[3132MentorMike]

It’s really encouraging to see the lively discussion this thread is creating. FIRST was originally founded around US-focused issues in the 1990s but it has turned into a powerhouse for things globally today and into the future. I would like to think that Dean and Woodie may have hoped back then that it would grow beyond USA and North America, but they never imagined what we have today and where we are headed. Joe and the 987 High Rollers have really taken FRC in China to heart and made it a passion. Jesser is “living the dream”, by taking all the great experiences of 1772 Trailblazers in Brazil and making a difference with younger teams in Australia and now China.

3132 Thunder Down Under has been privileged to help a lot of new countries come to FRC—Australia, Dominican Republic, Taiwan, Singapore, China, Japan, and others---and each one has had its challenges, but these challenges get overcome by older FRC teams and experienced volunteers. We feel like we are just paying back all the help we got when we started FRC in Australia in 2009 from 2342 Team Phoenix in NH, 368 Kika Mana in HI (even though Osa humbly denies it!), 365 “MOE” in DE, 126 Gael Force in MA, all the fine folks at BAE Systems who ran the old Granite State Regional, FIRST HQ, and others.

FRC internationally is not just taking FRC from USA and having build season, or even a regional, in a foreign country. You’ve all probably heard of the challenges with shipping costs and delays, with customs for robots and spare parts, etc. As someone who started doing FRC in USA and then moved overseas, I didn’t realize the subtle differences culturally that make FRC different abroad. Sometimes these differences make it harder, sometimes they make it easier, but all of it put together all over the world is FRC. FRC has become a global phenomenon and not just an American thing transplanted to other places.

I remember watching the old “FRC Promo Lan” video with Larry Pag,e and Dean saying that a student in FRC would go on to find the cure for cancer or invent an engine that doesn’t pollute. But I think FRC is much bigger than this. When I see an alliance come together with teams from the USA, China, and Taiwan, I have hope that one day one of the students from that alliance will stop a war, because they remember THAT alliance and how they banded together to win the first FRC regional in Australia this past March. I hope they remember that at the regional, they had more uniting them than dividing them.

What makes FIRST the best at what it does is that all of us participating in FRC are becoming and can be a truly global community. We have a common love for STEM and robotics and competing like crazy. We have a common ethic in our notion of GP. And we are demonstrating that we don’t care where you are in the world: come join us……if you want, we are happy to stop by and help you out!