[AllenGregoryIV]

First off, Kim's post should be required reading. All of those observations are consistent with every team I have known that "gets it".

The team I coach now wasn't the same team it's rookie year, we have the same number, but that's about it. They were the "Roaring Crusaders" their first year and they got the Rookie Inspiration Award and Rookie Highest Seed Awards but they still had a lot to learn. When I joined the team the fall before their sophomore season, I was told that they only met during build season and for <15 hours a week. I was also told by a teacher that none of the students would want to meet more than that. We moved to a space where we could meet year round and at all hours (just across the parking lot at the other school). We started meeting in the off season and more than anything I started getting them excited about FRC. We would watch old matches and brainstorm ideas for old games. We would hold different training workshops each week to improve all of their technical skills. I also wanted to get them to see more robotics events so I brought a lot of them with me to volunteer at VEX, BEST, FLL, and even an FRC event before our competitions that year. We also volunteered at the Food Bank and other actives that helped our community while also building up our team. We made coming to the team a daily event, so much so that many of the members complain about the one day off we have the Wednesday after build season (We have met everyday since Jan 2nd, other than that day).

My goal was to see how quickly a team could get to be at that high level of competitiveness and luckily I have absolutely amazing students who have pushed just as hard as I have to get there. Spectrum has only really been in existence for about a year and half and we already have a Regional Chairman's Award and a trip to St. Louis under our belts. We're nowhere near where we want to be yet but I doubt any of the elite teams are satisfied with their current position or they would get knocked off the top pretty quickly by someone who wasn't.

I think the biggest thing is you have to someone show you that's not just okay to put a crazy amount of time into something but that's it's the only way you get better at anything. FRC is an extremely open community pretty much anything you want to know you can find but you have be willing to put in the time. Not every elite team meets for a crazy number of hours but someone(s) on the team is spending a lot of time working, thinking, building, and managing the project and they love doing it.