VOLT Begins First Practices

After some last minute recruiting, we formed our team for the 2017-18 season in early July. We are joined by JJ ('21), Andrew ('21) and Kane ('21), all incoming freshmen at Beckman High School this fall. JJ and Andrew were on the Pioneer MS team and Kane was on the Orchard HIlls team this past season.

Recruiting isn't easy when you're competing with your high school team, in this case Beckman High School. First, joining the school team doesn't cost anything. Second, we are often recruiting from a pool of players that didn't make the high school team for a good reason. However, one reason some students don't make their high school team is because they have a weekday commitment to other activities, usually sports, which interferes with the weekday practice schedule of their high school robotics team. The beauty of an independent team is we have a flexible practice schedule (weekends! nights!) so these students can continue to participate in competitive robotics as well as their other activities. Btw, we make sure we get to our local tournaments and let incoming freshman know we are an option for the upcoming season.

When we recruit we are recruiting the student and well as the student's parents. Our returning players interview the prospect, usually at a public location like a Starbucks. Then the entire team discusses the prospect and makes a decision on whether to invite the prospect onto the team. If it's a go, the Team Manager (adult!) meets with the prospect and their parents. This is an important meeting, because you want to make sure you're not inviting a "helicopter parent" onto the team or worse, a controlling "dad bot". You also want to make sure they have reasonable expectations to cut down on the complaining during the season which demoralizes the whole team.

We have our new players and their parents review and sign a participation agreement which basically outlines the rules of the team. We also have them sign general liability releases and medical releases in case something goes wrong. You shouldn't even consider starting an independent team if players aren't willing to release you and your parents from potential liability!

After the recruitment and registration process is over, all you can do is hope for the best. If you have any questions about forming an independent team, e-mail us and we'll do our best to answer them.