A Corrupt FIRST?

[gblake]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

YES

To Chris, Jane and everyone else in that camp - I respond with a polite but firm NO

Individuallity does exist, in addition to group affiliations

[dodar]

Originally Posted by gblake

To Chris, Jane and everyone else in that camp - I respond with a polite but firm NO

Individuallity does exist, in addition to group affiliations

Yes, it does, but not when he affiliates himself with a specific team on CD. Whenever anyone usually looks at someone's name on here, they look to see which team they are apart of...at least I do.

Also, changing your profile to not show your team underneath your name doesn't take away the fact that you are a part of that team.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by gblake

To Chris, Jane and everyone else in that camp - I respond with a polite but firm NO

Individuallity does exist, in addition to group affiliations

If you would like to yell at Chris, Blake, fine. Please don't use bolded and enlarged lettering when addressing me in a serious discussion.

Jane

[the man]

Are team was successful in the regionals we attended. Until our school told us they would no longer fund us. We all wanted to continue in FRC. We fun-rose all summer, attempted to no avail to gain sponsors. The cost was just to great. So we decided to try FTC instead. which i must say is not nearly as much fun or creative.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by the man

Are team was successful in the regionals we attended. Until our school told us they would no longer fund us. We all wanted to continue in FRC. We fun-rose all summer, attempted to no avail to gain sponsors. The cost was just to great. So we decided to try FTC instead. which i must say is not nearly as much fun or creative.

Ok, are there any other teams near you? Because I would bet my bottom dollar that if you and a few head mentors from your team went and asked them if you guys could combine teams, they would allow you to do so with open arms.

[Bryan Herbst]

Originally Posted by the man

You shold know that i no longer have mentors due to the unavalability of money to our past frc program.

If this indeed is the case, then there are other problems here.
First, the amount of money your team has should not impact the number of mentors you have. Mentors should (at least in my opinion and in my experience) be willing volunteers who show up because they want to show up. There shouldn't be a monetary incentive.

Second, your team should work with other teams in your area to learn how to find more sponsors. Sponsors do not approach teams; teams need to approach sponsors. There are great resources around CD to start you on finding sponsors.


Two quick comments about regional costs-
In answer to your question, attending a 2nd regional (regardless of location) is $4k (to FIRST), plus the cost of transportation to the event and lodging (will vary by location).

Your comment regarding how much FIRST spends on regionals was very off base. Though the locations are often on school campuses (or on a sponsor's property), FIRST does not get these locations for free. They may get a discount, but it is still pricey. Factor in the resources that go into shipping the field, shipping awards (you would be surprised!), live streaming, promotion, and even the cost of keeping everything powered for three days, and FIRST gets quite a hefty bill at every regional.

[the man]

Originally Posted by dodar

Ok, are there any other teams near you? Because I would bet my bottom dollar that if you and a few head mentors from your team went and asked them if you guys could combine teams, they would allow you to do so with open arms.

Join a team with more then 50 other people? Ya im shure ill learn a lot. But really I have no desire to join a large team nor dose anyone else that was on the team.

[EricH]

There's a spotlight from Koko Ed that says, in part,

Remember: In FIRST you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you and your associates in the court of public opinion.

(emphasis mine)

Is there individuality? Yes. But if one member of a group is acting really badly--or really nice--that behavior reflects on the entire group if that member is showing that he or she is part of that group. Disclaimer or no, it will reflect at least to some extent. There have been times on CD that I have seen someone have to try to mend damage caused by someone else on their team, because they know that if somebody doesn't present the other side, the team will gain a reputation that they don't want to have.

Reputations, particularly team reputations, are tough to build and very easy to destroy.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by keehun

I know that they have tried to help the teams out every year, by lowering the registration fees by a $1000 for example from the past. I don't really think FIRST is in any way corrupt. I also have no basis of reason to believe or even imagine so.

I don't agree with the OP at all, but the idea that FIRST is helping teams out by lowering the entry fee is ridiculous.

They have artificially inflated entry fees while simultaneously drastically cutting the value of the KOP and certain aspects of the event itself (absolutely pathetic trophies, for example).

We used to get a ton of useful stuff every year worth a lot of money that we no longer get, mostly including control system/electronics stuff.

So FIRST may be "helping" us in the sense we're paying $5k for the KOP and first entry instead of $6k, but the fact remains that we used to pay $4k and get a lot more for our money than we do now. I realize that the economy has been very weak lately and it is difficult to even continue to provide the same level of resources in the kit without increasing cost, but even prior to the recession we saw increased entry fees.

This becomes even more unpalatable when you look at FiM where one set of teams gets to pay essentially half as much as the rest of FRC for the same product. I understand that this is due to a subsidy not funded by FIRST, but that doesn't make everyone else not lucky enough to live in Michigan feel better about the fact that we're paying more for less.

Originally Posted by keehun

Your comment regarding how much FIRST spends on regionals was very off base. Though the locations are often on school campuses (or on a sponsor's property), FIRST does not get these locations for free. They may get a discount, but it is still pricey. Factor in the resources that go into shipping the field, shipping awards (you would be surprised!), live streaming, promotion, and even the cost of keeping everything powered for three days, and FIRST gets quite a hefty bill at every regional.

While you are right about how it is very expensive to run an event, regional events are responsible for covering the costs of their event independently of FIRST.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by the man

Join a team with more then 50 other people? Ya im shure ill learn a lot. But really I have no desire to join a large team nor dose anyone else that was on the team.

Beggers can't be choosers. If you cannot come to some agreement to join with another team, ask if you can use any help or space available to sustain your team for another year till you guys can get back on your feet.

[the man]

Originally Posted by Tanis

If this indeed is the case, then there are other problems here.
First, the amount of money your team has should not impact the number of mentors you have. Mentors should (at least in my opinion and in my experience) be willing volunteers who show up because they want to show up. There shouldn't be a monetary incentive.

I think you misunderstood what i meant. We no longer have an FRC team because of money. And FTC doesn't have mentors.

[the man]

Originally Posted by dodar

Beggers can't be choosers. If you cannot come to some agreement to join with anohter team, ask if you can use any help or space available to sustain your team for another year till you guuys can get back on your feet.

We had no desire to "borrow" money from another team. knowing we couldn't pay them back at all, or for a large amount of time.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by the man

We had no desire to "borrow" money from another team. knowing we couldn't pay them back at all, or for a large amount of time.

Never said "borrow" money. I said that you could become sister-teams and co-exist with each other while being different teams. Think 254/968 but working under the same roof.

[Bryan Herbst]

I apologize if I misunderstood that part. Though I am sure you could find engineers willing to mentor an FTC team as well.

Also keep in mind that local teams are good for quite a number of things. Though merging with another team may not be optimal, chances are there are teams near you with quite a bit of experience gaining sponsors. Judging by the fact that your are from Michigan, I would guess that there are probably at least 10 teams within driving distance that would be willing to lend you a hand.

[the man]

Ok so trying to start a team back up 7 or 8 days before kick off is not what i started this thread for, nor do i desire to attempt this.