My son and daughter have been in VEX rpbotics since 7-8th grade or so. The high school offers robotic as part of the STEM classes, and, the school robotics club fields 6-8 teams of 3 players / 1 bot for each tourney, and have been for years. I think it's one of the coolest things going, even potentially as cool as the metal / wood shop classes of the old days. Of course, much safer.