The Growing Gap in FIRST & on CD, and Our Responsibility to Fix It

[PayneTrain]

I'm going to use a team 422 has competed against in the last two years at the NJ Regional: Team Overdrive (2753). They are a very stacked, talented, and large team, that went toe-to-toe and beat Veterans in Lunacy and Breakaway, winning in '09 and reaching the semi's in '10. As the emcee reiterated, this team's rookie year was not their first "FIRST" rodeo (heh). This team built upon their success in the Tech Challenge level, then became a very powerful team in FRC.

I don't know about their financial situation, but let's assume they had the drive to be in FIRST, but no money. They wiped the floor in Tech Challenge, building their drive to make a great team, and in that, getting enough sponsorships and memberships to upgrade to FRC.

I think FIRST doesn't push FTC like it should, especially in this shaky financial world. FTC is both a great independent program, and a good gateway into the FRC realm.