[JaneYoung]

Never one to be short of opinions, I'd like to share one now.

FRC teams face daunting tasks each year - be they rookies, young veterans, or old war horses. The daunting tasks are not just about building the robot and not just about competing in an awesome event. The daunting tasks have to do with sustainability and setting short term and long term goals to help insure a safety net for sustaining a team and keeping it stable - allowing it to compete at its best level and ability. Without stability, the team can suffer and so can its competitive edge.

Teams must each look at the health of their team, realistically assessing and reassessing its strengths and weaknesses. Much of that has to do with the people involved in running the team. Take time to develop your program so that you have people to fall back on and to step in when it is time to turn over the reins. Take time to do what it takes to develop a booster club or a parent association that will work hard in areas of fundraising, organization, and stability. Take time to really think about forming/obtaining a 501(c)3 status and understanding that process and what it will take. Take time to figure out who the robots/tools/team materials belong to. Make sure that it is understood. If they belong to the school/school district - then deal with it, knowing that up front. If there are shades of gray, explore the shades of gray as best you can so that informed decisions can be made as the team continues to grow and develop or - when there is a serious downturn in budgets and/or space.

Sustainability and stability in FRC teams is the key to FRC's future.

If people are posting and making complaints about how their team is short on funds or that its existence is threatened or has been in the past - take a look at how that has happened and what the safeguards are that the team put in place or could have put in place to prevent or lessen the threat. If the team has done everything it possibly could towards creating a strong, stable, sustainable base then - it has leverage that can be very powerful. If it does nothing to help itself achieve its goals and strengthen those goals with each passing year - the leverage is weakened.

Just some food for thought.
Jane