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Originally Posted by Dragonbots
I hadn't thought about veteran teams in the area helping out. From your experience, were the vets willing to put in the time away from their project? Also, do you by any chance know any vet teams in LA?
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Yep, they're often willing. As for knowing veteran teams in LA... I graduated from one of the three oldest teams in the area, 330, in Hermosa Beach (rookie year 1997, as one team with 294 and 207--the three teams became three separate teams in 1998).
Off the top of my head, 1138 would be a good choice to ask (Chaminade College Preparatory School); I might be able to sneak up for a couple of days around Kickoff (I go to college in South Dakota, but Christmas break runs a couple days past Kickoff).
Some other teams: 330, 294 (from the Beach Cities), 597 (Foshay Learning Center, near Exposition Park), 980 (Pasadena area), 2404, 4; there may be a few others that are closer (I'm not terribly familiar with teams in your area--yes, I did look up your school's location.)
You could also go to the FIRST website, click on the box that says "What FIRST Events and Teams are in my area" (right side, top), and do a search for FRC teams from California. Look through the list to find nearby teams--any team with a number lower than 3900 has at least one year of experience. Whether or not they can help is something that they can decide better than I can.
I might also get in touch with the "local teams organization"--I forget the name right now, but I can find out. Essentially, it's a bunch of FIRST teams that put on events like the Preship Scrimmage, the Fall Classic, and the Fall Workshops. They should be able to help you locate a mentor team.