New FRC Team

[CamdenK]

As of next year I will be leaving my team and moving to a new area. I understand that I will need sponsors, money, mentors and space, is there anything else that I may need to start a new FRC team?

[popnbrown]

Your passion. You know how successful a team can be, as such a team you are on currently.

Always remember, any obstacle you face there is a way around it given that you are willing to get around it. And if you have a tough time getting around it, there is someone to help you out with it. Do not be afraid to ask.

[popnbrown]

The less philosophical post:

Where are you moving to?

Make sure you are organized, put together a plan (written or in your head) and go about it.

You'll also need members. From my perspective as a mentor it's been tough to get students to be with us long enough to experience the thrill of FIRST, but perhaps as a student you'll do better.

Parents/School Support. This is the biggest thing that has helped our team become what it is. Mentors are busy as is with being with the team so often that it's not the easiest to take care of logistics or the small things that nobody remembers. We have a great booster club filled with parents that are committed to making this team continue. They stock our break room with too much food, clean the trash out, make sure that we don't lose any students on our trips, etc. On my old team out in NJ, the school provided a lot of the support for this.

I wish you the best of luck, and I'm sure there are more people qualified for starting a team than I am, but if you need help feel free to reach out.

[cmrnpizzo14]

Since it sounds like you are already on a team I will skip the whole necessary tools and parts and such since you already have at least some experience with that.

Spend your first year with the new team getting interest. You can always try and get more sponsors and make a better robot the next year but you can't do anything if you don't have the people. There is a team around the Rochester area (will not mention names or numbers here) that has phenomenal potential but they simply do not have the number of team members that they need to succeed. Always try to get more people and then you can do anything you want from there!

[kiasam111]

Check out FIRST Step on Youtube. There is heaps of information on there about mentoring an FRC team, and had some really insightful guests. Multiple mentors from Hall of Fame teams, and even Woodie Flowers himself.

http://www.youtube.com/user/FIRSTStepLivetoair

[HighlandersFRC]

Me and 3 other mentors started a team just about 1 year ago. In order to start the team, we created our own non-profit organization. Are you planning to start the team with the help of a school or other non-profit? If not, you will need to figure out if you should start your own non-profit or find one to work with. It took me about 8 months to fill out, submit and hear back from the IRS, so plan your time accordingly.
As far as sponsorship...my kids created a presentation and visited many business owners during the preseason to gain sponsorship. They also found local businesses that offered grants for supporting the local youth.
Please feel free to fire me off any other questions you may have...Our team was lucky enough to win the Rookie All Star award and will be preparing for the Championships so we are crazy busy getting ready for that. I would love to help you out...this is truly an amazing program and the kids are having so much fun!

[Joe Ross]

FIRST has a page dedicated to how to start a team: http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...rt-an-frc-team