[fredliu168]

Personally I chose to start an FTC (FVC) team during my senior year of high school rather than continue on the FRC team at my school. I expected FRC to turn out to be like the previous year, where there was 3-4 people doing everything and the rest of the team hanging around playing CS.

What I learned later was that instead of the students even touching the robot during the first 5 weeks of build season, the second year team machine shopped the entire thing and spent a day putting together the parts into the final robot. When I spoke to the team leader, I got the impression that they just wanted to do well in the competition and didn't think the current team could pull it off. I spoke with some friends on that team, and they all said they didn't do anything at all, or something completely unrelated to the robot. I'm very disappointed, to even this very day.

Doing FVC allowed everyone to get involved in the building process, since the teams are so small. I met some great people and learned a lot more than if I was on the FRC team. I was certainly much more inspired by FVC.

My point is, see what the limits are of your team. If you think your team can handle the FRC program financially and has the talent and time to pull it off, go for it. If not, maybe a very sucessful FTC/IFI season could be more inspiring for the students.