[miketwalker]

I know that some teams found that FIRST didn't suit them as well over time based on the student population passing through. I know of at least one team which focused it's resources into Battlebots IQ (whom I will refrain from statin, because I know some people have big issues with BBIQ which I do not understand, but this isn't the thread for that discussion). Although some things are contradictory, it still motivated the kids and for a cheaper cost. For the cost of running one FIRST team to go through a few regionals and national, they were able to host 10 Battlebots IQ teams each consisting of 4-10 members. I am by no means saying BBIQ is better than FIRST, but I know that this situation applies with some things such as BEST and other competitions.

Although the competitions aren't necessarily as intense, for many teams the extreme fundraising often needed for a FIRST competition simply isn't possible. The introduction of VEX will be fulfilling many of these problems, but even still, I know that at least I would much rather be on an FRC team than VEX... simply for the fact that you must build such a large machine out've such a wide variety of items. VEX is a great cost alternative, but can't support such a large team and even though it inspires students, the full size FRC competition is just something that's really cool to watch in general with the whole 5' 120lb robot aspect and will always have more power because of it's more media-friendly side.

Either way, back to topic, teams will always continue to rise and fall. Fortunately, there are alternatives for teams who can't afford FRC. Although not substitutes, I think that the inspiration people get from a FIRST competition motivates them to continue with other programs (VEX, BBIQ, BEST, etc.) when they can't afford the cost of FRC which still keeps the domino-effect going.