[R.C.]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

In terms of making FRC a better program, yes. You have it nailed squarely on the head, with one glaring exception.

FRC Team 1137, Rocket Sauce, is based out of Mathews High School from Mathews County, VA. The town has a population that is solidly under 9000. They are not the richest team in the state. I will link you to their Blue Alliance profile from their rookie year in 2003. Here, you can see all of the matches they have played. You will notice 2 things about the team's participation in FIRST from its founding through 2015. The team made it to semifinals once, and was more likely to not make eliminations than make them. They never went to more than one regional. They only ever went to championships when they could afford it and get a spot on the waitlist.

Here is their profile for 2016.

There was no big change for this program besides the introduction of the district system into the region. Through this initiative, 1137 was able to make it to the elimination rounds at all 3 of their events. You will also notice that after making it to semifinals at their first event, they went back, made some changes to their machine, and made finals at their second event.

This is not a large-scale competitive team. This is also not a team that needed the bar to be lowered for them. They needed some fuel for their jetpack and they got it.

I love this example, even spent time checking them out on TBA! Its crazy this same team attended 4 events in one year, which is equivalent to their past 4 years combined.