Part #11: End-of-Season Strategies + Bonus Tips | SUMMER ROBOTICS: Tips and Tricks for Your Team

Once your season comes to an end and your team won't be advancing anymore (or you just went to world's!), there are bunch of things that still need to be done before you take a couple week's break and start getting ready for next season. Transitioning between seasons is really a two-step process: wrapping up the previous season and setting up for next season. Finishing up a season is probably the hardest to do. The team is generally sad to see the season end, but also super excited to get started with next season. To help you to organize your team and make sure you don't skip steps, here are some of our best tips for ending the season!

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Tip #1: Reflect on your season

There are so many things that can happen over the course of a season. Some of them bad, but most of them good. More than likely your season will end with defeat at a competition and you won't be advancing any further. Your team will probably be a bit down and disappointed that you won't be competing anymore, because, let's face it, competition is the best part of the season! You never, ever want to end your season on a sad note. One of the best ways to relive the happy times of the season is to take a few moments to reflect and remember. You could have a whole meeting dedicated to this or you could just have each of your teammates write a paragraph for personal reflection. You could even make it anonymous and have one of your coaches read out what everyone wrote. Reflecting helps to see the impact that the season on everyone individually and as a team. Knowing how your teammates felt about the season can help you to look forward and learn how you could have done better (there's always room for improvement!). For the end of our Ultimate Goal season, our team filled out anonymous reflection forms. We each reflected on how our competitions went and how we could improve for the next season. We all had access to everyone's answers so that we can learn how other people felt about the season.

Tip #2: Make some basic goals for next season

Part of reflecting on your season can be reflecting on your goals from the season. Which ones did you meet? Which ones are you still working on? What could you have done better? After reflecting on your goals, you will probably have some goals or things that need to be done for next year. This is the best way to start your list of goals for next year. Of course you can add new goals to your list that have nothing to do with your past seasons. Check out our blog post SUMMER ROBOTICS Part #5: Setting Goals for more advice and tips about making goals. Getting a head start on making your goals before the new season has even begun mean you're one step ahead and more prepared.

Tip #3: Review the calendar for your pre-season prep

There's usually five or six months, depending on when your last competition is, between the end of one season and the beginning of the next. Most of that time is over summer break for school. Every one of your teammates is bound to have plans over the summer, whether it be travel, or work, or camp, or anything really. Robotics doesn't stop over the summer, though. There is so much your team can do over the summer: fundraising, research, looking for sponsors, outreach, etc. Before your team takes a break for a week or two after your season is over, set down a schedule for all the activities you want to do over the summer. Take everyone's summer plans into account, and make sure everyone knows when the time is to start preparing for the new season in September!

Tip #4: Maintain communication

This follows closely with the previous tip. Once you've got a summer calendar and plan together, you have to make sure everyone on your team is on the same page. You won't believe how easy it is to forget that your FTC team is having a fundraising event next week when you're vacationing on the beach, and before you know it, you've missed all the meetings and events your team did over the summer! Have one person on your team keep track of the team's summer events. Send everyone weekly reminders about upcoming dates and thigs that need to be done. Don't let your team fall out of contact when you could be preparing for a fantastic season in robotics.

Tip #5: Find new team members

Sadly, there comes a time when everyone turns 18 and graduates high school and is too old for FTC. As much as we'd all hate to admit it, it's true, and there's no way to stop it. When people start leaving your team because they've aged out, your team will start to shrink, and after a few seasons you'll be down to two or three teammates. Keeping your team sustainable includes making sure there's enough people to get things done. Two people is not enough to build a whole robot and compete with it in competitions. There's just too much to do. Try to keep your team at roughly the same number of people every season. This means finding new people that can take the place of your seniors that just graduated out. This is a good thing to do over the summer, so that new people can get settled before you go full speed ahead with building the robot. If you're really ambitious, have some people who a curious about joining your team check it out before your season ends. They can have conversations with the seniors on your team, and really get a feel for FTC sooner rather than later.

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**BONUS TIPS: OUTREACH**

Tip #1: Get creative

There is no "right" way to do outreach, and your outreach really depends on the opportunities your team is presented. Every team does something different, so outreach is your opportunity to get creative and reach out beyond your team, to the community. There are some nonnegotiable parts of outreach, though. The most important: spread Gracious Professionalism. FTC is all about showing kindness and core values, all of which can be summed up in Gracious Professionalism. Remember, when your team is out in the community, they represent the entire FIRST community and STEM enthusiasts all over the world.

Tip #2: Think of the little kids

Believe it or not, you can become teachers of robotics. Yes, you're still learning (we all are), and yes, you're not an adult yet, but who says you can't teach other kids, especially those in elementary school what it's like to do FTC. FIRST has another program called FIRST Lego League for elementary-aged kids. A lot of FTC teams either start or mentor an FLL team as part of their outreach. You don't have to work with FLL in particular, but inspiring kids that are still young to participate in FTC when they are older can have a huge impact on their lives. Never forget that your outreach should reach people of all ages, younger kids included.

Tip #3: It doesn't have to be robotics

I know what you're thinking; "What?! I thought FTC was all about STEM and robotics!" And you would be wrong! FTC is about inspiring students to reach the endless possibilities that are out there, whether that be robotics or engineering, or business or art. FTC develops skills that are crucial for any profession. FTC isn't just about robotics, though that is a large part of it; it's so much more. And your outreach can reflect that. Outreach also includes community service, and if you think about it, community service isn't exactly robotics related at all. There are a multitude of things that your team could do that don't involve robotics in any way, so don't get hung up on the fact that you're on a robotics team, and just reach out to your community!

Tip #4: Start something new

Sure, you can get ideas from other teams, and I would encourage you to take inspiration from their outreach, but you are by no means limited to what's been done before. The sky's the limit when it comes to outreach. If you have an idea that's feasible for your team and can help reach out to the community, nobody will stop you. Be original and make new opportunities for people who are interested in STEM to hang out with your team and learn more about FTC. You don't have to copy other people's ideas.

Tip #5: Do something individually

Not every outreach opportunity can involve your whole team, but you can always do something as an individual to represent your team. Next time you volunteer at the food bank or do some other community service, wear your FTC team T-shirt. That way you'll let everyone know that FTC is more than robots and winning trophies. You can be a representative of your team and FIRST even on your own. That doesn't mean you should neglect your outreach activities as a whole team, but include a little of both in the mix.

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We hope you enjoyed this SUMMER ROBOTICS series and put some of these tips to good use with your FTC team. We will be continuing to post on our blog every Sunday as we approach the beginning of the new season and season game release. Keep an eye out for more weekly blog posts. Follow us on Instagram (@batteriesnotincludedftc) to get more up-to-date information on our team.