

For the 2026 season (REBUILT) I drew two mural proposals for team 11019's workshop wall, using the shadow-play motifs I had been studying: dragon-in-clouds banners, a beast-face rosette as the team mark, cloud and sea-wave borders under the FRC values. Two pages of the season handbook carry the same motifs and what they mean.