Not allowed to do anything on team

[adam the great]

First I know you are not alone in that kind of circumstance. I know of plenty of students in the past that probably have felt that same way.
I agree with the other posts above that we can't give you an exact solution without knowing some more of those details; however the best first step would be a combination of two things.

Finding a mentor on your team to pull aside and have a discussion with about everything you are feeling about this, the longer you wait to have that talk, well... its just that much longer til you look back and say to yourself wow... I wish I did this sooner. Mentors are there to help students develop in many ways, whether its learning how to use a drill, how to cad, write a grant, or giving them life advice. I have yet to go through a season without at least a handful of students asking various mentors about advice on choosing majors for college, help with school work, or even personal life advice. Point being: Mentors are there to help you, and if you ask one to take a little time to hear your concerns, most would go to pretty big lengths to help you get the most out of the program.

Second though is trying to self evaluate what you've been contributing in those hours (or attempting to since you say you haven't been allowed to do anything) and try to see the situation from a different point of view. Often in high school there are the social cliques that definitely play a part in who gets leadership roles or more involvement in projects. However there are often many kids who show up on some teams that, although they are there for a lot of hours, tend to be more disruptive than helpful. So just make sure you aren't the kid running through the halls throwing around game pieces like dodge balls, and rather are more so the student who shows up and asks "hey I don't have anything to work on, what can I do to help?". The latter tends to be the students who get the most out of FIRST and the mentors would rather give them more responsibility than the others.

Hopefully after a talk with a mentor or two on your team you'll be on your way to much more involvement on your team, and we wish you the best of luck!

[The_ShamWOW88]

I'm sure this is just reiterating what others have already told you but coming from an adult mentor, I'm sure your mentors are not overlooking you maliciously.

Myself and my fellow mentors have had to make difficult decisions over which students get to do what (drive, travel, etc.) but if a student ever has a question about why or why not, we always sit down and discuss it with them.

You should go to your mentors and talk to them. Talk to your fellow team members too.

[sodizzle]

Originally Posted by adam the great

Finding a mentor on your team to pull aside and have a discussion with about everything you are feeling about this, the longer you wait to have that talk, well... its just that much longer til you look back and say to yourself wow... I wish I did this sooner. Mentors are there to help students develop in many ways, whether its learning how to use a drill, how to cad, write a grant, or giving them life advice. I have yet to go through a season without at least a handful of students asking various mentors about advice on choosing majors for college, help with school work, or even personal life advice. Point being: Mentors are there to help you, and if you ask one to take a little time to hear your concerns, most would go to pretty big lengths to help you get the most out of the program.

First off this, 1000x this. I'm not sure the dynamic of your team, but I do know how a lot of different teams run.

As something that may be similar to what you've experienced, here's something I found out just this year.
I work as the CAD Mentor for my team, I want to help kids learn Solidworks to be used in an FRC sense. I started the season with not a single kid knowing how to draw. I tried my best to find out who was interested in learning solidworks and I found only a couple kids. Then, seemingly out of no where I find two kids who are very proficient in Solidworks. Where have they been?! Well, it turns out they had mentioned, once, maybe twice, that they were proficient in CAD a few months ago. Since no one sought them out, they weren't going to CAD.

These kids were on the quieter side, as a lot of robotics team member are. Even though they had a lot of experience, they didn't make it well known to everyone that they were interested/good at it.

As my advice to you, even if you have told people a few times, keep bugging the mentor/student leader that is in the field you want. Make sure they KNOW that you are good in design and that you are good with metal. Prove it to them. Show them projects you've done, draw out your designs. Make it impossible for them to not notice your talents.

I tell you this from experience as well. When I was a freshman I was ready to quit. I went through FTC without my voice being heard, and I wasn't going to deal with 4 more years of it. I stayed on the team and I made sure every build mentor knew what I was good at and what I wanted to do. I was the build captains, shadow for my entire sophomore year. I made it impossible for people not to know that I was interested. My junior year I was build captain, design lead, and driver.

Don't give up. You don't have to quit. Prove to them and yourself.

Hope this helps.

[Toatekua]

I was the same. I got my parents to talk to the lead mentor, which helped a lot.

Also, I made an active effort to help. I asked if there was anything to do, if a gearbox needed greasing, part needed deburring, etc. the others will eventually ask you for help instead of the ther way around. Ask about tools, show that you want to learn.

Even if you know these things, it still is needed to prove yourself. Being a freshman is hard.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Toatekua

I was the same. I got my parents to talk to the lead mentor, which helped a lot.

If you feel like you can't talk to one of the mentors directly then this is an option. Just ask your parent(s) to keep in mind that most mentors are volunteering their time and to be respectful. I would suggest talking to the mentors directly first if you feel that you can.

Also, if your team has guidelines or a handbook then it is a good idea to read it and have your parents read it as well.

I say this because just yesterday we had to inform a student that they were not eligible to attend a competition with us because they had not fulfilled their requirements. This lead to a long phone call with an understandably frustrated parent. I was able to talk with the parent about our policies and our handbook, which they hadn't seen, and this made a huge difference and helped to put the parent at ease and the student as well. I'm optimistic that the student will stick around next year and now has a better grasp of time management as well as expectations and communication.

Talk to your mentors. Mentors are people too and some of us are pretty ok.