Rookie Team Mentoring

In the fall of 2010, two rookie FRC teams, Team 3651 in Travelers Rest, SC and Team 3680 in Statesville, NC, contacted us to find out what advice we had for teams just starting out.   In response, our leader sent long emails of advice along with various documents that we use in our training.   Then we hosted both teams in our shop on Saturday, December 4th for a day of training presented by our students and mentors.

Rookie Training Day Topics

• Game Animation and Slideshow
• FIRST Overview
• Build Season Overview and Schedule
• Kit of Parts
• Programming and Sensors
• Electrical
• Pneumatics
• Mechanical
• Team Spirit and Student Leadership
• Robot Demonstration and Shop Tour

During the build season, the Travelers Rest team came to our kickoff event; we sent a delegation to visit their shop and help with some electrical, programming, and minibot problems they were having; and they visited our shop on the evening before the robots shipped to test their robot on our practice field.   We also continued to provide assistance by email to the Statesville team.

At the competitions, we provided whatever assistance we could to our mentored teams, and we were very proud to see Team 3651 win the Rookie All Star Award at the Palmetto Regional, and Team 3680 receive the Judges' Award at the NC Regional.   This year, we have continued to provide guidance to the Travelers Rest team as they struggle with the many challenges that face young teams.