We know many teams are just starting to recruit and train new students for the season. With that in mind, we wanted to share some of the newer resources that have been created or updated for the season.
Let’s start by highlighting a few resources:
- FIRST® Robotics Competition Mentor Guide – We highly recommend this resource for all mentors. It is a guide intended to help teams with best practices for running their FIRST Robotics Competition team and is a great resource for both rookie and veteran teams. It provides a month-by-month overview of running a team, describes other key areas of team operations, and connects teams with helpful resources.
- Team Recruitment Best Practices – This guide is intended to be a foundational resource for team recruitment sharing best practices. As many of our teams start to return to school, recruitment is the top of mind, and this resource helps share ideas for recruitment, retention, and engagement of both students and mentors. Thank you to the several teams who helped provide feedback and suggestions for this resource.
- Team Organization Best Practices – This resource focuses on a wide range of ideas and best practices for team organization that are beneficial to both new and established teams. If you haven’t set up your leadership yet or are just starting to think about any changes for the season, this is a great resource for you. It is up to each team to decide what works best for their specific team. Thank you to the several teams who helped provide feedback and suggestions for this resource.
- Best Practices for Creating Team Goals – This guide was created last year with Team 581, Blazing Bulldogs, and 1678, Citrus Circuits. This guide is intended to be a foundational resource for creating and setting goals for FIRST® teams. Setting clear, intentional goals provides direction and purpose for the entire team and serves as a critical foundation for decision-making throughout the season. If your team has not set goals in the past, we highly recommend taking a look through this resource and other resources linked to explore this approach for your team.
- Enhancement & Iteration Guide – This resource is intended to be a foundational resource to help both new and veteran teams walk through the process of enhancing and iterating designs. Teams can use the information provided and involve their entire team or smaller groups to either enhance and/or iterate on specific designs for their robot. This resource was originally created specifically for the KitBot but we realized this content could be helpful for teams beyond those who work on the KitBot so KitBot specific content was removed and will be added to the KitBot Instructions when it is released at Kickoff.
There are so many more resources available on both the Technical Resources and Team Management webpages. We have previously blogged about some of these, and we want to call out that we have resources on everything from recruitment to fundraising to bumper construction to kickoff/strategy to design, and more! We encourage teams to review the other resources on the pages. We have also been sharing a “Resource of the Week” in our Team Blasts for the past year or so to help highlight relevant resources to our teams (not subscribed? Click the “Sign Up for Team Email Blasts” button on the Team Blasts webpage).
We know that these resources are just a start to what teams are looking for. If you know of additional resources that exist or have ideas on resources that you think would help teams, please reach out to frcteamadvocate@firstinspires.org. We know our community is full of amazingly talented people, and we would love the help of our community to make FIRST Robotics Competition more accessible to all teams.
Trainings
We also want to highlight some of the newer trainings that FIRST has released over the last year. A key component to keeping students engaged is offering training to help them feel engaged with the team and eventually take ownership over projects. FIRST has several training courses already available within FIRST Training, and more are in development.
A great starting point for new members is to take the FIRST Robotics Competition Guided Experience modules. These modules are a fun, flexible training designed for Lead Coaches, mentors, and youth (13+) to build essential skills for a successful season. With 12 interactive modules, hands-on activities, and downloadable resources, teams can choose a full training path or mix-and-match lessons to fit their needs. Perfect for pre-season prep, build season support, and onboarding new members.
FIRST has also created several training courses specifically for mentors. Here are a few that we think are most applicable and have tips and tricks for being a mentor:
- Mentor Ready Training Path – This introductory training is intended to create an aligned onboarding experience for all mentors, ensuring they feel prepared, meet safety requirements, and are ready to lead and inspire their teams. This path consists of four training sessions: Welcome to FIRST, Youth Protection Training, Data Privacy for Mentors, and Role of a Mentor.
- Role of a Mentor – This training is designed for coaches, mentors, and any adults involved in FIRST programs to learn more about the types of mentors, their responsibilities and impact, how they will use the FIRST Dashboard, and resources for mentors and teams.
- Role of a Lead Coach –This training is designed for current and prospective Lead Coaches in FIRST programs. It provides an overview of the Lead Coach role and responsibilities, along with recommendations and resources to help guide your team through a smooth and successful season. programs. It provides an overview of the Lead Coach role and responsibilities, along with recommendations and resources to help guide your team through a smooth and successful season.
- Starting in September, learners who complete the Role of a Lead Coach Training will be able to opt-in to receive an exclusive FIRST Coach gift.
- Mentor Fundamentals Training Path - This training path equips current and prospective mentors with essential skills to navigate challenges effectively, foster positive team environments, and support and inspire youth. The Mentor Fundamentals training path consists of three training sessions:
- Navigating Team Conflict – This training helps mentors learn tips and resources to help with consensus building and conflict resolution, in which conflicts or disputes are brought to a peaceful conclusion.
- Working with Youth – This training is focused on learning about youth development as well as learning resources for working with students across any of the FIRST programs.
- Building Inspiration – This training is designed to equip FIRST mentors with the resources and skills needed to inspire, empower, and support youth in meaningful ways. Through a focus on intentional community-building, mentors will learn how to create a fun team environment where every student feels valued, motivated, and capable of achieving great things.