Re: Team Shirts
 

We require some version of Kauaibots shirt (current or an older one, T-shirt or polo - they're all purple with our team name and number, many have sponsors on the back and some have decoration on front; some students have 'blinged' theirw with silver glitter highlights on the flowers or tools) every day. We have to keep up our tradition of being "the purple wave"!

In past years we have provided every traveler (student or mentor) with three new shirts each year. We are on a tight budget this year so new folks will get two new shirts and veterans will get either one or none, I can't remember what they said.

Me, I prefer the polos so I bought a couple of extra ones and I'll wear those all three days. We do ask our team to wear team gear while traveling, we get some notice on the inter-island flights and have sparked some great conversations ("What's FIRST Robotics?" "Where are you all going?").

Re: Team Shirts
 

Recently we have had 3 different shirts. On Thursday we had the teams wear the jcp shirt that we added our logo to. On Friday we had the team wear our purple team shirt. Then on Saturday we have them wear either the jcp shirt or our team shirt(depends on the year) under our pit shirts.

Although we do not require everyone to wear the pit shirts because we do not order them for every new student, every year anymore due to high costs. So we check them out on Saturday for them to wear if we have a size that fits them. Most of the girls opt out of wearing them because the sizes we currently have cater to people who wear larges and above.

After we competed on Saturday the kids took a vote to order new ones in their correct sizes and try to get women cut pit shirts(as long as they look the same).

Re: Team Shirts
 

On both of my teams, we've done team shirts on both days. Ideally, polos on Saturday.

Just a personal request: Headgear

If you're going to make headgear part of your team image, make sure it's comfortable, especially when wearing it all day. I was on a team that had everyone in the pits wearing hard hats. By the end of the day, I hated that blasted thing. They're big, bulky, and I hit my head more often with them on. Think about comfort not just image.

Re: Team Shirts
 

Advice from another team that wears hats as part of our image (Though not exactly as heavy duty as a hard hat): Take it off and store it somewhere when you're working on the robot in the pit. The space is already limited as it is, and when you've got a wide brimmed cowboy hat, by golly it helps a lot to take it off so you can get a few people looking at the same part.

Re: Team Shirts
 

We actually have three team shirts: a season-specific shirt based on the Robot's name, the basic Robonauts t-shirt, and the Robonauts polo. We used to wear jeans with the first two and khakis with the last, but we're changing to just jeans.

Re: Team Shirts
 

My team wears our JCPenny shirts on Thursday, since it is "Sponsor Appreciation Day", and our team shirts on Friday and Saturday.

Re: Team Shirts
 

I've been a proponent of "Throwback Thursday" for a long time and encourage team participation for every one but our pit crew member who is designated to wear the "To-do list tee-shirt".

FYI
The to-do list tee is a shirt Carne and I, mentor pit leads, come up with a couple days before the regional to list everything we need to accomplish on pit day then put on our team's MVPS (most valuble pit student). The theory is we'd loose a paper list but we haven't lost a student yet.

Friday & Saturday kids usually wear that year's t-shirt and mentors usually wear team polos, kids wear polos pn Saturday if they have them.

Re: Team Shirts
 

I am happy to hear the new rule about Hoodies. It is important that teams be recognized at a whole unit, in unison. Teams are known by their colors, which means consistency every year. This means no dramatic colors changes from year-to-year. I always can recognize a team by its colors & I do look for those colors in the stands This also counts when teams are considered for team spirit & drive team support. I look forward to all those crazy colors in the stands at competitions!