Newly Formed Teams

Types of Teams

Find differences for the types of FIRST Robotics Competition teams below. It is important to remember that these are guidelines only and FIRST will review special situations on a case-by-case basis as they are brought to our attention. Teams that do not meet the guidelines and wish to submit a petition for Rookie Status may do so by writing to us at customerservice@firstinspires.org. We ask the following to be added to the subject line: “Request for 2026 Rookie Status” along with a full description of the situation.

• Rookie Teams - These are new teams that are:
  • associated with a school or organization that did not have a FIRST Robotics Competition team participate in the last 3 seasons, 
  • do not have 6 or more student participants with prior FIRST Robotics Competition experience, and 
  • eligible for the New Team Grant
• New Veteran Teams - These are new teams that do not meet the official Rookie definition. This could be because they are a sibling team, were formed from a separation (Separation/Combine Rules), are reactivating a team that has not participated within 3 seasons, or have more than 6 students with previous experience.
• Veteran Teams - These are teams that have competed in more than 1 season.

See the Separation/Combine Rules if you are merging or separating teams

Multiple Teams

Sibling Teams: FIRST Robotics Competition has defined Sibling Teams as multiple teams associated with one organization. All Sibling Teams must follow the Guidelines for Sibling Teams while competing in FIRST Robotics Competition.