New rookie team

[Dunngeon]

Can your area support another team? FRC teams are expensive, both in manpower and monetarily.

[EDesbiens]

Originally Posted by Dunngeon

Can your area support another team? FRC teams are expensive, both in manpower and monetarily.

Well, we don't have a lot of team in Québec... And I'm on good tracks for the monetary point... So I think it's ok

[Akash Rastogi]

If I'm understanding this correctly, you want to start a new team, as a student, even though you have access to a team already, because it would be "fun?" Can you please clarify why you want to start a team? What is the demand for a new team in your area?

People on here who tend to say "go for it!" and "wow great idea!" typically have not started their own teams before or have never ran one (successful one at least). That's a blanket statement I'm willing to make, sure.

Please know that starting and running a team is an extremely challenging thing to do as an adult, so I'm concerned you want to start a team for no real reason. Starting a mediocre or terrible team is easier, but ask yourself if that's really what you want. I only know of less than a handful of high school students who brought a new and successful FRC team to life on their own.

So, I have to ask; why?

[EDesbiens]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

If I'm understanding this correctly, you want to start a new team, as a student, even though you have access to a team already, because it would be "fun?" Can you please clarify why you want to start a team? What is the demand for a new team in your area?

People on here who tend to say "go for it!" and "wow great idea!" typically have not started their own teams before or have never ran one (successful one at least). That's a blanket statement I'm willing to make, sure.

Please know that starting and running a team is an extremely challenging thing to do as an adult, so I'm concerned you want to start a team for no real reason. Starting a mediocre or terrible team is easier, but ask yourself if that's really what you want. I only know of less than a handful of high school students who brought a new and successful FRC team to life on their own.

So, I have to ask; why?

First of all, I had a conflict with one of the main mentors of my last team for the past three seasons... This helped me to quit the team... I didn't want to join another existing team because it seemed like an act of treason toward my friends... So, instead, I decided to give myself a challenge : create my own team. But I wanted to do different from other teams. So I'm the only student on the team, I'm not affiliated to any school and I do everything I can to promote FIRST.

That's why...

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by EDesbiens

First of all, I had a conflict with one of the main mentors of my last team for the past three seasons... This helped me to quit the team... I didn't want to join another existing team because it seemed like an act of treason toward my friends... So, instead, I decided to give myself a challenge : create my own team. But I wanted to do different from other teams. So I'm the only student on the team, I'm not affiliated to any school and I do everything I can to promote FIRST.

That's why...

I'm going to be as polite as I can... As someone who was involved in running a rookie team (unsuccessfully)... that's a really BAD reason.

Sort out your problems. In the real world you can't just pull a Bender and start your own casino with hookers and blackjack and beer. Instead of running away like a chump, figure out what the conflicts were and how you can resolve them because that's what you're going to have to do in life.

And joining another team isn't an act of treason, I've joined plenty of other teams (moving around the country does that) and I've played with and against my former teammates, no hard feelings. If you can't resolve your issues, join another team.

[EDesbiens]

I understand your point but my main goal is to have a challenge... I want to learn things, to get experience. The team is created, it's on TIMS... I started looking for sponsors and I'm already working to prepare the build period. My goal is not to have the best robot ever, I only want to prove myself and everyone that if you want something, you only need to put efforts.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by EDesbiens

I understand your point but my main goal is to have a challenge... I want to learn things, to get experience. The team is created, it's on TIMS... I started looking for sponsors and I'm already working to prepare the build period. My goal is not to have the best robot ever, I only want to prove myself and everyone that if you want something, you only need to put efforts.

...You can also challenge yourself by joining an existing team and helping them become stronger, win a regional, or more.

There are plenty of ways to challenge yourself and striving for excellence without wasting a good chunk of money, and your sanity.

[EDesbiens]

I'm already insane... Nothing to lose there And I will stay with this new team... I'm quite stubborn I want to create my way, to do different from others...

[evanperryg]

Originally Posted by EDesbiens

I'm already insane... Nothing to lose there And I will stay with this new team... I'm quite stubborn I want to create my way, to do different from others...

If you want to start your own team, there's nothing stopping you besides the negative comments you'll get here. Don't let someone's bad attitude keep you from reaching your goals.

But, seriously, it's going to be really hard to manage a team as a student. Your #1 priority should be to find mentors and sponsors. If you want to be competitive by January, you'll need all the help you can get. Throughout this fall, you'll need to find students to join your team, which will be hard if you're in the same school as an already-established FRC team. If this is the case, start your team in another local school so that you have a large group of interested students, who aren't already on another team.

Connect with teams in your area, find elite teams your team can visit before the season, to show students and new mentors how a successful FRC team works. We recently lended our practice robot to a pre-rookie team, so they could compete at an offseason event. I'm not sure if there's video of it, but they competed at R2OC as team 9999 (although the robot was labeled 8338 ) and did really well. Find opportunities like that. They are a great way to get your new students acclimated to the competition environment.

You'll need money and a shop, too. If there are any major businesses within 100 miles of you, schedule a meeting with their executives. Bring a really (REALLY) good sales pitch, you're gonna need it. Find grants, find sponsorships, find someone willing to let you use their workspace. Get all the money and resources you can get because it'll likely make up for a little bit of the people-resources you're going to lack in your first year. Now, I'm not saying money can make up for all of the human resources you'll be missing as a rookie, but money can help a little.

Also, you need to develop a stronger identity. I like the FRC-i idea, it has potential. However, it's very vague. It doesn't say anything about where your team is from or what you guys do. Therefore, you need to have strong core values and a very strong team identity to back it up. You say you want your team to do FRC differently, you want the team to challenge the normal process for an FRC team. Think- how are you going to do this? What normal aspect of FRC are you going to challenge? Especially in your first season, don't go and try out an entirely new drivetrain style, or something like that. Designing your mechanisms differently, or programming the robot in a different way will likely leave you with a completely nonfunctional robot, especially if you haven't had an off-season to refine the new idea. Hold off on that kind of thing until the team is better established.

What you're doing sounds awesome. It's daring and adventurous. Keep me updated, and I'd be happy to help in any way I can.

[EDesbiens]

Originally Posted by evanperryg

If you want to start your own team, there's nothing stopping you besides the negative comments you'll get here. Don't let someone's bad attitude keep you from reaching your goals.

[...]

What you're doing sounds awesome. It's daring and adventurous. Keep me updated, and I'd be happy to help in any way I can.

Thank you for this (I had a jump scare when the video starded... hahahaha)

I'm currently working on finding sponsors... I have a list of 50 of them to contact in my region.

I have connections with existing teams in my region and out of it, I'm talking to them often and I try to get a bit of support from them

For the team image, I don't really know what to do haha And, you say it's hard to be different in the first season but this will be my fourth... So I have a few ideas I'd like to try (even if my budget is low )

Thank you again!