[114Klaatu0x72]

As a former team captain, all I can say is get your team known to your school, youth group, church, whatever you are involved in, and people will come. If your school has a club day, bringing out the robot is the best way to get people to join. If your making an elevator system this year, come next school year, people will be very interested in something that rises up to 11 feet.

The second thing I can say is, welcome everyone as much as you can, but make them "earn" their right to be there. By that, I mean it's better to have some people who just idle around, watch what your doing, don't do all that much if anything, and cut after an hour or so but are actually interested in robotics, than people who stay the whole time and only seem to serve as a distraction and are just there because there parents want them involved or something or they still insist that FIRST == battlebots. It's a lot better to have a few freshmen holding you back but involving them as much as you can, than to have experienced people just doing all of the work. Unless you are making important parts with some larger machines, if you have them, involve them in everything you are doing. Show them how to put together a tough box, let them cut some metal even if they mess up and it doesn't end up on the robot, show them how the "box on wheels" you made last year works, show them you don't need to know a whole lot about math to know how levers or gears work and that they are capable of doing those crucial engineering concepts, take out some rulers and calipers and show them how to measure parts, let them make a few extruded aluminium parts in cad and teach them how to constrain to parts into a simple frame, have them bolt together a few things, go have them drive during a practice match, show them that programming *cough* labview *cough* doesn't need to be some cryptic low level thing of mystery, hook up a compressor and show them that all its just air going through a tube, if they can't do one thing put them on something else, make them a part of the team, even if you can't stand them at first and you really really really REALLY have no hope in them, and I guarantee you that they will be around the next day, the next week, the next month, and the next year, and even if you only have a few more people show up the following year, as long as your team keeps at it, it will grow and expand and build up to be a wonderful thing.

Thirdly and finally, a little organization and finalizing you decisions goes so much longer than you can imagine. Keep you meeting dates consistent, have a whiteboard with a list of things to do, put back all of you tools and parts, decide on doing something rather then the "best thing", and what once may seem like a moment by moment activity becomes a something structured, the times when you know you have things to do and people to do things but you can't exactly say what to do exactly become almost automatic, people knowing what needs to be done and them simply doing, or at least trying to, do it. When it gets down to it, it's not about your money, or your facilities, you team size, your mentors, or your legacy, but simply having just enough skill and just enough managing and plenty of delegating to get what you what done and being proud of what you did, however you do you are doing great, and if you take some of that experience and apply it to the next year, you'll do even better.

Peace, and good luck.