[Zach O]

Congratulations on your successful year! I'm glad to hear that as a rookie team you have the chance to compete at Nationals!

Just to make sure, have you tried contacting your sponsors? I don't know which sponsors you have, but even if you ask them all for a small donation, it would help to offset the costs. Have you talked to your school or community about donating money towards you going?

And things to look into if your planning on going now: Do you have a place to stay reserved yet? I know almost everyplace near the event site is completely booked up. Do you know how your getting around? Marta passes to get from place to place are a good option that many teams take. Look to save money also in food. See if instead of budgetting for people to go out for lunches, see if parents would be able to do some sort of lunch meat donations that would keep in a cooler that you could bring down for sandwiches, or something along those lines.

Just some things to think about if you haven't already.