Starting a frc team
 

I am interested in possibly starting an frc team at my high school, but I've run into a planning problem. I am curious if there is a minimum number of mentors that need to be in our workshop at all times. With a new team, having more than one mentor in the workshop might be a problem. Can anyone find a rule or documentation that shows if there is a restriction on the number of mentors present?

Re: Starting a frc team
 

There are no rules from FIRST on the number of mentors present at any given time. There is however a requirement for there to be 2 adults who have passed FIRST's Youth Protection Program screening. Sometimes that second person is not involved with the team on a daily basis, I know teams where the initial second screened contact is the district CTE director or a Vice Principal.

Your next step is to contact your local Senior Mentor which you can find here. http://www.firstinspires.org/ways-to...senior-mentors They can help you through the start up process.

Re: Starting a frc team
 

Feel free to dm me if you have any questions about starting a team. I started my team when I was a freshmen in high school with only one mentor that participated on the team (we did have two pass the FIRST screening)

Re: Starting a frc team
 

FIRST doesn't require a certain number of adults present on a daily basis, but your post implies that this would likely be taking place at a school. If so, your school's administration will almost certainly have requirements, most likely a requirement that you have a teacher from your district with the team at all times.

Re: Starting a frc team
 

I started an FRC team at my school last year. We had two main mentors. Many practices, we only had one mentor present. Please feel free to PM me with any questions about starting a team. Best of luck!

Re: Starting a frc team
 

Where are you in California?

Re: Starting a frc team
 

If you are looking for advice or help about starting a team, please PM me. Also, I noticed your location is in California. Have you thought about coming to the Capital City Classic? Another team can loan you a robot to compete with, so it's a great experience and opportunity to try out what FRC is like. Also, I will be presenting a workshop called "Keys to a Successful Rookie Season", where we will be talking about all aspects of starting a team.

Re: Starting a frc team
 

Since you are starting a team you should try to get in touch with local teams to help you get a running start. This year my team is getting help from 5012 and 399. Last year my team built most of our first robot in team 399's shop since they had way more tools and space then the classroom my team had to work back at my team's school.

With the mentors, you should try to get as many as possible, especially ones with past experiences with FRC. There is no real limit on the number of mentors that can be on a team. The only draw back for having a lot of mentors is some teams may accuse you of having a mentor built robot if your robot is better then theirs. If you end up not being able to find any mentors you could always try to recruiting adult's at your school. My team's head mentor(and only mentor who shows up) is the IT guy at my school.

Re: Starting a frc team
 

For a variety of reasons, we have a rule in place that two unrelated adults, with background checks, must oversee each meeting. This is to protect both the students and the adults, while also reducing risk and liability to the organization.

Re: Starting a frc team
 

Major key there.

Also, you will want to digest this before you plan adult scheduling: http://www.firstinspires.org/sites/d...ogramGuide.pdf

Re: Starting a frc team
 

Or one of the other offseason events, if you're in SoCal: Fall Classic is this weekend (near Fullerton), Beach Blitz is in two weeks (Huntington Beach), and as I recall Battle at the Border is a week after that (San Diego area).


Generally speaking, the minimum number of mentors present would be set by the school policy for clubs/teams (depending which they class you as). The team I mentor has a two-adult policy--but we're flexible on exactly which adults are present; parents will work as well as mentors/teachers.

Oh, and you might want to PM rsisk. If he hasn't PM'd you yet...;)