[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by FRC4ME

For the record, I didn't understand the values of FIRST until my first regional either. Then, after witnessing one competition, I was absolutely blown away by the level of cooperation and the sense of community. I immediately "got" gracious professionalism without ever being taught the formal definition of that term (in fact, I still couldn't recite the formal definition). The biggest "wow" for me was when I watched a team in the finals use their own timeout to go fix the robot of the opponent they were about to battle for the win. Just watching that was enough; no one needed to explain to me why it was occurring.

What I'm getting at is that it's the community (i.e. us), not the mentors of one specific team, who is responsible for spreading the real meaning of FIRST.

This is true but if new teams and even older teams can develop their program and strengthen it before the competition, that strengthens the competition. In some regionals recently, there have been many rookie teams participating. It is wonderful to see the veteran teams help the rookies and others, but it would also be helpful to have support in place during pre-build season and/or build season - not just at the competitions.

If you are at an event and there is a split of understanding, that is difficult to overcome. The division/split/misunderstandings can be eased through earlier training, off seasons, teams having fun together designing and implementing some team building exercises/workshops alongside the workshops in the technical side of things.

Jane