Club vs Team Approach

[GreyingJay]

2706 is a new community team, and with no specific school backing, we have to focus on our end goal (building an FRC robot good enough to compete in regionals) while also juggling the start-from-zero aspect. We have to temper our expectations with practical realities like expending time trying to find meeting spaces, build spaces, fundraising like mad. The nice thing is that we are open to students from ALL local schools.

We call ourselves a team and we do charge a team fee to cover basic expenses. Sometimes parents will ask us "can Billy join your robotics club?" and we say "sure, Billy can join the robotics team". (Emphasis added here but NOT when we talk to the parents.) We are going to have an all-hands meeting soon where we will talk about what's going to happen during build season and competition season. We have a lot of hockey kids in my area so hopefully people will see that we're not dissimilar in terms of expectations of commitment and time. Since we're not at a school students will need to be driven to meeting/build spaces so we will definitely need parental commitment.

We are not (yet?) stipulating mandatory attendance requirements. Come when you can. But we do make it clear "you get out what you put in" and that when it comes time to choose team leaders and select people for competition teams, selection will naturally favour those who have been around, who have demonstrated skill and knowledge, who know the software, know the robot, know the tools, and are known and trusted by teammates.