One thing a rookie team must do is communicate with other teams. Communication is key for a team to do well and succeed. It helps to get your name out into the FIRST community. This way if you need help with anything teams, mostly in your district, will help you out. A prime example of this is when we qualified for World Championship and, at first, did not have the money required to attend. Immediately Team 2016, the Mighty Monkey Wrenches and Team 11, Mort heard that we needed help and they reached out to us to see how they could help. They really wanted us to experience going to Worlds.
One way to communicate is to have an Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/equitumrobotics6860/). This allows other teams to know who you are and what you are about. Another good way is to create a Chief Delphi account. This is a forum where teams from all over the world gather to talk about their experiences and ask questions about FIRST. I’ve used this forum to communicate with other teams about what is required to win the Chairman’s Award. Another smart thing to do is create a website. I used the Wix.com platform to publish the page for free (https://equitumrobotics.wixsite.com/6860). This is a great way to post your story on the web. – Sadman