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Re: Rookie Team Tips!
Keep a good attitude. This is a big part of the idea of Gracious Professionalism which has already been mentioned here, and if you can get the attitude down, then GP is a really easy thing to do. A good deal of why my team made eliminations our rookie year had a good deal to do with the impression we'd made on team 399, not how good we were on the field (we were actually pretty bad as far as our record went). The would have been absolutely right to have picked another team over us, one who was better suited to playing at that level, but instead they graciously allowed a rookie team to have the opportunity to have that experience
Also, make sure you enjoy what you do. Learn from what you do wrong, don't just dwell on it. It's not simply the number of trophies a team takes home or a winning record that makes a team successful, but whether you can overcome the challenges you face. If you and your teammates can come out of your first season with a feeling of having done something great, and a feeling of community and fellowship, even if you don't come home with "honor and glory", then that'll be all the success your team will need.
I'd also encourage you to get the students on your team out and talking to people at competition if possible, whether that means taking shifts in the pit or whatnot. There are some great friendships to be made at these competitions, and it's hard to find them when you keep to yourself staring at a laptop all day. If you can't get out during the comp time, then at least get out to the social or just talk to teams you share a hotel with. A lot of my favorite experiences in this program have been meeting interesting people from all over the place, something which a lot of us nerd-types don't normally get
I know my suggestions are less logistical and more idealistic, but I'd hate to see a rookie team get so caught up in the logistics of the team that they don't even realize what makes this program so great
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