[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

I'm still not entirely sure what GP means, but if I had to pick teams that were GP, the teams you are describing are at the top of my list.

I came across a post from November 2004 that describes GP as I've experienced in FIRST:

GP is so ingrained in the high school program and in FIRST in general, I keep forgetting that rookies and FLL teams may not have heard of it yet. The concept is simply that we are all on one big team. We help each other out whenever needed or asked, we answer questions about our strategy, design or software and gladly show off our robot to anyone interested. I know that this sounds rather farfetched with the sports mentality we are all brought up with but it does work. In the high school competition it goes as far as to force teams to play together as alliances when competing. This concept forces students and mentors to freely exchange ideas and thoughts for the greater good. It is why you can turn to this forum and get answers from people you will compete against and not worry that someone is giving you a wrong answer. I write here and answer questions because I want you and your students to succeed. If you beat our team, all the better, I know I had a hand in your success.

Essentially, GP embodies all the fundamentals of guidelines like the Boy Scout Law, etc. and in it's simplest form it means acting (everywhere and all the time) like your grandmother is watching. So when I say "Ask me anything" you know I mean it and if I don't have an answer I will defer to someone who will.
You are never alone in FIRST, just ask for help.

--Al Skierkiewicz (FRC111)

"Mentor-dominated" teams are more likely to meet these standards of GP than purely student-run teams. The "mentor-dominated" teams are more likely to share their talents, experience and knowledge because they want to see success for the FIRST program, not just their team.

Don't knock teams that have heavy mentor involvement, they may be the first to offer help when your team is really in need.