Mascot Madness: Archit Kulkarni Talks About Being the Mascot of a Robotics Team at a Regional Competition by Piper Faherty
As a sophomore, Archit Kulkarni had an important job on the robotics team, representing the team as its mascot, Sparky. He talked about how he got the job,“So how the tryouts worked was you were basically assessed on your cardio and how long you can continue dancing, not only just dancing for a long amount of time but in the mascot suit also to simulate how it is going to be at competition.” This training was not only intense but prolonged as Kulkarni competed against four other Team Voltage members for the spot, “There was five hours of dancing, nonstop dancing.” said Kulkarni.
Kulkarni went on to talk about the large differences between the tryouts and having the job at competitions, “I later realized at competition that it's much more than dancing.” he talked about the important role, “Being a mascot is representing the team by wearing the team colors and as you are sparky you kind of show how spirited the team can be and what the team actually stands for,it exemplifies gracious professionalism as the mascot interacts with and builds relationships with other teams, like exploding bacon 1902 and Minitor.” said Kulkarni. Kulkarni went on to talk about what it meant to be Sparky, “I enjoyed representing the team. That's what Sparky is meant to do. He's kind of like a symbol of how spirited the team can be, which is also an important factor in first robotics.”
Kulkarni spoke about his favorite moments of the Tallahassee competition, “Some important moments I remember was when we won, and everyone rushed down and celebrated for a good 10 minutes. But at that point, everything, the entirety of build season kind of flashed back as a memory.” Celebrating this win at Tallahassee meant that Team Voltage was able to go on to compete at the World Championship in Houston Texas.Kulkarni had a very unique experience that not many got to enjoy, “Tallahassee was a great experience, it felt great. I just had a different point of view than everyone else, being the mascot.”
Photo by Piper Faherty