Bellevillains in back-to-back FIRST World Championships in Texas

By Mark Laginess
For the second straight year, the Bellevillains, Team 6615 from Belleville High School, are heading to Houston for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) World Championships from April 17-19. They will be among 75 teams from Michigan participating at the George R. Brown Convention Center this year.
Before the World Championships, Team 6615 had to get through the FIRST in Michigan State District Championship, held at Saginaw Valley State University. The event featured teams ranked in the top 160 places out of the 528 total teams in the state taking part in the 2025 FRC season.
These teams were divided into one of four fields at SVSU’s Ryder Center, with fields sponsored by Aptiv Foundation, Consumers Energy Foundation, DTE Foundation, and Hemlock Semiconductor.
Following successful district competitions at Belleville and Renaissance High Schools which left them in a tie for 24th place in the state, the Bellevillains maintained a high level of performance throughout 12 state qualification matches on the Aptiv Foundation Field, including a strong contribution as part of the alliance with the highest qualification match score on that field and the second highest qualification match score on all four of the fields.
Their 7-4-1 qualification match record landed them in 15th place in the Aptiv Foundation Division, and their place and performance led them to be selected as first pick for playoff Alliance 8 by alliance captain Team 1498, The Polar Pilots of Anchor Bay High School and Macomb County 4H from Richmond. Team 248, Adambots from Rochester Hills Adams HS, was selected as the third member of the alliance.
In the playoffs, Alliance 8’s first round match was against eventual Aptiv Foundation Division winner Alliance 1, featuring alliance captain Team 2075, Enigma Robotics from West Catholic HS in Grand Rapids, Team 2337 the EngiNERDs from Grand Blanc HS, and Team 858 Demons Robotics from Wyoming HS. Alliance 8 was dispatched to the loser’s bracket, dropping the opening match 227-187. Facing elimination from the competition, they didn’t fare any better in their next match, losing 202-191 to Alliance 4, made up of Team 494, the Martians from Goodrich HS, Team 3175 Knight Vision from University Liggett School in Grosse Pointe Woods, and Team 51 Wings of Fire from International Technology Academy and Pontiac HS in Pontiac.
While the early exit from the playoffs was not what the Bellevillains had in mind, when the dust settled on the overall state competition, they found themselves in 57th place in the state, meaning that an invitation to the World Championship was assured.
Michigan has the largest contingent of the 521 total teams from any geographic region in the country or around the globe taking part in the World Championships. While all 50 US states have FRC teams, 44 states have participants in the championships with the top three being Michigan (75 teams), California (45), and New York (24).
Among the countries represented at the World Championships are the United States (401 teams), Canada (24), Mexico (18), Türkiye (18), Israel (12), Brazil (11), China (10), Chinese Taipei (8), Australia (7), India (6), Dominican Republic (1), Netherlands (1), France (1), Japan (1), Poland (1), and Armenia (1).
The World Championships are open to the public, and admission is free. Between the teams, event staff, and spectators, over 50,000 people are expected to attend the event.