You’re not going to get very far unless you work on improving your communication skills, punctuation, and spelling errors.
Jane
You shold know that i no longer have mentors due to the unavalability of money to our past frc program. Are you sugesting that I am not entitled to my opinion? Dose every idea i have belong or represent my team? If so then we have all done things, thought thoughts, and other wise disrespected our teams.
How much dose it cost you to attend an not state event?
YES.
By affiliating yourself with a team, you are representing them at all times, as you are a member and part of that team. You can’t quit your team to say something, then join back on it. The words are tied to you, and you’re tying yourself to your team.
If you have ideas you don’t want to be affiliated with your team, either don’t say them or don’t be on that team. You are a constant representative of your team.
Sure - I have a blunt thought:
I have better things to do with my time than engage in an online debate with a trolling nincompoop.
Blake
With regards to the KOP questions asked, there are two ways to answer.
The first is, why do they choose to give us a pile of parts that otherwise we’d have to track down for ourselves, thereby making their lives harder and ours easier?
The second is, so that teams who do use substantial amounts of the KOP can get those parts easily, rather than spending lots of time to look around for money or parts.
And I know that a lot of teams use a lot of parts from the KOP, whether they show up in competition or not. 330 tends to build practice robots with kit frame for use as testbeds, and I know we aren’t the only ones. Those air storage cylinders are KOP, and quite useful.
The KOP is not required to be used on the competition robot; rather, it is allowed to be used to the extent that a team wishes to use it. (Think about it–motors must be from the KOP, but you don’t have to use any particular motor. The cRIO and whatever makes it work electrically is about the only required part.)
Plus, keep in mind, that regionals aren’t cheap. Not only is there a rental fee, to the venue, for the event, but you also have to hire a full staff of support personnel ( ushers, vendors, janitorial, etc. ) which more than likely is receiving union wages. Plus you have the cost of any advertising.
Wow well developed argument thanks for your support…
$5k, if I’m not mistaken.
Also, you mention earlier that going to districts, state champs, and championships would cost you 14k. Remember that no one is asking you to raise 14k. To participate in FRC, you need 5k. That gets you a kit and a regional (or two district events). Any expenses past that are your team’s choice. And if 5k is too much, FIRST offers a lower-cost robotics competition: FTC.
Jacob,
No, I don’t know this. You will have to explain what has happened to your team.
Yes, I am suggesting that as a member of an FRC team and of the FIRST community, when posting in CD, I am very aware of how my posts will impact, affect, or reflect on my team and on the FIRST community. It is part of the bigger picture thinking, Jacob.
FRC is very expensive. Travel to distant competitions is very expensive. Building a sustainable team is difficult and takes much more work than building a robot that will compete for one FRC season. It’s not glamorous but it is what will keep the team together and able to compete. If FRC is too expensive due to finances, there are other robotics programs that are available to compete in. If a team is struggling financially and/or with sustainability issues, that does not make FIRST corrupt - it just makes it more difficult to compete in.
Jane
To Chris, Jane and everyone else in that camp - I respond with a polite but firm NO
Individuallity does exist, in addition to group affiliations
Yes, it does, but not when he affiliates himself with a specific team on CD. Whenever anyone usually looks at someone’s name on here, they look to see which team they are apart of…at least I do.
Also, changing your profile to not show your team underneath your name doesn’t take away the fact that you are a part of that team.
If you would like to yell at Chris, Blake, fine. Please don’t use bolded and enlarged lettering when addressing me in a serious discussion.
Jane
Are team was successful in the regionals we attended. Until our school told us they would no longer fund us. We all wanted to continue in FRC. We fun-rose all summer, attempted to no avail to gain sponsors. The cost was just to great. So we decided to try FTC instead. which i must say is not nearly as much fun or creative.
Ok, are there any other teams near you? Because I would bet my bottom dollar that if you and a few head mentors from your team went and asked them if you guys could combine teams, they would allow you to do so with open arms.
If this indeed is the case, then there are other problems here.
First, the amount of money your team has should not impact the number of mentors you have. Mentors should (at least in my opinion and in my experience) be willing volunteers who show up because they want to show up. There shouldn’t be a monetary incentive.
Second, your team should work with other teams in your area to learn how to find more sponsors. Sponsors do not approach teams; teams need to approach sponsors. There are great resources around CD to start you on finding sponsors.
Two quick comments about regional costs-
In answer to your question, attending a 2nd regional (regardless of location) is $4k (to FIRST), plus the cost of transportation to the event and lodging (will vary by location).
Your comment regarding how much FIRST spends on regionals was very off base. Though the locations are often on school campuses (or on a sponsor’s property), FIRST does not get these locations for free. They may get a discount, but it is still pricey. Factor in the resources that go into shipping the field, shipping awards (you would be surprised!), live streaming, promotion, and even the cost of keeping everything powered for three days, and FIRST gets quite a hefty bill at every regional.
Join a team with more then 50 other people? Ya im shure ill learn a lot. But really I have no desire to join a large team nor dose anyone else that was on the team.
There’s a spotlight from Koko Ed that says, in part,
Remember: In FIRST you have the right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be held against you and your associates in the court of public opinion.
(emphasis mine)
Is there individuality? Yes. But if one member of a group is acting really badly–or really nice–that behavior reflects on the entire group if that member is showing that he or she is part of that group. Disclaimer or no, it will reflect at least to some extent. There have been times on CD that I have seen someone have to try to mend damage caused by someone else on their team, because they know that if somebody doesn’t present the other side, the team will gain a reputation that they don’t want to have.
Reputations, particularly team reputations, are tough to build and very easy to destroy.
I don’t agree with the OP at all, but the idea that FIRST is helping teams out by lowering the entry fee is ridiculous.
They have artificially inflated entry fees while simultaneously drastically cutting the value of the KOP and certain aspects of the event itself (absolutely pathetic trophies, for example).
We used to get a ton of useful stuff every year worth a lot of money that we no longer get, mostly including control system/electronics stuff.
So FIRST may be “helping” us in the sense we’re paying $5k for the KOP and first entry instead of $6k, but the fact remains that we used to pay $4k and get a lot more for our money than we do now. I realize that the economy has been very weak lately and it is difficult to even continue to provide the same level of resources in the kit without increasing cost, but even prior to the recession we saw increased entry fees.
This becomes even more unpalatable when you look at FiM where one set of teams gets to pay essentially half as much as the rest of FRC for the same product. I understand that this is due to a subsidy not funded by FIRST, but that doesn’t make everyone else not lucky enough to live in Michigan feel better about the fact that we’re paying more for less.
While you are right about how it is very expensive to run an event, regional events are responsible for covering the costs of their event independently of FIRST.
Beggers can’t be choosers. If you cannot come to some agreement to join with another team, ask if you can use any help or space available to sustain your team for another year till you guys can get back on your feet.