Why are you teamless?

[Madison]

I just spent a bit of time looking through CD's membership list available here on the site and it struck me that a great number of people -- many still active on the forums -- are teamless. The first 15 pages, sorted by team number, are full of proud members of team 0000 and there are people among them who are very well regarded and well known.

So, folks, what gives? What are the reasons you' re teamless this season?

I'm curious how many people are teamless by choice and how many by circumstance and why so many of FIRST's best people are now, presumably, without a group to mentor and inspire.

I am teamless by circumstance. I have bad luck with teams, I guess, and often move from one the next after a few years. Teams in Seattle, WA are few and far between, though there seem to be few high schools without one. I have been able to find only a handful of high schools in Seattle, fewer still that I can access via transit.

So...your turn.

[Kel D]

I moved out to Arizona this past summer so that's unfortunately why I can't mentor my old team, and when I got to U of A I tried to contact people who apparently were getting meetings organized to mentor a team around Tucson, but they have not gotten back to me which is really disappointing because I really want to stay involved in FIRST. But I will keep trying, it's definitely worth it. But yeah, that is my sad tale.

Graduated from high school in 03, went back and mentored my old team last year, and now Im focusing on school and work...so no time and again im a bit burnt out from a mentoring/participating standpoint....

Oh trust me, ill still be there volunteering, but its time to focus on school

[Katie Reynolds]

I moved from Appleton, WI to Pewaukee, WI right after kickoff last year. I talked to a few local teams (namely 269 and 1259, both who were very gracious and accepting of my situation) but since I wasn't a student at their respective schools, it was hard to join a team so late in the season.

Currently, I'm teamless because I'm getting ready to go to school in Houghton, MI next semester. While MTU does sponsor a team, I'm taking the semester to focus on my schoolwork. I'll be helping out next year, though!

[David Kelly]

Good topic, M

There are a few reasons that I chose to not have a team in my profile. I am still active with Cyber Blue 234 and serve as head adviser for the web design team. I still attend demos every once in a while and I travel with the team when I can. Last year, I decided that I wanted to take a bigger role in FIRST and help our many teams and students. Some of these other roles and groups that I have chose to be part of are in the position to take some heat and controversy from many sides. I didn't think that it would be fair for Cyber Blue 234 to get associated with some decisions or positions I may chose to take. With Indiana FIRST starting to stand on its own two feet, that is going to be taking up more of my time, efforts, and target for lots of attention; both good and bad.


Sum everything up, I believe and would like to make a bigger impact in FIRST with groups that have a much larger audience than just 1 team. I still love Cyber Blue 234 and I hope that I will always be able to give some time and mentor-ship for students there now because of the opportunity I was given.

I am trying to send a positive message and attitude in FIRST, and hope that others will chose to do the same as well.

[Cory]

I am teamless by choice. Like DJ, I chose to focus on school this year since I've come quite close to almost completely screwing myself over by spending way too much time on robotics in past years.

[Jessica Boucher]

Great topic!

Although there's always a special place in my heart for 237, I am way too far away from them to serve as a mentor (hence why I consider myself an "Alumni").

For my first three years at Babson, I was car-less. Although there are a lot of teams in the area, I am far enough outside of Boston that walking anywhere (especially in the cold & snowy build season) is terrible.

Although the situation may change once I get a job, right now I am working with FIRST through a non-team based role, thus the lack of numbering.

[Ashley Weed]

While I try to travel to competitions as much as I can to support Greg in his new reffing adventures. Being full-time on a team seemed to be too difficult especially through my first year away at school. As I hope to start balancing a lighter course load, I would like to take my new skills from my education and work with the team again soon.

[rbgorbet]

Well, I've never had the pleasure of having a team.

I've been a regional judge, judge advisor, then championship judge, and now Chair of the Waterloo Regional Planning Committee, but have never been associated with any particular team (as probably befits a judge!)

I admire team mentors so much for the effort and hours they put in, and I'm just not sure I could give that much between my job and my family. But I figure that helping to start a new regional and recruiting rookie teams is contribution enough for now!

Rob.

[roboticsguy1988]

It’s a long story. Last year I was a member of G-Force, Team #535 which is now in Markle, IN. Then I and a few of my other friends resigned as a member of that team, for reasons which I will not explain. As far as I know, the G-force team has diminished. Later to become a member of a rookie team, Team THRUST, and then to find out this year, that our rookie registration was denied, after they said it was accepted. They even gave as a team number, which is 1501. I do not know why exactly, from what I heard, so there for this isn't a fact, the denied our registration because of two reasons, one we didn't have a school as a sponsor, and two, because we had members on the team that were previous members of another team. Also, form what I hear, again, not sure if this is true, but since most of our students on the team were previous members of 535, FIRST told us we would have to use that number. Which because of certain circumstances that I do not want to discuss, that is impossible.

So this year I and the rest of my robotics buddies are team-less. In my opinion I think FIRST doesn't understand that this is the only way the students here in Huntington, IN can compete. It makes me sad to think that we will miss out on all the knowledge that we could have gained this year, not to even mention the amount of fun.

I remember when I started Lego league in 2001, it was so fun. After a year of that, I made FIRST my life. And it has been my life every since then. For FIRST to take that away in my opinion isn’t fair to me, or the other students. I want to learn, I want to have fun, and FIRST is the way I want to do that. I love science and technology, I love FIRST, that's my life.

[Mike Rush]

Originally Posted by rbgorbet

Well, I've never had the pleasure of having a team.

I've been a regional judge, judge advisor, then championship judge, and now Chair of the Waterloo Regional Planning Committee, but have never been associated with any particular team (as probably befits a judge!)

I admire team mentors so much for the effort and hours they put in, and I'm just not sure I could give that much between my job and my family. But I figure that helping to start a new regional and recruiting rookie teams is contribution enough for now!

Rob.

I would say you've had a room full of teams! Thanks for all you do organizing and judging. Although I've never been to your regional, I know how hard it is to organize a regional and pull it off!!

Mike

[RoboMom]

Suddenly, I have about 1000 more people in my life, who are all my team. The learning curve is steep.
For all of you who are "teamless", there are SO MANY opportunities to still be involved. Think about helping with the events: kickoffs, off-season events, regionals, and the Championship. Think about helping with, starting a Lego League team. Since most of my exposure to the world of FIRST has been FRC, I've had a crash course in FIRST Lego League this past month and what fun it is. Tournaments are starting now, and there is need for refs and all sorts of volunteers. I could do a list a mile long.

[Denman]

just a quick point, there are still people who dont put their team number down, and who are just too lazy

[Anne Shade]

I graduated from Georgia Tech in May. After spending a few months looking for a job, I was able to find a great one with SAIC here in Maryland so I relocated up here. I decided that it would be a good opportunity for me to take a little break from running a team. I've spent the last 4 years running teams through college and it has been really stressfull. This gives me some time to get familiar with the teams in this area and to see FIRST in a different light for a year. I'll miss running a team, I already feel like there is something I'm supposed to be doing , but everyone needs a break sometimes.

I'll be helping out at whatever events I can get to and doing whatever bigger picture stuff I can till I get back in the team stuff.

[Erin Rapacki]

I wouldn't always associate a #0000 as being a negative thing. As a matter of fact, I think it would be useful if ChiefDelphi.com to offer other FIRST associations instead assuming that all people chatting on these forums have direct team involvement.

For instance I know many people (college students in particular) that instead of being on a team specializes in a certain volunteer position for Regional Competitions. That merits the same recognition. As for myself, I do not consider myself closely affiliated with #125 NU-TRONS. I feel more closely affiliated with Northeastern University and the overall initiative to grow FIRST in Boston; not specifically any one team but an involvement with all teams in the Boston area (existing and yet-to-be). For ChiefDelphi.com purposes I continue my affiliation, but that isn't what I actually do in FIRST.

The 'subtitles' and 'AKA' fields give forum members an opportunity to display what they actually do within FIRST... which is great! It is certainly respectable to have direct affiliation with a team as well. But as FIRST changes & grows, maybe it's time for CD to update the profile system and omit the #0000 in a users profile to allow for other descriptions as: volunteer, event coordinator, FLL, senior mentor program, FIRST employee, or whatever else.


erin