Quote:
Originally Posted by Pjohn1959
I too would like to see more of this get applied to sustaining teams. While growth is good (and Texas has shown it has been leading in this for the past few years), being able to maintain a stable and sustaining team would be more beneficial to the FIRST community.
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I couldn't agree with this more. I think it's great that Texas has taken such an interest in the program. However, quality is better than quantity, especially when it comes to FRC teams.
If I had to critique the FIRST program, probably one of the first things I would say is too much effort is being expended on getting new teams started and not enough effort making sure formed teams stay afloat. Case in point: FIRST team numbers now stem into the 3000s. Why doesn't FIRST have that many teams competing in a season? According to the FIRST website, the projected number of FRC teams in 2010 is 1,800. Where did they all go? Yes, some have merged, some may have folded and started anew, and some may have fizzled out due to lack of members. But what about the rest? This means that almost half the teams ever started are no longer in existence. There's got to be a reason behind this, and I'm actually surprised there hasn't been more research as to why all these teams seem to be disappearing.
I personally would like to see speeches during this year's kick-off/at Championships that revolve around sustainability of formed teams, rather than ways to get new teams formed. FIRST is like a huge extended family, so why aren't we taking care of our own?