[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Mike Schreiber

Ryan,

Thanks for the accolades, but I didn't really mean us. I was referring to teams like 1114 whose majority of mentors only meet on weekends, and 1678 who I'm hoping Mike Corsetto will elaborate on because I'd be interested in hearing it.

As for our 3 day build schedule, that is our 'official schedule' where all student attendance is required. It usually is accurate for the first 3 weeks until we really start building a robot. Until then it's a lot of detailed design hours that aren't always done on site. After week 3 we start meeting more often to actually build both robots. we add unofficial Monday and Wednesday meetings around then if there are parts that need to be made or assembled or practice bot needs programming. Week 6 usually ends up being a 6 day week. In 3 years on HOT I've only come in on one Sunday - this year.

I think its fair to say that not every team, especially ours, can follow a schedule like Team 67 or 1114, if what youre referencing is true.
We meet 7 days a week and they pretty long per day. In fact, its the opposite for us where I can count on my fingers the last 10 years we took a Sunday off (Superbowl Sunday included for some).
The biggest factor is mentor experience and not every team has that level of talent relatively speaking.
We definitely rank among the best when it comes to commitment, desire, and a determination to succeed. However, we spend way too many hours trying to overcome talent in trying to do so.
There is a lot of pressure when you spend lots of money to attend regionals and the robot never coming back to your shop (and no 2nd robot) from end of build season to the middle of May.
If I had one suggestion that would put the situations described by the OP on FIRST, it would be to provide resources/suggestions to teams on how to address some of them. Many newer/rookie teams have leaned on veteran teams for suggestions....I get that. But perhaps coming from FIRST it would do a whole lot more for the FRC community.

Teams with experience and resources have a huge advantage when it comes to FRC tournament logistics. They can focus more on the competition, strategy and scouting vs. those that dont........including making sure students stay hydrated/fed.