Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr.Frishman
If teams can go the Championships with a kit bot and compete than I think that a pre-rookie team will get a much better experience if they can get something on the field. We all know that there will be teams that have robots that aren't competitive but they still show up. Being on an alliance with veteran teams and going through the competition was invaluable to us, even though some of our students had been through it before.
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-This- is one of the reasons why off seasons like TRR are so valuable and so needed in FRC. Not just for the pre-rookies but for the teams who can improve in the competitive side of things. It's also the appropriate place for the strong veteran teams to identify the region's strengths and weaknesses, the teams that could use some support, and the sustainability dynamics that are in motion.
I have another opinion.
This one has to do with one of our weaknesses in Texas, as a whole. Teams too often only think about their own advancement and their own rate of success. They don't take the time or create the opportunity to look around them and see how the advantages of networking and supporting each other, strengthen the entire region. For teams who value IRI and want to be those teams who participate... take a look at their programs and what they bring, not only to their teams, but to their regions. Look at the other off seasons that have been around a while and you'll see much of the same thing. They've been busy as teams building the community of teams that compete at events.
Edit: Michael, we've never gotten to the point that we build a practice 'bot, sad to say. We donate what resources we have and can offer. That can be in the way of skills needed, materials, expertise, friendliness, and.. if we have it, we will help. But, unless something changes that I'm not aware of at this point, we won't have a practice 'bot to donate or loan. Loan is the better word, maybe.
Also, please keep in mind... in our area, pre-rookies are a treasure. The Shadetree Mechanics were a gift to all of the veteran teams, teaching us the value of the pre-rookie experience. I'd love to be able to say that we're going to have more pre-rookies at the 2012 TRR but it's not something that we can take for granted. And the Shadetree Mechanics were amazing because they did want to do so much, themselves, and attend TRR, ready to play.
Jane