I decided to switch it up one weekend and volunteer to referee a robotics tournament in Independence. It was literally 15 minutes from my sister's house, so it was easy to couple a visit to the family with a referee job.
This tournament was a little different from the ones I'm used to. The team pits are just marked out spaces on the floor - no tables or chairs (except the ones used to tie the ropes between). I guess it makes for easy setup, but it was hard to see the kids' project displays.
Most of the kids still dressed up in some kind of costume. I really liked the galaxy hats worn by this team. I may need to go on Amazon and buy my own.
I had a little trouble understanding this team's costume. The team was called,
The Trailbots, hence the cowboy hats and covered wagon. But I couldn't quite figure out why their team captain was wearing a Viking helmet with an Indian headdress, especially since the theme of this year's competition is space.
But one thing that seems to be common to all tournaments is line dancing during break periods.The only thing different is that when you go west, you do country line dancing to the
Cotton-Eyed Joe, rather than hip hop with the
Cupid Shuffle. It brought back memories of John Travolta in the 80's movie,
Urban Cowboy.
