I noticed on the side of this forum, that there were links to other Regional event’s forums such as the NYC and I would personally really like a place for people attending the SBPLI regional to collaborate on a more local scale. I can not speak for all of the teams on Long Island, but my team eaither because a lazyness or a lack of teams in out immediate area we very rarely see any other teams exept for the 3 days at the competition. Hopefully this forum will be useful for teams such as ours or rookie teams who are just starting out and trying to find teams in their area who are willing to help. Maybe we will see more of team fundraisers that would not be possible without the collaboration of multiple teams from Long Island. Or, this would be a nice place to chat with other people and get to know them better.
I’m from Long Island, formerly of Team 810, The Mechanical Bulls. I’ve been to SBPLI for the past three years, I’ll be there again for a fourth year, on Team 190 this year. To be honest with you, I don’t know what you’re talking about by saying there’s a lack of a community on Long Island.
For example, 810 worked with 358 throughout the year last year, and on and off for the past few years, whenever we need parts or help, we ask them, they’re 15 minutes down the road from 810, and whenever we needed help, they were more than willing to help. In fact, they helped us at at all of our competitions this year, as they went to the same ones as 810.
In the pits, I was always able to walk around and find help from anyone, there was never a problem about getting help when needed. I remember several mentors from 311 coming and helping 810 last year when our drivetrain gave out.
Point is, there’s plenty of community on Long Island. You have to talk to the other teams, attend some of their meetings perhaps, or just try and talk to them before the season starts. Long Island is a very densely populated area for FIRST teams, I’m sure that no matter where you look, there will be teams willing to work with you. While a forum may be a nice place for everyone to put ideas down, it’s not going to come even close to replacing a phone call, or a visit by a few team representitives. Having another team to provide support during the build season is a huge asset to any team.
Ok, maybe I worded this wrong. I’m not saying there is a lack of community at the home or at the regionals. Help from all sorts of places came to us at the regional, but, maybe its just that my team has a lack of a PR group or in our immediate area there is a lack of teams around, but for teams like mine I was thinking more along the lines of using this forum as a place to organize in-person meetings, not to replace them.