[2544HCRC]

I would like to chime in as a mentor of an older weak team. We (2544) have been in the game since 2008 and on the edge of survival since then. Had there been an active FTC base in the area we would have moved to that I am sure.

1. I completely agree with the elimination of bag day for the reasons given above. We have never been rich enough to produce a 2nd robot. We MIGHT do it this year because we were trying to have enough money to go to a second event and failed.

2. There were a couple of years where I was it. I was THE mentor for the entire team along with trying to hold down a full time job. I was super lucky as my job duties at the time allowed me time during the work day to spend time on robotics. When I was put back in a classroom as a teacher I strongly considered folding the team. A couple of engineering mentors came along and that was enough to keep the team afloat. Not running well, just afloat. I don't know how some of the mentors do it but if you are on a team hug your mentors, really. I have read some stories on here about students and mentors clashing and as a stressed out mentor I can read the stress between the lines. Mentoring is a hard thankless job as there are SO many things that have nothing to do with building robots. Ask me about the time the superintendent called me because I forgot to forward the list of students to the attendance secretary... It's all those tiny tasks that need to be done. I think the six week build season is really hard on mentors. My point is that anything can be the last straw for a mentor. A couple of bad parents, students, an administration that becomes unsupportive. A purchasing system that moves at glacial speeds. I know a mentor from another team that ended up in trouble over lesson planning because he was mentoring and didn't have the time to plan for school. With the new teacher evaluation system the paperwork has increased substantially. Look for more teams folding in the future over this one. Solution- Promote mentor teams and provide training for teams of mentors.

3. Funding- Thank god for GE. I know they get a bad rap in the press for being the equivalent to the empire but for us they are an amazing sponsor. We have Mike Hayes (and yes I am calling him out by name because he is amazing) inside GE working tirelessly for us. Mike has been a Woodie Flowers award winner and deservedly so. He is the mentor that isn't for us. His work has meant that the base funding is a non issue for us. I look at other teams and have no idea how they do it. We would have folded long ago without Mike or GE. See number 2. Funding might be that straw as mentor time is chewed up chasing down dollars. Solution- divert the FIRST stream of funding to individual teams. Teams should GET $5,000 from FIRST to go to a competition not give $5,000 TO FIRST.

4. The curriculum issue is real people. Most of us are school based and schools want to see value. Explaining the reality of robotics is very difficult. Only half of students in the program learn about robotics. The other half are designing t-shirts, setting up hotel reservations, sending out sponsor letters and thank you letters, etc. On the robot side we are set up in a programming group, build group, etc. So the build group has only a passing knowledge of the programming and vice versa. We try to cross train and do training in the fall but it has varying levels of success. During build only so many students can fit around the robot. Rarely do we have students with the talent to machine parts so those go off site based on our drawings and specs. Students have to be self motivated to find a place. I see many students that don't have that drive to make themselves useful. They get frustrated and stop showing up. We try to find things for them to do but then these same students don't like being assigned to "menial" tasks. During build there is very little time to train students. It is go time and there is no time. Solution- Provide more off season opportunities as well as some sort of mini bot that can be programmed in the same way as the larger bots. I know FTC was supposed to fill this role but the timing is off. FTC should happen in December when FLL is happening, maybe at the same event as FLL or the next day. Make FTC use the same 4 x 8 field as FLL so event tables can be dual purposed. This might provide a way to train people and have students work in smaller teams on more inexpensive robots.

5. Sport maturity- This happens in motorsports all the time. Look at trans-am in the 1970's if you want to see an analogy to FRC or look to formula 1 now. A few teams dominate the season and seem to do so year over year. And every year it gets a little harder to compete with those teams. A couple of posters eluded to this in the posts. The advice was that rookie teams shouldn't build a sophisticated robot. I agree, but you aren't going to go up against a sophisticated team and win or get selected for an alliance. Personally, I had to make a decision that FRC was only going to take up x number of hours in my life. We are never going to be a powerhouse team with me as lead mentor. I just don't have the time or expertise. I am totally willing to step aside into a support role if someone wanted to step in and lead the team to greatness. So far that person hasn't shown up. Solution- Elimination of bag day, Divisions system like Formula 1,2,3 or SCCA car classes. Or any dirt track that has semi late and late model races. Teams have different focus. Maybe there is a "super stock" class that requires a kit frame, kit motors, etc. And an open class that allows more sophisticated builds. Waterjet frames, unobtanium bearings, etc. Maybe allow teams to field robots in EACH class if they want. It sets up a bit of a jv and varsity system. I know FTC is supposed to provide this jv system but it doesn't now. FTC should overlap on the field that is FLL or FRC. It shouldn't be it's own thing.

5. School support- I don't know about your team but my students want to be recognized for what they do but they aren't the type of students that seek out public recognition. As a matter of fact most turn a bit pale at the thought of speaking in front to their peers. We usually have one or two students that are really good at that PR piece to put out front but sometimes we don't. We also are in our robot hole for six weeks and then we go to 1 hard to explain competition. It is hard to explain ranking, alliance selection and eliminations to someone that asks "How did you do?" Solution- More events in a "season" Your $5,000 should buy you into 2 events at least if not more. Maybe 2 smaller events and then a regional. If there was no bag day, maybe more off season events could happen in the weeks leading up to a regional.