The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Former Jackrabbits Wendell “WoWo” Moe, Jr. & Tyson Ruffins.
Long Beach Poly has been famed throughout the years as the Home of Scholars and Champions, producing many legends in every aspect of life – musicians, athletes, actors and geniuses.
In athletics, fear enters the hearts of high school athletes when the Jackrabbits are announced as their opponent. Poly dominates in every aspect a school can possibly dominate in, and a quieter facet of this dominance is their robotics team.
Poly Rabbotics, or Team 7042, is a student robotics team that participates in the globe-spanning robotics league known as FRC, or FIRST Robotics Competition. FRC has 11,527 registered teams across 35 countries, with alumni all over the world continuing on to be incredibly successful in the field of engineering.
In 2018, Poly students decided to fulfill the duality of the phrase sheathing the school – they founded a team fit for scholars and champions. Since its creation nine years ago, the team has been to the world championships twice and consistently performed well throughout their seasons.
Typically, Poly is ranking in the top third of competitors throughout California. In recent years, Poly has ranked highly in season – winning first, second and fifth at different competitions throughout the year – and off-season events, even winning the creativity award at three competitions in the last three years.
Alumni of the team have gone on to work in all aspects of the STEM world. Rabbotics has produced biomedical, nuclear, software and aerospace engineers along with people in nearly every other field. Rohan Reddy, former engineering director, has used the skills he acquired through Poly Rabbotics to pursue his passions.
“My job calls for programming and computer-aided design in Solidworks, both skills I learned through Poly Rabbotics,” Reddy said.
Rabbotics Family
One thing that sets Team 7042 apart is their ability to succeed with minimal team members and minimal funding. Rabbotics typically has around twenty members,while the average FRC team has more than double that. Due to the smaller team size, Rabbotics members have a uniquely tight-knit connection.
“During my time on the team, we made up for our deficits by establishing a strong sense of community,” said alum Kyle Malling, former Operations director and co-captain of the team. “When everyone has a place where they belong and a job that feels important, it’s easier for everyone to be more productive.”
This close connection allows the Jackrabbits to become more than just teammates. Most kids join the team with little to no knowledge in STEM-based activities and come out knowing their future lies within engineering.
Gaining this knowledge comes through hands-on learning experiences: more experienced members teach new members about anything they may be interested in. Eric Gever, a Boeing aerospace engineer and longtime FRC mentor, is a strong believer that robotics is one of the best places to hone STEM-focused skills.
“Students get to work directly with real engineers and apply those skills to a highly competitive competition,” Gever said.
The team accepts whoever shows up, and unlike many other FRC teams, have no requirements to join. The leaders on Team 7042 understand sharing the knowledge of STEM shouldn’t have limits – engineering should be for everyone.
“The team welcomes everyone from the Poly student body, regardless of experience or skill level,” Gever said.
As we approach a decade of Poly Rabbotics, the program is hoping to continue their success next season — even looking to make a push to the World Championships.
There are robotics teams and leagues all over the world. If you know someone who has amazing capabilities that may not be interested in athletics, this is another great pathway of expression, involvement and knowledge sitting waiting to be discovered.
If there is any chance interest and passion could bloom, don’t hesitate to get involved; the knowledge of STEM is only waiting to be uncovered by those willing to explore it.
