[RoboMom]

After 3 years and 9 on and off season competitions, my humble opinion is that there are so many other factors that go into the pot to make a "winning"team. Like luck, your alliance partners, the state of your finances, who designs and engineers your robot, can you build two robots, do you have space to practice, who are your mentors, how much fun is the team having, how supportive is your school in allowing time off, how many AP courses are you taking, did you lose 11 days of the build because of blizzards, do you have supportive parents, do you get along with other teams, how is the respect and communication between all members of the team, do you live near a regional? Of course experience helps too. Some teams make the hard financial choice that it is more fun to go to two regionals, rather than the Championship. I could put down about a hundred more factors but you get the idea.
My sense is that FIRST is already stretched and would rather help teams by hosting more regionals. But I think this is an excellent discussion idea.
What is important in making a winning team?