Alright. A few of my fellow teammates have suggested that we try to get a team together much like Team San Diego. The only problem is that we’re the only team in the northern bay area, so we figured we could solve that by making it more general: “Team Bay Area” or the “Bay Area Robotics Alliance/Team” (for the latter, however, the acronym would be “BART” and might be confused with Bay Area Rapid Transit…).
So, basically, if we get enough (say, 10 or so) Bay Area teams to agree to do this, maybe we can start making t-shirts and other Bay Area Robotics swag.
So, who’s up for it? I know at least half of 675’s main members would be.
Hmm, what about teams like mine who are on the border? We’re 200 and something miles from both San Francisco and LA. What team do we join? Both? Neither? Form our own (Oh wait, we’re the only team for miles and miles)?
What’s the idea behind this? What would teams gain out of being part of such an organization? In short, for those of us who doesn’t know much about Team San Diego, why should we join such of a thing?
Called WRRF, which I believe stands for Western Regional Robotics Forum. They organize an off season event (Cal Games) and a series of robotics related workshops at San Jose State University.
Teams who are a part of “Team San Diego” are fairly well known for their wanting to help out new regionals (surprise, the rookie San Diego Regional was a blast!), volunteer at other regionals (I know I saw quite a few Team San Diego shirts at the LA Regional.
I’m not 100% sure, but I believe Team San Diego is also responsible for the “How’s my Gracious Professionalism” project, similar to the “How’s my Driving?” you see on the back of transport trucks and the like. Each member receives a specific I.D for the project, and there is a number to call every time you see something (positive and/or negative), which I believe is a great way to benchmark something like GP.
There are also probably a ton of other things that Team San Diego is responsible that isn’t well known to the public, so I’ll leave the other portions up to someone who is actually part of it to have all the fun of explaining it.
I’m pretty sure Otaku is saying that we should try to get more communication with Bay Area / North Bay teams. As far as I know, there are very few North Bay teams. Maybe some SF teams could get together with 675 and try to inspire some new high schools to join in? Or perhaps some off-season summer event? What do you guys think?
Not a bad idea :D. Any idea that will get teams communicating is a great idea, especially when it come the times to announce Cal Games and WRRF Workshops!
Are there other North Bay teams? 814 used to be in Napa, but they seem to have disappeared. 841 and 481 are in the Richmond area. WRRF is great and Cal Games is awesome (October?), but it’s definitely more South Bay focused. If you guys have some concrete plans, I can pass it along to the Richmond teams.
On a second note, if northern Bay Area teams want to get more involved, here is one way you can do it:
Offer to host Cal Games or workshops at your location!
We always love to hear from Northern Bay Area teams, but a lot of times we never hear from them, especially when it come times to register for Cal Games.
I consider at least these three teams Northern Bay Area Teams: 481, 841, 1031. Who else is there?
Among trying to increase communication through Bay Area teams, we could also do stuff like go to other team’s schools on weekends and offer your help. (I’ve already offered my help to 2159 next year, especially because my father lives in San Leandro and I’m there about two weekends out of build season).
Well, 675 is only about 50-60mi north of SF, which is still the Bay Area if I’m not mistaken. Hence, why I was proposing this
We’re technically a south Bay Area team. 114 woot! If this is a kind of thing where we can work together for resources (like machine shop access for teams who don’t have that, etc) then I’m sure my team would be down. Let us know via PM’s or email or something if anything ends up happening.
I’m sure that there would be some willing teams in the Bay Area who wouldn’t mind other teams using their tools. I bet that 675’s build leader wouldn’t mind (as long as 675 got priority on the machines, because, after all, we would have to build a robot too, y’know?)
So, how many teams would actually be up for this? If you can, bring it up at a team meeting and PM me with how well it goes over. I say if we can get 5+ teams to start, that’d be alright, then we could just grow from there.
In addition to strengthening communication, sharing resources, and perhaps trying to get a SF regional, we could spread the word of FIRST to more high schools around the Bay Area and get more FIRST involvement (in either FRC, FLL, or Vex) and public recognition. We all know that FIRST could always use more recognition. =]
Word of advice? If you want to contact Bay Area teams, don’t attempt it through the Chief Delphi Forum. A lot of our teams don’t read CD through out the year. We learned that mistake many times.
We would love this Idea, We are in the east bay. And we are just miles from 1458 and 1280, also we are getting another new school near us that will be adding FIRST. In December we will once again be hosting a VEX tounrament, and we were considering to open it up to more schools…
If you’re serious, you need to get your bid into the WRRF Board of Directors. The decision about where it will be held is going to be made at the end of April.
Team San Diego is a COALITION of FIRST teams (this includes FLL, FVC and FRC) that reside in San Diego, Orange and Imperial counties. Two of our notable events are the 100 Hour Pre-Ship Scrimmage and the Battle at the Border Scrimmage and Lock-In (Yes, we’re planning on having it again this year after a year hiatus).
Yes several of us have volunteered at other events, however that is not the mission of Team San Diego. Team San Diego is a coalition. Our mission is to provide support for teams in the aforementioned areas.
Support comes in several ways. Every team that is apart of Team San Diego has a niche. My team, for example is responsible for building and maintaining the playing field that TSD uses at almost all of their events. My team along with Team 1572 will provide machining services for teams who otherwise would not have those capabilities. Team 1266 typically hosts the larger TSD events. Team 812 typically does the ‘ambiance’ of our events and will provide Chairman’s Award workshops for those team who are submitting. This list can go on for quiet a while…
Having a group like this can be useful, but you need to make sure that everyone is one the same page and that everyone is willing to work together to some degree.
