I had very high hopes for this thread because it was actually a different topic than the classic students and mentor built robots. But after reading page four of this thread, all I can think of is this image:
As for dealings with members of 'elite' teams, if you are attending Championships, I would highly suggest just having a chat with some of them and trying to learn from them. On Thursday night last year, I went to 2056's pit just to admire their robot and didn't find any of the students or adults in their pit to be cold in any way, just a nice bunch of people who were completely willing to talk about how their team and their robot works.