[Anupam Goli]

For what each team is, it depends on the interpretation of what FIRST is.

For some, FRC is a sport. For others, it's only a hobby or interest. For those who treat it as a sport, it makes sense to restrict entry and exit. I know some Michigan teams hold tryouts for their team. 1717 only allows the seniors in the engineering academy to be on the team. It really depends on interpretation. Heck, I would want to treat FRC more as a sport, and make it restrict. There's an inspiration in being rejected, because it makes you try harder the next time.


As for termination, FRC is a very time-consuming venture. I'm not surprised at the stringency of the requirements. I was nearly booted out of my seat as president of the Computer Honor Society because i couldn't attend any meetings due to the FRC season. It's very time consuming. It's not just 6 weeks, it's a year long process. During my Senior year of high school, I only had time for FRC and nothing else, because I took it seriously and wanted to improve.

As for entry fees, it makes sense. Band has them. At my school, all clubs and sports had dues. The Robotics team was no different. The dues were a way to weed some people out. We had over 100 members join, but only 50 or so dues paying members because we set the dues at $50. This weeds out those who just wish to write Robotics on their college app and provides the initial funds to register for the season. It's not wrong to have fees. All high schools in my county had them for each grade level.

Keeping an open-door policy is good, but sometimes it doesn't bring the best results. If you keep it a bit closed, efficiency and productivity goes up. It makes sense, and it's all interpretation.