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Re: What can FIRST do to increase FRC team sustainability?
It takes a few years for a team to form reliable, on-going partnerships with corporate sponsors. It also takes about the same amount of time for teams to create their own structure for spending through the course of a competition year. Having a regional structure in place to work with teams as they develop their programs can be helpful with this whether it is a regional director, FIRST senior mentor, or team of volunteers.
The other side of this is team management and support. There are many ways to do this, but many teams do spend a lot of time in their second and third years thinking about how this should look. A similar support group can be a great deal of help for mentors, teachers, and students on young teams.
Basically, the rookie year isn't the only year a team needs assistance with its formation.
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Nate Knauss
FRC 2729 Teacher-Drive Coach 2009-?, FTC 4390, FTC 7433
FRC 87 Student 2000-2002 and Mentor 2003-2006, FRC 1647 Mentor 2006-2008, FIRST Senior Mentor 2009-2013
"We can't change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand." -Randy Pausch
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