Should FRC Team name = HS athletic team name?

[Abhishek R]

Originally Posted by Chief Hedgehog

I think that the two should be the same. It has worked well for our Becker Bulldogs...

Err wait. We are not the Becker Bulldogs? What the heck does CIS stand for and who picked this ridiculous name that has no tie to our school or robotics team? Does ANYONE know what is going on with this team? Seriously - who chose this name? Mandatory large group meeting tomorrow.

Funny, my middle school was the "Beck Bulldogs."

[Ginger Power]

Originally Posted by Chief Hedgehog

I think that the two should be the same. It has worked well for our Becker Bulldogs...

Err wait. We are not the Becker Bulldogs? What the heck does CIS stand for and who picked this ridiculous name that has no tie to our school or robotics team? Does ANYONE know what is going on with this team? Seriously - who chose this name? Mandatory large group meeting tomorrow.

Wasn't me... I actually remember voting against it and for a much worse name. It turned out to be pretty fun to chant though!

[XaulZan11]

1732 wanted to find a name that wasn't our school mascot, but we couldn't come up with/agree with one (we wanted to be named the "Jumping Jesuits" but it was nixed by the school), so we stuck with our school mascot of the Hilltoppers. I do not think we would have made that decision if "Hilltoppers" wasn't unique.

In the FIRST community, having a unique or memorable name can be extremely beneficial. But in your school community, having the same name has a lot of benefits (especially if there is a lot of school spirit or successful sports teams).

[Oblarg]

4464 is not associated with a school, so N/A.

449 does not use the school's official team name (which is "blazers"), but does use the school colors. We have occasionally borrowed the school mascot costume for competitions, though.

[Dunngeon]

955 uses CV Robotics, which is identical to CV football/basketball/baseball.
CVHS=Crescent Valley High School, which is shortened district wide to CV

The mascot is a Raider, and we use a modified raider logo for branding.

We used to name our robot Raiderbot (year since we started), but we are tossing that this year and going with a different naming scheme.

Our colors are identical to the school as well.

[dtengineering]

We combined our school mascot, the "Trojan" with "Robotics" and got "Trobotics".

And while we proudly stuck with the name, my advice would be that every possible combination of "....botics" and "Robo....." has been done to death.

However it is only people in FRC that know that... in your community linking the school mascot to something robotical will help people make connections with both the school and what you are doing.

But what I would suggest is that whatever name, colours and logos you choose... STICK WITH THEM. Your team will develop a reputation based on the character of the students, the quality of your robot, your presence in the pits and stands and your presentations to the judging panels.

Many judges and volunteers come back year after year... we get to know teams, probably better than you might expect, and that is almost always a positive. If you are going to change your image than make sure you have a good reason, follow a logical process, document the process and explain it to the judges.

Finally, whatever your team name is... find something that makes you unique. Our first ever FRC award was for our innovative use of plywood... so we built on that angle using plywood as key structural components of our robot every year. We won at least two more awards that cited our use of plywood, and when I retired from the team and joined the judging panel, I discovered that not just other teams... but many judges... would make a point of coming by our pit area to see what we had done with plywood this year.

As a Canadian team competing primarily in the states, we made hockey sticks a key component of our design. When I introduced myself to the other judges, they didn't all know who Trobotics was, or who 1346 was... but they sure knew who the team in the red shirts and black pants with plywood and hockey sticks on their robot was. (It was the Canadians, eh?)

Choose whatever name you want... but don't count on your name to make you stand out. It is the overall package that will establish your reputation.

Jason

[Chadfrom308]

Our team is not associated with a single school. And the name is nothing like our schools. Monsters != Vikings, Warriors, or Knights

I know 548 (Robostangs) are associated with their mascot/school (Mustangs)

Waterford Mott Destroyers (WMD) is associated with their school

I can think of more that are not associated

[The_ShamWOW88]

We're the Aztecs but our team added an H to the end to get Aztechs...

[BrendanB]

When our team started we opted more to tie in with our town/community of Windham, New Hampshire which is how we came to be The Windham Windup. We knew we didn't want to directly use the school's jaguar mascot in our name because of how many teams throw "robo" or some other tech word before their mascot. It wouldn't be unique to us which is why we tied in elsewhere for the name but included the jaguar in our logo.

We also didn't use the school's colors of navy & gold but opted for close relatives in the color wheel of black & yellow. No one particularly liked the school's colors and we knew we wanted to wear polo shirts for a more professional look however the shop that did our shirts also serviced the school so we would have had the same shirts all the athletic coaches wore which wouldn't have gone over well.

I personally think schools care more about colors and care less about the name. It has been mentioned to us but our colors are so close its not a big issue.

[catacon]

1444 was originally associated with a high school whose mascot was the Lancer. So we decided upon the "Lightning Lancers" for our team name and used the same colors (black and gold). We have since left the school, but retained the name and colors. There has been some discussion of changing both, but there is a decent amount of "brand recognition" associated with our name/colors, so it doesn't really make sense to change.

[hrench]

Our team, 1108, is called "Panther Robotics", our school mascot, but because "Panther" is probably the first or second most common team mascot, there are at least eight teams that are variations of panthers and robots. One is across town in our own metro area.

I've heard kids in the past be very disappointed with our name. Something more creative but still with ties to the school would be my recommendation.

[MamaSpoldi]

Team 230 has often been asked where we got our name, a.k.a. "What the heck is a gaelhawk?" The Gaelhawks name comes from a combination of the high school mascot, the Gael, and a well-known product from our originating and continuing primary sponsor Sikorsky Aircraft, the Black Hawk helicopter.

Gael + Hawk = GaelHawks!

I think the sponsor tie-in is a good one that is maybe not seen as often. We also use the school colors of orange and black. The combination of those colors and "Gael" as part of our name definitely help make us part of the school's team community. Of course, our tshirt cannon at the pep rallies helps too.

[mrnoble]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

And while we proudly stuck with the name, my advice would be that every possible combination of "....botics" and "Robo....." has been done to death.

However it is only people in FRC that know that... in your community linking the school mascot to something robotical will help people make connections with both the school and what you are doing.

Agree with your full post. I'm pretty sure we are the only AngelBots around, though. We chose to adapt our team name to our school mascot in 2009 so that we could help our students feel like they were part of the larger community, and help our school support our team. We have continued to "theme" each year differently, though, because we have so many artistic and theatrical students. We may eventually settle into our school colors and team uniforms when I get tired of the annual process.

[Libby K]

West Windsor-Plainsboro School District has two high schools, North and South.

Team 1923 was originally based out of North (The Knights). At the time, we were Royal Knights Robotics. Blue and grey, the exact same knight logo as the athletic department ...we matched the school pretty well.

Fast forward a few years and we end up offering membership to students from South (The Pirates). We were told by the District we were not allowed to use either school's colors, logos, or other branding - one, because that would 'show favoritism' and they wanted it to look like a unified team, and two, we had just moved to build outside of district property, and weren't really affiliated with the schools anymore... so we changed up the look.

The MidKnight Inventors are black and silver, with their own logo - we keep the K in there as nod to our roots - and their own branding package for fonts, alternative colors, etc. that keeps it neutral between the two schools. As a result, students from both high schools are proud to wear their team gear around town.

With such a large team now (and MidKnight Minions, Mini's etc. through younger programs) the logo's become recognizable in our area. I was in line at a coffee shop in my team hoodie, and a woman said "Oh, my friend's son is on that team! What part of the robot do you work on?" Wow. That's the dream right there, isn't it? (Not the part where she thought I was a high schooler, but you get my drift.)

TL;DR: Branding with the school is great if you're the only school involved, but having your own identity can really help.

[Abhishek R]

Personally, I like having a distinct theme apart from the other organizations at our school. Cinco Ranch is pretty big, fielding a little under 4000 students, so there are a ridiculous amount of student clubs and organizations. Our colors are maroon and white with the cougar for mascot, so it seems like band, orchestra, choir, academic decathlon, all the athletics - they all have maroon and white shirts.

So when you see a black/neon green shirt in the crowd, it's almost instantly recognizable