Strong Start to the REBUILT Season: Bubbles Wins Rising All-Star Award
FRC Team 10015 Bubbles opened the 2026 REBUILT season by ranking fourth at the ONT District Durham College Event, captaining a playoff alliance for the first time, and earning the Rising All-Star Award (FRC-Event). The milestone marked an exciting start for the rebuilt, student-led team as it entered only its second FRC season (FRC-Event).
By SolversMind Robotics
Published March 15, 2026 | Updated July 23, 2026
Reviewed by mentors of FRC Team 10015 Bubbles
Why was Durham a strong start to Bubbles’ REBUILT season?
FRC Team 10015 Bubbles opened the 2026 REBUILT season with a major milestone at the ONT District Durham College Event in Oshawa. Competing in only its second FRC season, the community-based team finished qualification matches ranked fourth among 28 teams with an 8–4 record. Bubbles then became the captain of Alliance 3 for the first time in team history and advanced deep into the playoffs with FRC Teams 6135 Arctos and 4976 Revolt Robotics (FRC-Event). The team also received the Rising All-Star Award, recognizing its persistence, rapid growth, student ownership, and positive impact within the FIRST community. The achievement was especially meaningful because the robot, Ballista, required continuous repairs and improvements throughout the event. Students responded under pressure by diagnosing failures, manufacturing and installing fixes, adjusting software, and returning the robot to the field. Durham showed that this rebuilt team was ready to compete, learn, adapt, and lead.
How did Bubbles perform at the Durham College event?
Week 2 at Durham College marked the first Ontario district event of the 2026 FRC season, and Bubbles arrived ready to test its rebuilt robot, Ballista.
The students completed 12 qualification matches with an 8–4 record and ranked fourth among 28 teams. This was the team’s strongest qualification ranking at an official FRC event at that point in its history.
For the first time, Bubbles became the captain of a playoff alliance. Alliance 3 included:
FRC Team 10015 Bubbles (Alliance Captain)
FRC Team 4976 Revolt Robotics
FRC Team 6135 Arctos
Together, the alliance won its opening playoff match and continued competing through five playoff rounds. The experience gave Bubbles an important opportunity to lead alliance strategy, communicate with experienced teams, and make decisions under competition pressure.
For a second-year community team, becoming an alliance captain represented an important step forward in competitive performance, confidence, and leadership.
What does the Rising All-Star Award recognize?
Bubbles also received the Rising All-Star Award, one of the most meaningful recognitions of the weekend.
The award celebrates a young or recently rebuilt team that has persisted through challenges and demonstrated the potential to become a positive role model within the FIRST community.
For Bubbles, the award reflected more than the robot’s match performance. It recognized the team’s:
Rapid growth since its rookie season
Student-led engineering and programming
Ability to overcome technical challenges
Expanding community outreach
Positive team culture
Commitment to the values of FIRST
Starting small did not stop Bubbles from growing. Under the pressure of competition, the students continued to learn, support one another, and rise to each challenge.
Award Script
The Rising All Star Award celebrates the team that has persisted through challenges, despite the difficulties of being young. This could be the result of being a new team, or a team with recent turnover in membership.
Starting small hasn’t stopped this team. They have EXPANDED and POPPED into role models in the FIRST community. Under the PRESSURE of the competition, this young team is rising to the top.
Congratulations Team 10015!
How did students respond when the robot broke down?
The Durham event was exciting, but it was not easy.
Ballista experienced several mechanical and technical problems throughout the competition. Between matches, students worked quickly to identify failures, repair damaged components, adjust mechanisms, update code, and prepare the robot to return to the field.
At times, the pit felt like a Formula 1 garage. Students gathered around the robot, divided responsibilities, found practical solutions, and completed repairs with limited time before the next match.
Every breakdown became an engineering lesson.
Students learned how to:
Diagnose problems under pressure
Communicate across mechanical and programming groups
Prioritize critical repairs
Manufacture and install replacement parts
Test changes efficiently
Stay calm when plans changed
Return stronger after a difficult match
The robot did not perform perfectly throughout the event, but the students demonstrated resilience. Every repair, adjustment, and comeback showed the character of the team.
Why is student ownership important to Bubbles?
Bubbles is built around the belief that students should take meaningful responsibility for the complete FRC experience.
Students research concepts, create CAD models, manufacture parts, assemble mechanisms, wire electrical systems, program the robot, test performance, develop match strategies, document their work, speak with judges, raise funds, and represent the team through outreach.
Mentors provide guidance, technical feedback, safety supervision, and support. However, the decisions, learning, and work belong to the students.
The Durham event demonstrated the value of this approach. When the robot encountered problems, students did not wait for someone else to solve them. They investigated the failures, discussed possible solutions, completed repairs, and learned from the results.
That ownership helps students grow beyond robotics. They become more confident problem-solvers, communicators, engineers, programmers, and leaders.
Why was becoming an alliance captain so special for Bubbles?
For the first time in team history, FRC Team 10015 Bubbles entered the playoffs as an alliance captain.
It was only the team’s second FRC season.
One year earlier, Bubbles had arrived at its first competition as a rookie hoping simply to prove that its robot could function on an official field. At Durham in 2026, the students finished qualifications ranked fourth among 28 teams and earned the responsibility of building and leading Alliance 3. FIRST’s official event results list Bubbles as the alliance captain, joined by FRC Team 4976 Revolt Robotics and FRC Team 6135 Arctos. (FRC Event)
That moment was unforgettable.
Becoming an alliance captain meant that Bubbles was no longer waiting for an established team to recognize its potential. The students had earned the right to evaluate other robots, develop a playoff strategy, select their partners, communicate expectations, and take responsibility for the alliance’s decisions.
Alliance 3 was not expected to have an easy path.
The students faced alliances ranked above them, including experienced teams with stronger qualification records and more established competitive histories. Yet Bubbles, Revolt Robotics, and Arctos continued advancing through the lower bracket after an early loss.
They won one elimination match 176–144.
Then they survived another close battle 225–178.
Each victory kept the alliance alive and moved the students closer to a result that had initially seemed almost impossible. Official match records show Alliance 3 competing through five playoff rounds before its run ended (Blue Alliance)
These were not effortless wins.
They required students to study opponents, adapt match strategy, repair Ballista between rounds, communicate across three teams, and remain calm when one mistake could end the event.
This was student work demonstrated under its most demanding conditions.
The students were not following another team’s plan. They were helping create the plan.
They were not only operating a robot. They were leading an alliance.
For a second-year community team, that responsibility represented an enormous step forward. Bubbles had moved from rookie survival to competitive leadership in a single year.
How did Bubbles’ relationship with Arctos begin before the event?
The partnership with FRC Team 6135 Arctos carried a deeper meaning because the relationship had begun before alliance selection.
In the days leading up to Durham, Bubbles captain Ryan Zhang spent several days and nights helping Arctos build, complete, and test its robot. The work was not done with any expectation that the two teams would later compete together.
It was simply an act of Gracious Professionalism.
Ryan saw another student team facing a difficult technical challenge and chose to share his time and experience. He helped because he understood how overwhelming it can feel when a robot is unfinished and an official competition is approaching.
Then alliance selection arrived.
Bubbles selected Arctos as its second pick.
The team Ryan had helped before the event was now standing beside Bubbles in the playoffs.
It felt like fate.
The students who had worked together quietly before competition were now fighting together under the lights of the arena. Their earlier cooperation created trust, and that trust became part of Alliance 3’s ability to survive several difficult playoff rounds.
The story showed that FRC relationships are often built long before the scoreboard records them.
A few late nights spent helping another team can become the foundation of an alliance, a friendship, and a shared memory that lasts far beyond one event.
How did the friendship with Arctos continue beyond Durham?
The relationship between Bubbles and FRC Team 6135 Arctos did not end when the Durham playoffs were over.
Later in the season, before the Ontario Provincial Championship, Salini Nathan, Arctos’ student captain, joined Bubbles as a youth mentor. Her decision reflected her appreciation for the time and technical support Bubbles had given Arctos, as well as her desire to continue contributing within the same culture of student leadership and knowledge sharing.
Salini brought significant experience to that role. She served on the FIRST Robotics Canada Youth Council, representing student voices and supporting initiatives across the national FIRST community. She was also named a 2025 FIRST Dean’s List Finalist, one of FIRST’s most important individual student honours, at the Ontario Provincial Championship (FRC Events).
Her journey added another meaningful chapter to the relationship between the two teams.
Before Durham, Ryan Zhang spent several days and nights helping Arctos complete and test its robot.
At the event, Bubbles selected Arctos as its second alliance partner.
Together, they fought through several difficult playoff matches.
Later, Arctos’ captain returned to support Bubbles as a youth mentor.
That progression represents the best of FIRST Robotics.
Knowledge became support.
Support became trust.
Trust became friendship.
Friendship became leadership.
Salini’s decision also demonstrated that youth mentorship does not always need to follow a traditional adult-to-student model. Experienced students can cross team boundaries, share knowledge, strengthen another organization, and become role models for younger members.
Bubbles helped Arctos when help was needed.
Salini later returned that generosity by bringing her experience, leadership, and FIRST spirit to Bubbles.
The scoreboard recorded them as alliance partners for one event.
Their friendship created an impact that continued long after the final match.
What did Durham mean for the rest of the season?
The Durham College event gave Bubbles a strong start, but the team knew that the season had only begun.
Students left the event proud of becoming an alliance captain and earning the Rising All-Star Award, while also recognizing the areas that still needed improvement. The team immediately began preparing for the ONT District North Bay Event the following week.
The lessons learned at Durham helped shape the rest of Bubbles’ season. At North Bay, the team ranked second, finished as a District Event Finalist, and earned the Excellence in Engineering Award. Bubbles later received the Industrial Design Award at the FIRST Ontario Provincial Championship and represented Canada at the FIRST Championship for the second consecutive year.
Durham was where the rebuilt team first showed what it could become.
Congratulations, Bubbles, on an unforgettable start to the REBUILT season.
The robot faced breakdowns. The students kept rebuilding. That is where learning happens, where confidence grows, and where miracles begin.
Tags:
Rising All-Star Award, FRC Team 10015, Bubbles, Ryan Zhang, REBUILT 2026, ONT District Durham College Event, Alliance Captain, student-led robotics, robot design, engineering resilience, FIRST Robotics Competition, Aurora robotics, Ontario robotics, STEM education, Solversmind