pic: Sum of team numbers versus match number in Curie

[Elgin Clock]

Just by looking down the lists of teams in the match schedule, you could see this pattern. 95% of teams in a block of say 5 matches were under team number 1000, and then 95% were over 1000 in the next 5 matches, and so on.

There were many matches where you (if your team number was 300 or less) were the youngest team on the alliance. I know on Archimedes specifically, Team 228 was the highest number in one match. Their team is ten years old this year! It was like a flashback to an old school match from New England circa: 1999 all over again! lol

Andy Baker just said it best I think. The rookies really never got to play with the older teams (and potentially learn from them), and the older teams really never got to play with the younger ones (and potentially help them in their FIRST career on the field by showing them the ropes).

That kinda saddens me. Helping the program grow isn't just getting new teams every year, it's also about equally pairing them up with some older teams so they can be trained/molded/advised by older teams on the field and learn what FIRST is exactly all about in that way.