Re: Registration 2013
 

Huh, one must have dropped out between this afternoon and now. Wonder who.

Re: Registration 2013
 

Looks like FIRST has been busy brainstorming reconfigurations. Check out slide 8...

http://www.nefirst.org/2012/07/28/town-hall-meeting-ct-recap/

Not crazy about what appears to be a disproportionate allocation of CMP slots for international teams in the near future.

Re: Registration 2013
 

What scares me more than anything else about that model is the number of events it would require teams to attend. Under this system, a team that attends CMP is looking at five events. 2 districts + district CMP + SuperRegional + CMP. I understand that there are teams that do it right now, but IIRC fewer that number is below 10 teams, and most of those do it by choice (i.e.: MI/MAR teams that choose to go to an outside regional), and this new systems has over 200 teams doing that.

That's a lot of time for students and mentors to miss, no matter how you look at it.

Having said that, I like the idea of a smaller 240 team CMP. It leads to having divisions where you can actually play with/against most of the other teams, which you can't currently do now with 100 team divisions.

Re: Registration 2013
 

My question is, how big are these super regional's that they will have 54 teams from them moving on to the championship/how are they going to decide which 54 teams? Are we sure that the super-regional is an event? It could just be a geographical labeling used to separate teams in an organized manner, I feel like that makes a lot more sense.

Re: Registration 2013
 

Well considering that international teams include Canada it is not as bad as it seems.

EDIT:
Also what is a flex event?
and It says no changes in awards/medals I am pretty sure that we have had a lot of complaints about how wimpy the district trophies are....

Re: Registration 2013
 

flex events are lower cost regionals. They may be held in a high school, the A/V cost/standards are lowered, in the past they would have been B&T vs ship.

Re: Registration 2013
 

Another issue with a Super Regional concept is that teams will find out very late in the season that they qualify.
I know this still happens now for late qualifying teams at Week 6 & 7 events, but not for every team. Imagine 200 or so teams struggling to find registration money, make travel arrangements and notifying school boards at the end of Week 7, just 10 days before they have to travel out of state.

This problem was reality last year, for late qualifying MAR teams and would have to be solved before we scale it up for 240 teams.

Re: Registration 2013
 

Here is something funny, the totals on the chart are for 2011 with 2013 numbers I believe:

North Super Regional: 704 Teams
East Super Regional: 560 Teams
South Super Regional: 515 Teams
West Super Regional: 551 Teams

I am pretty sure at almost 1/3 of teams the North Super Regional needs to have teams redistributed

Re: Registration 2013
 

It might be possible to move a state or two into a neighboring region, but I think it would be better to award championship spots proportionally instead of awarding exactly 54 per super regional.

Re: Registration 2013
 

This is normal for high school athletics who find out at the end of their season they qualify to go to state championships...

I do think the current timeline for FIRST will have to change... Maybe Championships in June after school gets out? As it is now, many of my team members won't go to the CMP (if we make it there), simply because AP testing is so close.

Re: Registration 2013
 

In most places, going to the state championship does not involve coming up with $4000, transportation to and from another state for students and a robot, and 2-3 nights at a hotel. There is also typically not a national or world championship for high school sports. FIRST is entirely different in this regard.

Re: Registration 2013
 

Actually, it turns out that our kids missed fewer school days last year than ever before. Both MAR districts we attended were Sat-Sun events (no days missed), NYC Regional was Fri-Sat-Sun (1 day missed for core group only), MAR DCMP had them missing 2 days, and CMP had them missing 3 days - total 5 or 6 days for 5 events.

With this new super-regional concept, tied with a district model, one might imagine more Sat-Sun events.
Some schools would not permit school travel when school is not in session. But I could imagine mid-May as being a viable option.

Re: Registration 2013
 

The problem with mid-May is AP Exams. I think no matter when thigns are scheduled, there will always be some sort of conflict.

Re: Registration 2013
 

Regarding the volunteers, it can happen. When Michigan switched to districts they went from 3 regionals to 6 districts and the state championship.

Michigan requires all teams to supply 2 volunteers to an event each season (It does not have to be events you are participating in as a team).

Re: Registration 2013
 

So, Bedford is the newest Michigan District to take up the growth to FiM 209 teams.

A Friday/Saturday event though: 05-Apr - 06-Apr-2013

Bedford High School
8285 Jackman Road
Temperance, MI