[KathieK]

I misunderstood Craig's initial post, as he indicated earlier. My definition of a "successful" team is probably different from most other people's. My definition of a successful team has nothing to do with the competition outcome. To me a successful FIRST team is one that has inspired young people, who may never have thought of joining a robotics team, to get involved and learn more about science, engineering, technology and math.

I'm not opposed to an application system; in fact, I think it's a good thing for team leaders to find out why someone wants to be on the team and what their goals are so they can help them achieve those goals. Many student applications that I have read have said, "Because I think it will be fun." Well, that statement should open up a dialog with that person to find out why they think it will be fun to be on the robotics team, and from there, you can find out where their interests lie. It opens a dialog that should begin with the expectations of being a member of the team - time and financial commitments, etc. But I am not in favor of a team which is selective in their membership. Maybe I got shut out of too many activities in high school that were competitive, like sports, the newspaper, etc. And, you need to be careful in the setting you are in - in some schools a "team" implies a selective process will be used for membership and a "club" must have open enrollment. And the school often defines which type of organization you are.