Is there any official requirements for one school to register more than one team？For example the total number of students attending the FRC program.
The FRC program is pretty flexible - teams aren’t necessarily even tied to a school. Basically I’d say if you wanted to, and had at least enough money to do 2 registrations and enough kids to field 2 drive teams, you can have 2 teams. And teams can basically scale as big as you desire - there’s no number that you will hit where you must split into 2 teams.
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You might want to look into how 3847 Spectrum started 8515 Photon as a “development team”.
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We have a all male team 3275 and a all female team 3134 at our school. More work for sure, more money, yes, worth it? I think so.
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Pinging @Libby_K
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Another good reference will be 3655 Tractor Technicians. They started a “JV” FRC team this past season, 8424.
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also 4125 confidential has 8532 classified as a jv team
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Per Newly Formed FIRST Robotics Competition Teams, the new team might not qualify as a “Rookie Team” for grants, KOP, and certain awards. If, like me, you find that page hard to interpret, then this CD thread from 2019 may shed some light.
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The only requirements from FIRST are the same as the first team at your school. Pay the money and have 2 adults that have passed YPP.
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Ha! I guess we are an example.
No requirement (that is, required to split) anywhere that we’re aware of - we have two registered-FRC-numbers (1923 and 1914) that encompass our 172-student FRC program. In our case, the idea came from the students - not admins, FIRST, or anywhere else.
The ‘way it works’ from FIRST is outlined in that doc and posts above - have your YPP screening, pay your money, and the number you’ll get is going to be close-to-your-old one. You do have to register the team as a rookie and then write in to team support indicating that they’re going to be two teams from the same program. (This took us some time, as FIRST originally did not follow their own rules from the doc on which number we’d get - took SEVERAL tries with team support to get them to change the second team from 1809 > 1914)
Some teams split and divide students, and that’s what works best for them. Definitely use CD as a chance to explore what others do and see what works!
Curious, OP - why do you ask? I’d bet we can help workshop solutions in this thread if you’re considering two-teams.
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Yet another example is Westlake H.S. in Austin, TX with 2468 Team Appreciate and 2687 Team Apprentice. I had a nice 15 minute or so conversation about their varsity/JV arrangement with one of their mentors at Champs waiting to get into GRB through one of the very few doors open to do bag checks for outside food/drinks.
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Thank you for sharing. Actually my school is planning for two teams next season since we are currently involving about 40 people in offseason, and expecting for more next semester. We want to provide students with more opportunities to be in the drive team. But recently someone told me that we have to involve more than 100 members to be qualified to register a second team, so I just want to make sure.
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4522 and 4766 Team SCREAM and SCREAM Jr. were another example this season. We allied with Jr. at the Central Missouri Regional. @mrwright could provide more details on how their season and structure was, if wanted.
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Other options to look at would be 494 The Martians, and 70 More Martians. Both from a single high school (as far as i know). They build twin or nearly twin robots. and I believe they try to divide the teams relatively equally although they design and build together. 2 Teams granting a larger experience for the kids at competitions.
Also Grandville High School has 3 teams, but I believe they do it more of a Freshman, JV, and Varsity. 288 The Robodawgs, 216 More RoboDawgs, and 244 Robodawgs 3d. The build 3 separate bots. I am not sure how much they work together or not, but the robots are not built to be twins. In 2022 216 and 288 built different flywheel shooters, while 244 built a lacrosse stick catapult.
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If the main goal is involving more people on drive, you can also just enter more competitions. Would be cheaper and easier.
FWIW 40-50 isn’t a massive FRC team. I’d consider that an above average size, but there are many larger teams.
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Looks like the OP’s team is from China, so entering two teams at the Hangzhou regional is probably cheaper and easier than traveling out of country. For the typical 40-50 student team, however, this is good advice
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It’s probably harder, if not a lot harder, to go to 4 competitions as one team vs 2 competitions each for 2 teams. This is especially true for regional teams.
Registering for 3rd and 4th competitions can only take place after all teams have gone through the 2-round selection process. Many regionals are full after the 2-round process. Selection for 3rd and 4th plays is typically very limited. I’m not sure how many teams have ever played 4 regionals. I don’t personally know of any.
The 3rd and 4th events are almost certainly longer trips for the team and possibly far longer.
Transportation expenses may be higher for 4 trips with half the team vs 2 trips with the full (2 robot) team. If the full team can fit on one bus, only 2 bus trip expenses would be needed for the 2 team scenario vs 4 bus trip expenses for the 1 team scenario.
I assume that most 2-team organizations have a lot of the mentor/teacher support in common between the 2 teams. If that is true, for a 1-team, 4-event scenario, those supporting adults would need to find a way to take time off from school or work 4 times in a short period vs 2 times for a 2-team scenario.
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It’s not unheard of for a team to alternate between two drive teams for qualification matches, then pick one drive team for eliminations. Of course, it can be difficult to get in enough drive practice if you only build one robot. Many off-season competitions allow teams to field a second robot.
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We also have 2 teams, one shop.
We are a community program, so not a school splitting teams.
We started as 4575 the ‘Tin Mints’ which is a girl scouts team, later we added a coed team 6327 which has become the ‘Fighting Gophers’.
During build and meetings, the mentors share support to both teams.
Over the years, we have tried having both teams in the same event, and also staggering the teams across 4 weeks.
Logistically, it is easier to have both teams at the same event (moving, time off, etc.), however there is less available time for the mentors to support both teams.
We also do not have a large student or mentor base, so there is no required minimum from FIRST
(other then 3 students and 1 mentor…).
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