[Gary Dillard]

Let me throw out a different idea - maybe someone else can embelish it.....

Our team (SPAM) already consists of the only 2 high schools in our county. We're not in a big urban area, so we are not able to mentor a neighboring team in the traditional sense, but we are willing to help answer questions or give direction (or even moral support) however we can. Last year I had trouble contacting rookie teams (they frequently don't have working websites or up to date contact info) so about mid season I posted a note in this forum with my personal e-mail address begging for someone to come to us for help. I did get a few responses right away, and we answered alot of pretty simple questions; I think this is the intent of the Q&A forum - to help rookie teams keep from getting bogged down in stuff we've learned over the years. This year I've IM'd a few of the rookie posters with my work e-mail and phone number for the same reason - quick answers to quick questions.

What if - we took the FIRST list of rookie teams or teams looking for mentors and the moderators and/or others such as myself each adopted 1 or 2 teams. Give one person on a few teams your personal e-mail and phone number, or a link to your team website with a contact e-mail or chat room or forum that would be monitored as real time as possible. Having a real, live go-to person with experience would help each team from getting overwhelmed.

I guess I'm old school. It's certainly not as efficient as a forum or FAQ's from the responder's standpoint, but it sure is from the viewpoint of the guy asking the question.