[FRC Blog] Helping Rookie Teams

[EricH]

Originally Posted by The_ShamWOW88

Are the parents/guardians of said students willing to allow said students the time required?

How much parent/guardian involvement/interest do you have?

IMO, this is probably the #1 most important question set. It might fall to #2, but only behind the mentor commitment level long-term.

And the reason for that is this: If one of the other aspects fails, and the parents are behind the team, they can and will do as much as they can (and/or assist the students to do as much as they can) to keep the team alive for another year. If the parents are not involved, the team will fold very easily if one of the other legs (mentor or funding) is yanked.

I am willing to bet that of the FRC teams that have folded over the years, the vast majority did not have their parents supporting them. Probably most of the rest had "minimal support" and a shallow mentor base.

[wireties]

Students are awesome, they love it once they get involved. Dedicated teachers and mentors are the core of a team and lack of them is a killer. Maybe teams with good mentor situations can do a lone-a-mentor-ish type of thing. We talked about that in Texas one year and I put my name in the pot but got no calls.

Perhaps FIRST could facilitate a more structured effort?

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by EricH

IMO, this is probably the #1 most important question set. ...
I am willing to bet that of the FRC teams that have folded over the years, the vast majority did not have their parents supporting them.

Eric is right. Committed parents will step into whatever role is necessary to sustain a team -- I know several who have remained committed long after their kids graduated. Some become mentors, some become key volunteers, some sustain booster organizations. Generally, I think these key parents become committed because they get the FIRST vision.

[Brandon Ha]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

Eric is right. Committed parents will step into whatever role is necessary to sustain a team -- I know several who have remained committed long after their kids graduated. Some become mentors, some become key volunteers, some sustain booster organizations. Generally, I think these key parents become committed because they get the FIRST vision.

I think the hardest thing about parents is the post graduation years and why some rookies continue for only one year after there initial year. Parents obviously want to watch their child succeed and if it takes a year of sucking it up they can do it, for them its worth it to see their "adults" graduate happy. But after they graduate, after they have sucked it up they leave. What else do they have to stay for. On my team, we had two business mentors leave at the same time. For the offseason, we did not know how to contact our sponsors, they even thought they were talking to one of the mentors.

I guess what I am trying to say is, its the parents who are the most influential in keeping a school's FRC Team successfully running. They can get the school boards to allow and push the program through. They are the ones who are care free about the success of the team, only driven on the success of the kids because their kids were there.

[weaversam8]

Sheesh. I feel lucky my 3rd year team is doing well.

[piersklein]

As a member of a now second year team I have a few comments about what we found most helpful in our Rookie season. Besides what has already been said about parents and mentors, which I fully agree with, there is more. The main thing, I found, was getting support and mentor(ing) from other teams. I would like to thank team 348 for their huge support and also team 125 for their workshops and mechanical help. The support of veteran teams really cannot be underestimated. Having veteran teams was incredibly helpful in every stage of the process from registration, to build season, to loaning parts at competition.

One thing my team will be trying out this year is a "ride along" type of program. There is another local school with interest in the program but does not have the resources at the moment to sponsor a team. This year we will have a small number of their stundents on our team so they learn the process and have a head start when creating a rookie team next year. Has this been done by anyone else? If so, any helpful hints?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by piersklein

One thing my team will be trying out this year is a "ride along" type of program. There is another local school with interest in the program but does not have the resources at the moment to sponsor a team. This year we will have a small number of their stundents on our team so they learn the process and have a head start when creating a rookie team next year. Has this been done by anyone else? If so, any helpful hints?

5124 spun off of 1197 this last year by using a similar method. They beat us in L.A. elims pretty handily, so it seems to have worked there.

There is one caveat that I would suggest throwing in there, and this is something that both of you should keep in mind. If more than 5 students from that school play on your team, and then start the team at their school, that school's team will not be considered rookies, but rather a "new veteran" with the same rookie year as you guys have. Plan accordingly. This is FIRST's standard, I'd have to look up where it's located.

[orangemoore]

Originally Posted by EricH

5124 spun off of 1197 this last year by using a similar method. They beat us in L.A. elims pretty handily, so it seems to have worked there.

There is one caveat that I would suggest throwing in there, and this is something that both of you should keep in mind. If more than 5 students from that school play on your team, and then start the team at their school, that school's team will not be considered rookies, but rather a "new veteran" with the same rookie year as you guys have. Plan accordingly. This is FIRST's standard, I'd have to look up where it's located.

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...-team-criteria

6. If individual students who have been involved in a team leave that school and start a team in their new school that team also is generally considered a Rookie providing it meets condition 1, and does not involve sufficient students to be considered a version of condition 3. As a maximum, the number of students in the new team that have competed in prior teams must not exceed 5.