When to split the team

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by rocketperson44

Not to badmouth girls of FIRST teams, but I have some doubts about this group of girls' ability to make a robot on their own (four of the five are rookies, and three look like they'll fall into the "lose interest" category lil lavery mentioned) Talking with other team members, I have come to the conclusion that the primary motivation is not the all girls team, but the size of the team. Fortunatly for our city, all high schools in the area have FRC and FVC teams. Unfortunatly, because there is no need for schools to collaborate on these, most of these teams are quite small, about the size of our team last year. This has caused our mentors to view this as normal, and now that we have so many more members, it would help productivity to split the team. The all girl team is viewed as a side benefit. I'll definatly bring this thread up at tomorrow's meeting.

Be careful not to pre-judge those girls (or anyone else) though. Every year there are members I see walk into interest meetings that I think won't last, then at the end of the year they are among the most attentive, productive, and dedicated members of the team. Before her first meeting a member confessed to her mother that she was afraid that it was all going to be geeks and she wouldn't fit in or like it. This cheerleader would eventually become team captain, and later said to her mother that "I'm a geek too, and I LOVE it!" Some of the people you fear you will lose may emerge as stars among your team, while some dedicated members may burn out and quit. In other words, don't count your chickens before they hatch, even if the shell seems broken.
As for the team size, 21 is a perfectly acceptable number of students, especially given that it is still the beginning of the year and likely you may lose a few members. Some teams have 40, 50, or even more students on a single team (I know one that has enough freshman each year to fill all the volunteer spots at their off-season event ). You can still find plenty of jobs for all the students, especially if you branch off into other aspects of the competition (as Rohith mentioned), such as CAD, website, and animation. Many teams also have many ancillary groups, such as dedicated finance, outreach, chairman's, or video teams that focus on supporting the team through activities other than the robot itself (or participate in both the robot and the ancillary task).
There are, however, certain definite benefits to having two competition teams. It definitely creates more work to be spread around, and each individual could gain more of a direct impact on the finished product. In addition it allows for greater exploration of different designs and technologies if each robot is unique. As well as you have twice the people gaining valuable pit and on-field experience at the events.

[dlavery]

Also, I would suggest that you proceed carefully. If there really is a serious thought about having two teams at your school (which I would NOT recommend, for a variety of reasons, including those already mentioned), then you should probably check with FIRST before you make any commitments. There were a few instances last year of multiple teams from the same school/institution (typified by the teams building at the same location, sponsored by the same school, sharing designs and team members, etc.). FIRST had prepared a series of rules on how such teams were to be handled, and where/how they would be allowed to compete. The rules were not enforced last year because they were not adequately publicized, and those teams were allowed to slide by. However, FIRST indicated that would not be the case this year. So before the teams register and get locked into a problematic situation, watch for any updates from FIRST that may address multi-team schools (and if we don't see anything before registration opens - proactively ask FIRST about the issue).

-dave

[Kelly]

Has your team ever been to Championships? My team had some extra money last year and we used it for our first trip ever. It was definitely worth it.

[Steve Kaneb]

I'd recommend against splitting the team, as a member of a local Worcester team as well as a DMHS alum.
Running a FIRST team requires a lot of money, and any more will help. Having 2 underfunded teams is less beneficial than having one team that has adequate funding.
$150 dollars (outside of the kit, I'm assuming) is a ridiculously low sum of money to put together a robot. Watching your team compete at BattleCry, I thought that it was a pretty well thought out robot built on the cheap.
If you get rid of the "built on the cheap" part, the team has a high chance of flourishing.
Plus, that extra funding can go towards some really cool team attire, events or outreach.

Hope to see you out there again next year.

[JackN]

I come from a team (Or is it teams) has split into two teams, and it is something that should not be taken lightly. The workload is increased greatly and building more than one robot that needs to be competition ready is a serious challenge. There are times that I think building robot would produce better results, just because we wouldn't have the headaches of two. The number of problems you will have is instantly doubled, if not more. Think about it like this, you have the same amount of people working as before, but you have to do double the jobs of a single team. It is a lot harder than what you would think it would be. Is it a great way to get more students involved? Yes. Does it dramatically change the FIRST experience? I think, but then again it has been all I have ever known (except my Freshman year). If you want more info on it just PM any questions.