NEW TEAM

[SciBorg Dave]

I am involved with starting a new FRC team in Palouse Washington. Population 1,050 with a small high school. What I need is information about ROOKIE ALL STAR. We have one student that has been on a team and 2 mentors that have been involved.
What ideas would the FIRST community give to a rookie team.
The VIKING ROBOTICS team is called the VIKotics team 5920. We are part of the PNW district. We have 100% support from the high school administration.

Thanks Dave

[rsisk]

Work on inspiring kids, how are you encouraging kids to join your team, how are you sharing this excitement with others?

Volunteer, find FLL and FTC events in your area and volunteer for them.

Find funding to keep you going next year. How are you going to show your team is sustainable?

Find outreach opportunities. Talk to your local FLL Partner, FTC Partner, Regional Director, FIRST Senior Mentor and see if you can help with any outreach events.

Notice there is nothing about fielding a competitive robot in what I described above, but it is always good to make a decent robot for 2016, it really helps with the "Inspire kids" part of the equation.

Remember, there is no formula for being a Rookie All Star, or an Engineering Inspiration or a Chairman's team. You need to be a FIRST Robotics team, emphasis on FIRST. When you get that, you start getting recognized for you accomplishments with these types of awards.

[GeeTwo]

Prepare and file a chairman's award submission. You aren't eligible as a rookie, but we have found that the skullwork we put into reporting what we actually do helps inspire us to do more each year. I also suspect that when rookies do these, they are available to the rookie all star judges.

Come to your first competition ready to provide help, even as you are ready to receive help. Our rookie year, there was another rookie team at Bayou that thought the robot was supposed to be built on Thursday. We sent the students who built our KoP chassis and a programmer and helped them at least have a robot that drove.

If your one veteran player hasn't figured out already, make it clear that (s)he has a significant fraction of the team's FRC experience, and there is a responsibility to teach everyone else (including the new adults) about the mechanics of the tournament, gracious professionalism, and FIRST culture in general.

Make it loud - don't be the "stealth team" within your school. Do something to get on the announcements every week or two, including some presentations/group projects at pep rallies and so forth. You can't change the culture if no one knows you're there. Especially if your school has a strong sports/competition culture, intentionally market yourself as a team, not a club. While many teams have names and branding that do not reflect the school, selecting a name and branding (colors) that mesh well with the school's will help. If your school colors are green and silver, does it really make sense for the team colors to be red and blue when you do a demo during halftime? Especially if your opponent that day is the Patriots?

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

....
I also suspect that when rookies do these, they are available to the rookie all star judges
....

In my experience this is not typically the case. The team should be prepared to hand a copy to the judges, but don't expect the judges to read them, they just don't have the time considering all the teams they have to interview.

Single sheet with bullet points that highlight the information in the chairman's submission is much more effective.

[RoboDawg]

Contact other PNW teams. Search the FIRST website for teams near you and reach out! You are part of a vibrant and thriving district. Welcome to the FIRST family!

[Chief Hedgehog]

Like others have stated, there is no formula. It is all on the judges. Here are a few things I can state:

1. Find your nearest teams and start to network early and often.

2. Concentrate on building a team, not a robot.

3. Two areas that rookie teams overlook are marketing and Pit/Pit Safety. If you overlook either, it can be detrimental.

If you want more info, please PM me.

[mikemilano]

First event: Team 5920 was Ranked 1 with a record of 15-3-0 and won the following awards:

Rookie All Star Award
District Event Finalist
Highest Rookie Seed

Now that's a GREAT rookie team start!! ...And what a GREAT group of kids!!

Nice work guys!!!

[nedwards28]

Great Job 5920! You were quite the team to contend with! We enjoyed watching you and would have loved to be in an alliance with you!

We are impressed with your rookie team organization. We felt your pit looked like you knew what you were doing and you certainly showed well on the field. Rookie All-Star is a funny award. We received it our rookie year and weren't really sure why or if they just gave those puppies out. The judges commented on our grit and how we are a small school but, we had 20 members on the team. Oh, they also liked our facebook page.

We are rooting for you at CWU!

Canine Crusaders #4980

[SciBorg Dave]

As drive coach on 5920 we had a great time and would like to thank all the teams at West Valley for the help and support they gave to this team. FIRST you are truly a great family.

[mikemilano]

Looking forward to seeing you guys go big again at CWU!
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