Tips for a Transitioning Team

VEX V5 General Discussion
1

Hey all,

So with the end of Starstruck, I’m going to be moving up from the Middle School division to the High School division, and I’m pretty sure a lot of other teams are going to be making the same transition.

Are there any notable tips that any current high school players could present?

Thanks

2

I was never on a middle school team and had to transition to high school, but I feel like it is important that you do not let anyone discourage your ideas because you are “young” or come off as “new.” Any skills you learned while in middle school vex can still be applied to the high school division. Just remember though, you’ll be dealing with potentially more talent so do not be discouraged if you do not do as well as you did in middle school. Besides, you’re in California (as your profile says,) which is a hefty region for high school teams.

Good luck with your transitioning!

3

I made this same transition a few years ago… In my state, high school teams will usually outperform middle school teams, so you should expect a little bit more competition. High school allows most teams more freedom from their mentors to build and design, so enjoy your new creative possibilities. You will have up to 4 seasons ahead of you, so don’t feel upset if a group of juniors or seniors beats you… Keep in mind that with a good design and enough practice you can still prevail.

4

We are looking forward to receiving (and terrified of facing) many of indiana’s elementary and middle school teams. The Park Tudor teams (lead by @Powerbelly and managed by @dbenderpt) are mostly in the middle school division, but beat most of the high school teams in the state this year, and our senior mentor’s son was a strong competitor in IQ this year (520A - 4th in skills, 6th in teamwork). Every high school should be putting a lot of effort into bring in and integrating that sort of skill and talent.

Our region has some very strong and talented high school teams, but i would guess that a lot of the middle school teams are bringing a lot more than they are walking in to. I would be interested to see how well middle school teams did toe to toe with high school teams in other regions.

I checked out your season, and the fact that your rankings grew steadily over the course of the season makes me think you are going to do just fine in high school.

55th to 16th to 12th to 2nd is a pretty amazing progression that any high school team should strive for.

5

Thanks! I hope I can do even better in high school lol.

6

Thanks!

7

Thanks man. I’ll definitely create a good design for next season.

8

As everyone has said, be ready to face much harder competition. However, do not let anything discourage you. Many freshmen teams do big things, so even if someone says to you, “Oh what can you do? You’re just a freshmen,” remind them that age doesn’t directly reflect knowledge. Also, high school teams are much more organized in scouting than middle school teams. Usually, hollering your team name during alliance selection doesn’t work. It’s still worth a try, but it is always a better idea to form alliances before hand. This is always a good idea, but is even more important in high school.