[Nuttyman54]

First, this is one of the most inspiring threads I've read on CD in a while, thank you Alan for giving us all some insight into how your team is run.

I had the pleasure of spending champs with my new FRC team, 1983 Skunkworks Robotics. I've known them for a long time, having gone to school with several former students and now engaged to one of their mentors. Being a highly successful team in the Pacific Northwest region, they've also seen their share of the stereotyping, especially since they came out strong their rookie year and haven't slowed down since.

Like 341 and many other top teams, the have-nots assume "elite" teams just have money handed to them. Skunkworks has started to do sustainability workshops and provide other guidance to local teams about how they run their program, and how hard the students work to get their sponsors, maintain their sponsors, and fundraise 12 months out of the year to support their program. As a direct result, they're starting to see the attitude towards them change, as other teams start to realize that nothing is given to them for free, and the effort required to sustain the program.

The other team I'm involved with, 971, also had major hurdles to overcome this year. Many people do not know that we lost our main fabrication sponsor, Berger Manufacturing, last summer when they closed down. Berger had been a huge supporter of the team since 2006. The students and mentors both scoured their leads and worked tirelessly to get enough manufacturing capabilities lined up for the season to produce a competitive robot, and continue to work to give back to our sponsors, thank them for their support and show the impact they've had on the students. It just goes to show that things can happen to any team, no matter how young, old, struggling or established. The difference between continuing to be competitive and folding is how hard the team works to maintain their community relationships and establish new ones.

Teams need to hear these stories. They become inspired from this, because rather than feeling like they can never reach that level because they don't have the sponsors, they start to understand that they too can achieve that success by putting in the effort. It's eye-opening for a lot of teams. Thank you Daisy, for being a role model and an inspiration to so many teams.