[BrendanB]

I would advise that you sit down with the head coach/teacher/mentor on the team and discuss what the goals of the team are for that year. Expand further to include other mentors & parents and eventually communicate that goal to the students. Each year on team 3467 we set a new goal which to our surprise we have met! When our rookie team was founded in the fall of 2010 our team's head coach was very experienced in FIRST and communicated that our team's goals were to build a simple robot that was an effective member of an alliance and to win the Rookie All Star award. From that moment on those were the items we focused on even with a small team of about 10 kids. We were successful in both goals but through the process our decision making reflected building a simple robot and winning RAS.

Make it fun! Get these kids excited about being involved with FIRST so your team comes back stronger and larger for future seasons!

Celebrate the little things! While some accomplishments might not seem amazing, for rookie teams they are huge! Winning a match, scoring some points, being selected for eliminations, making a prototype, solving a problem, overcoming a challenge, working together as a team, etc are huge accomplishments! Make the kids proud of what they have achieved.

Give them a tour of other robots. See if a nearby FRC team wouldn't mind bringing over a robot for them to check out. At competitions, take them around the pit to as many robots as you can and show them something new with each robot! Make some friends in the process.