Sponsors, Ideas, and Many Things

[JesseK]

I believe every team goes through a rebuilding process, and I'd highly recommend against starting over again. It takes a lot to redefine the image of your team to your community and to other FIRST teams once you've merged and then split from another team.

If you define your levels of success early and drive for that success, you can't go wrong. Aiming to do everything in the game with the bot or extending on community outreach just may not be possible if you don't have the support or manpower. So if you only define your success as making it through the build and competition seasons in one piece, then you'll have successfully made it through your rebuilding year.

We had one of those this past year, and with some dedication and focus we merited alot more success than our initial outlook encompassed. A couple of weeks ago, it felt like this coming year would be more of the same due to school administration and teacher changes, yet as of this week a couple of things have worked themselves out and made our future a bit less hazy. That said, I'd recommend that you hang in there and keep pushing for your goals. Keep your goals simple so that you don't burn your sponsors or your mentors out and things should improve from there. I've found that defining roles with simple unambiguous expectations is one of the best ways to encourage more mentors to participate, so maybe you could try the same in your recruitment drive.

Hope this helps.