[MikeReilly]

I love the intent of the thread, to grow and nurture PCH, and teams in GA in particular.

As a longtime mentor (1771, 4509, and year off or two), the hours can be long, the most successful teams have the teachers/mentors who can spend the hours, or have a great balance of mentors to share the load.

Bigger picture, let's look at what IS huge in GA: football. Like it or not, GA is one of the top states in the US for football. Why? The feeder system: they start out as 6 year olds, many families even hold the kid back a year to get bigger. In addition, GA rules allow football coaches to get extra stipends in various ways.

As a teacher/sponsor, the cash is nice, but it really is cool to watch you folks light up with that FRC magic. The bigger thing: are we doing all we can to nurture the younger kids? I have also spent the past semester mentoring FLL, VEX IQ and VEX EDR, and they need the help in the younger years!

Look at the places where the top teams in the world are from, and I guarantee you that high school football is not nearly as popular (I'm looking at YOU Simbotics, my Canadian friends...). It's a long term investment, but that's why they call it a "farm system". Get out their and grow the younger crowd, it will pay off in the long run.