Team Role – Grade Level  Team Captain – 12 th  Team Co-Captain & Pit Crew Chief – 12 th  Communications Director – 11 th  Mechanical Specialist – 11 th  Safety Captain – 10 th  Graphic Designer – 10 th  Spirit Captain – 10 th  Electronics Specialist – 10 th

 3 Computer Club Members  3 Band Members  1 Cheerleader  1 Football Player  1 Soccer Player  1 Theatre Member  3 Students that were not involved in any other afterschool activities

 Everyone is a potential team member  Diversity  Hard worker  Dedication  Gracious Professionalism  Self-Motivated  Easy to get along with COACH’S NOTE You need team members that will read and study the manual. You need team members and coaches that are willing to work for at least two hours on most days during the competition season.

 Everything you do depends on being safe!!!  You need to appoint a safety captain; it may seem odd now but in the end it will benefit you greatly  Always wear your safety glasses COACH’S NOTE Practice appropriate safety procedures everyday and start on day one. All team members should read the safety section of the game manual.

 The team should run much like a business; that is FIRST’s intention  It can be easier to stay organized when broken into smaller groups  Good groups consist of: Electronics, Programming, Mechanical, Design What we did:  Appointed a Team Captain  Appointed a Communications Director  Appointed a leader within each group COACH’S NOTE Decide where other responsibilities fall. Who will design your team t- shirts? Who will organize meetings? Who will work to secure funding? Who will build your shipping crate?

 FRC teams can be expensive, especially if you will have a lot of travel costs.  For sustainability, you will probably need a combination of  Grant Funds  Sponsorship Funds  School (or Organization) Funds

TOTAL EXPENSES $11,  Kickoff Expenses:  $  Regional Competition Expenses:  $8,  Construction Expenses:  $1,  Other Team Expenses (T-Shirts, Food, etc.):  $ COACH’S NOTE These numbers are based on 13 team members. Average cost per team member = $871

What we are doing:  Finding businesses in our community that would have an interest in this type of program  Offering multiple sponsorship options that include different levels of support and different levels of benefits such as advertising and recognition  Writing professional business letters to specific business owners/managers in the community  Following up with phone calls and then in-person meetings  Presenting to local civic groups COACH’S NOTE Take care of your current sponsors to increase renewed sponsorship and positive word-of-mouth throughout the business community.

COACH’S NOTE The season is long. The work days are long. The competition days are long. Pace yourself and stay hydrated!

Stress relief Always have fun with the team! COACH’S NOTE Don’t forget to have fun! Don’t miss opportunities for team building.

Make Friends COACH’S NOTE Work with other teams when you have an opportunity. They may need your help today, but you may need their help tomorrow. It’s good to have friends.

Last Year’s Competition: BREAKAWAY

 Started at the Quick Build  Built according to directions at Quick Build, but later decided that we needed a different strategy:  Had trouble with traction ▪ Split the slick wheels ▪ Switched from 2-wheel drive to 4-wheel drive  Decided to go through tunnel ▪ Made robot more narrow ▪ Made the robot lower to the ground ▪ Tried to become more defensive

 Ball Control  Used a vacuum system ▪ 12-volt vacuum for a car ▪ To contact the ball, lowered front ▪ Tried a funnel system, but had problems  Problems:  Wasn’t very powerful  Used a lot of battery  Had trouble programming the on/off control  Could not reverse the motor to push the ball out

 Followed Instructions Completely  Finalized a Design before Building  Been Specific  Create a Detailed Drawing  Planned and Tested Ball Control  Better Time Management  Autonomous Mode COACH’S NOTE We should have planned for an easy way to turn the power off quickly during competition. All motors had to be controlled remotely, regardless of what they control.