[Bob Steele]

My recommendation is to find a veteran team that is close to you and willing and have students go and attend their meetings and see how a team is run.
Ask for help... most teams will offer it...

Another great exercise is to go back a few years and pull out an old game from the archives (game manual and kickoff materials), pretend that is the new game and do brainstorming and strategy on the game as you see it in those materials. Don't have students check out any videos of the game online but just do what you will have to do at kickoff. Start your design process and sketch out what your robot would look like and what capabilities it would have. Then take that 'model' and figure out your game strategy.

At that point, go and dig up game videos from that year... perhaps look at the ones from the championship and see how the game was really played. See if your strategy would have worked. Look for robots that were similar to the one you "modeled"

Assess whether you made good choices or bad choices... what was successful in the real game? Did it play the way you thought it would play? What would you do differently ?

This is a great exercise for a new team ( and for many veteran teams too)


Something else that mentors/coaches need to do is to identify sources of the materials you will be needing and make contact with them... find out how you can order and get things quickly... having a source list before the season (just ask around if you need help doing this..) will enable you to react more quickly and maximize your time on task.

Lastly, figure out how you are going to handle money now.... How does your school do it? If you have grants how do you access them? Can someone be reimbursed and how do you do it and how quickly can they get their money back.... cash flow can be tricky depending on how your team funds are kept.

FIRST and foremost... ask other teams for help We all like to do it..
We all like everyone to succeed!! and you will....

good luck and see you on the field!!