Personally, I have made a great many friendships through FIRST, both on geographically close teams, and teams far away. Through the ChiefDelphi forums, and the Tigerbolt chatroom, I have made a great many friendships with students on teams from Washington state, to Wisconsin, to New York State, to Virginia, and all the way down to Florida.
These team-run networks of participants are key in creating and maintaining strong inter-team friendships, and I, personally, am very thankful for them.
Locally, through working with the Western Regional Robotics Forum, I have made a great many friends, as well. Setting up things like off-season competitions, and seminars and workshops are other great arenas for us to interact with our counterparts on other teams. I've made some great friendships with both students and mentors / coaches on many local teams.
I believe that, because of the fact that the FIRST game is usually not fantastically competitive makes it a lot easier to become friends with members of other teams. Sure, if the game is 2v2, you might be against them, but friends understand the game, and honestly, there's the same chance that you'll be teamed up with them.
I would definitely have to say that FIRST is a great vehicle for creating friendships between students all over the country, not even taking into account the kind of effects it has on them through learning. Oh yeah, we learn from eachother, too.
