Offseason

[Cody Burd]

Hello in the off season i plan of organizing the teams stuff. if you guys have homemade stuff do you have plans for them? also what offseason events are near Lambertville Nj
Thank you

256 does 3 things on the offseason:

1. Do offseason projects. tshirt cannons, go-carts, etc. are on the list of things to do. We also sometimes *gulp*clean the room....

2. Attend offseason events. We annually go to the CalGames offseason competition in the fall to train drivers, get the new students up to speed on what an FRC competition is like, and get the team back together. We may attend 2 this year....

3. Pre-season training. Starting this coming year, 265 is going to hold trainings for its students during the winter before the 2013 competition. Not only does this teach the students useful things, but it also ensures that by the time the build season comes, our students know what to do, and how to do it.

[HannahF]

Hi Cody,

If your looking to compete in the offseason MAR is definetely the place to be

In The MAR there are quite a few offseason competitions including:

~Monty Madness (Skillman NJ) hosted by team 1403 sometime in late may/ early june

~Brunswick Eruption (North Brunswick, NJ) hosted by team 25 usually first weekend in November.

~Duel on the Delaware (Carneys Point, NJ) hosted by teams 316 and 365 usually 3rd weekend in October

~Ramp Riot (Ambler, PA) hosted by 341 usually the 2nd weekend in November

If you have a great group of girls on your team, We (433) would love to have you at GirlPower(Flourtown, PA) its usually the 1st or 2nd weekend in October

and If you are willing to drive a little bit farther there is also the Battle of Balitmore (Baltimore, MD ) usually sometime in August and PARC (
Tunkhannock, PA) hosted by 222 usually late may.

Good Luck with your decisions, have an awesome offseason and I hope to see you at one of these great competitions

~Hannah

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Cody Burd

Hello in the off season i plan of organizing the teams stuff. if you guys have homemade stuff do you have plans for them? also what offseason events are near Lambertville Nj
Thank you

As a fundraiser in the fall, Los Pollos Locos built a Rube Goldberg machine--friends, coworkers, and family sponsored us based on how many transitions we could work into the machine in one day:

http://youtu.be/G8rNlAvLWVk

We also planned our own off-season event starting last year in SCRIW.

If you're looking to build something, I'd suggest looking at CD-Media for inspiration. Using CAD software, the wisdom of what you can build, and the help of your mentors, you should be able to build something as practice for next season.

[Walter Deitzler]

After its 3rd season, 3397 has BIG plans for its off season, including, but not limited too,

• Following up on potential sponsers
• Building mobile shelves for pit organization
• Teaching rookies more about the robot
• Expanding our knowledge of sensors and other useful devices
• Discussing next year's game endlessly

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by HannahF

Hi Cody,


and If you are willing to drive a little bit farther there is also the Battle of Balitmore (Baltimore, MD ) usually sometime in August
~Hannah

The 6th annual Battle O' Baltimore will be held on Sept. 15 this year. One more walkthru and then we can announce the new location at a high school near the Beltway.

[Team 1403 Mom]

Monty Madness is May 19
Registration is still open but filling fast
Go to montymadness.com to register

Our team does several things during offseason. I hope these can give you some ideas:

1. Programmers meet to learn programming. I learned programming during Saturdays last summer. I know if I tried to learn programming during build season I would've been completely lost!

2. Community service. We usually participate in adopt-a-road at least once during the summer (as in we clean up a stretch of road). We also do some other events offseason, like cleaning up our school's football stadium after games, which is much later in offseason (we get paid too!)

3. FIRST summer camp. This year we're planning on doing a 'summer camp' for robotics kids. We have several FLL and JFLL teams and a FTC team and we're hoping to do something with them this summer.

4. Offseason cleaning. We're also planning on a mass clean-up of our new 'robotics center' (one of our elementary schools closed down and we are generously allowed to use the gym! This means we have much more room to put scrap metal and other junk so we have a bigger mess).

4. Team picnic. Our team hasn't done one since I've joined (or I don't remember), but it would be a great thing to do to keep the team connected.

5. Offseason competitions. Michigan has MARC, but I don't know what New Jersey has. I'm sure there's an event somewhere your team can attend. They're always a blast and you can make new friends with other teams.

6. Recruiting rookies. As soon as competition season is over we start making posters for students interested in joining robotics.

7. Training rookies. This happens much later (as in early preseason), but it's good to get a head start.

8. Getting sponsors. We try to get some sponsors during offseason.

[legogeek24]

Wait, there's an offseason?

[galewind]

And since you're in Lambertville, team 1089 is coordinating with the Trenton Thunder to a FIRST Robotics night on Friday, May 11th at Waterfront Park.
You can bring your robot for a parade on the field, and you can sell tickets as a fundraiser (your team will make $4 profit per ticket sold). I will be posting information in another thread soon.