Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

Alan, we've done that. According to everything I know, it's not in the regional's hands.

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

Yes it is the RD or local committee who determines who gets in off the wait list.

In the case of Lone Star it is particularly bad because there are fewer teams on the wait list than there are reserved spots, so everyone on the wait list should have a spot. I'm surprised that FIRST hasn't been pressuring them to make the decision. Someone at FIRST actually manually moves them from the wait list to registered for an event. I know as I've been included on the emails to HQ requesting a particular team be moved from the wait list to the registered list in the PNW district.

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

Juan,

Amen and well said; wish I could have put all that together in a post as well as you did. You nailed every point right on the head.

I will add one team to the list without Googling it: 1807 The Dapper Dans. They made it to Worlds a couple of years ago via Hub City. Based in Kountze, Tx they were right at 15-20 miles from Beaumont and I think 90+ from Houston. Unfortunately this year I cannot find them registered anywhere in FRC. I don't know if they folded or moved to FTC seems like I heard a rumor though that they may have made a shift to Vex.

As far as clearing waitlists...I have also heard that it is in the hands of FIRST HQ not the local RD and personally speaking I think FIRST HQ is where the decision should be.

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

It is the choice of the RD and/or local contact. They must send an email or make a call to HQ to have them manually move the teams. That is where it should be because the local people should know the specifics of the teams on the wait list and have a better understanding of who really needs to get into an event. There is a protocol where rookies are first to be moved from the wait list, teams with no events, and then it is discretionary and many factors can be considered. In the past FIRST has done it on their own and that led to problems, ie veteran teams were moved off of the list while there were rookie teams still trying to make it happen, that we locally were aware of and were actively working with. In that case there was still room for the rookie team but had they kept moving teams off there wouldn't have been a place for the rookie team which is one of the reasons for the reserved spots.

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

The email that is sent to notify teams that they are off of the wait list comes from HQ, so that might lead people to believe that the decision is made by them.

The Finger Lakes Regional in Rochester, NY was in a similar scenario as Lone Star. We were put on the wait list on the opening day of the second regional registration, along with about 9 other teams. We didn't get off of the wait list until the middle of December, and 6 wait list/reserved spots were even converted back into open capacity. I can't really figure out why there was such a delay in getting off of the wait list.

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

Thanks! It's the sad truth, but what can you do. IMHO, if you look at what Dean first wanted from the FIRST programs, starting teams off early and getting them hooked on robotics at an early age is what FIRST is all about. Kids that grow up with robotics are more likely to have the motivation to pursue more advanced robotics programs later on in life. It's the job of those (current and future) FRC teams to motivate the students to continue their education beyond FRC.

Pretty sure that the wait list discussion might be better served in another thread? Mods?

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

I realize now we are talking about two different things. I agree that it is the RDs decision to who gets in off the waitlist. However it's my understanding that is HQ's decision as to when that process happens for each event.

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

The way it happens is the RD makes the decision, or in the case of the PNW district the person who does that duty of the RD's job, then that person sends an email to HQ requesting the move. Depending on the time of the day that the request is made the team is moved off of the wait list that or the next day.

On multiple occasions I've been involved in the discussion of which teams to move off of which wait list and then watched the email being sent. Now depending on the work load at HQ it may take an extra day or two but in all of the cases I've been involved in HQ did it by the next day. I do not receive an email from HQ stating that a team has been moved off of the wait list.

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

Thank you for the clarification. I am one who tends to think of FIRST as the organizing 'company' so to speak and as such much of the 'inner workings' are somewhat of a mystery to me still.

Perhaps this is where the confusion lies in terms of how 'clearing the waitlist' works. If the waitlist has not been cleared it may simply be a matter of the emails not being sent yet and the website updated.

Thank you for the insight

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

624 and 1477 _now_ registered for Lone Star.

118 is not, though? 118 currently registered for Dallas and Sacramento only.

3847 has already stated they cannot compete at Lone Star do to Easter Weekend and being a Catholic School team.

--Michael Blake

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

NOTE: This is not an official TX FIRST communication. Emails regarding District committee involvement will be sent out in advance of Regionals to team contacts.

Since last summer, a group of us TX FIRST (not to be confused with FIRST in Texas) organizers have been working on laying the foundation for planning Districts in Texas. As many of you had pointed out, Texas presents a lot of challenges and we want to make sure that we're able to make decisions that will work out best for our teams. Many mentors attended District meetings at off-season events this year and shared their thoughts and ideas. From the information we gleaned and lots of number crunching, we've been working out possibilities for how things will look in Texas. Moving forward, we'll be seeking more help from Texas teams and volunteers. Communications will be going out in advance of Regionals with details about upcoming meetings and how people can potentially get involved in the process.

I'd like to share with anyone who is interested some data and statistics I've compiled while working through the Districts planning process: http://goo.gl/39WDnh

This "Texas Team Stats" spreadsheet includes both "Present" (2011 to 2015) and "Historic" (1995 to 2015) information in tabs. In the "Present" spreadsheet, I broke teams down by "Region" (Alamo, Dallas, Hub City, Lone Star). There are no official Region boundaries, so I've assigned teams to regions based on distance of their city to the Region's main city (San Antonio, Dallas, Lubbock, Houston). I also added a tab that shows the distances between teams and the different Regions in Texas.

I compiled data (through http://www.usfirst.org/whats-going-on, just required a TON of work...) on teams' years of existence. At the bottom of each tab are a variety of calculations that help to illuminate team loss and growth. The state has lost many teams over the years, but overall things are moving in the right direction. With great Texas veteran teams, mentors, volunteers, and organizers working together, we're in an excellent position to support and sustain our teams and strengthen and manageably grow the program.

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

Jess... this is _awesome_ info... THANK YOU for compiling and _sharing_ this!!

The thing that strikes me about these numbers is the reliance in conversations with Texas FIRST folks on the gross yearly team numbers which include newly incubated Rookies (usually spun-up with easy 1st/2nd year seed money).

It makes it look like things are okay because the overall team levels stays pretty constant year to year--Veteran Teams + Current Year Rookies = Okay Numbers

But, IMHO this only _masks_ a deeper problem that will undermine the march to team levels needed to move to the Texas District Model. The real shocker in these numbers is the LOST teams numbers... the net-loss of previously active teams.

As an example... in Alamo Region (our region):

2012 - LOST 6 teams of 47 2011 teams--a 12.77% LOSS
2013 - LOST 8 teams of 51 2012 teams--a 15.69% LOSS
2014 - LOST 8 teams of 51 2013 teams--a 15.69% LOSS
2015 - LOST 7 teams of 48 2014 teams--a 14.58% LOSS

But, here's the _staggering_ number... in the Alamo Region of 47 registered 2011 teams, ONLY 27 remain registered today in 2015... that's a _crazy_ 42.55% LOSS of 2011 teams in Alamo Region.

HOW do we get to the District Model with these net-loss numbers from a substantial portion of the state?

For those of us that want Districts here, it's time to talk about the elephant in the room IMHO.

--Michael Blake

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

Thank you for posting this information.
When Texas eventually goes to districts , these numbers will be very important for planning potential events and regions.

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

Micheal, isn't that what this thread has been about? Team loss is an enormous problem. If anyone has new and creative ways to fix it please let me know. We're doing everything we can to make it easy for rookie and young teams to compete but sadly I don't have a magic money tree or know of anyway to give every team a dedicated leader to help keep them going.

Things we have tried
- Mentor Workshops
- Boot Camp Build Days (Bumper build days, anything I can to get teams help during the season, we've had 10 teams in our shop already this year)
- We've added off-season events and workshops
- Weekly conference calls for teams to call in and ask questions. (Did it two years ago with little success)
- Mock Kickoffs Every year (including giving teams a binder full of resources when they come)
- End of build scrimmages (we have teams in our shop for 3+ days straight finishing up their robots)
- Giving parts, game pieces, etc away to teams

Is there something we're missing in Texas to keep teams around? I'm running out of ideas.

Re: Texas Registration 2015
 

I'm happy to be able to provide data.

While you provided Alamo as an example, the large loss of teams is happening across the entire state and has been for a very long time, as you will note in the "Historic" data tab. Texas teams who fold last about 3 years, on average, before folding. It's definitely a "Texas" issue that is going to take people across the state working together to solve.

As Allen mentioned, there have been many different programs and opportunities provided both by TX organizers and teams to try to support teams. However, it's still been really difficult retain teams. FIRST in Texas, with the help of RDs, has been helping to try and solve the money issue, which hasn't been easy when you have state entities so concerned about funding rookie/2nd year teams and not sustaining returning teams. But, our teams also face problems like losing the champion of a program (teacher, mentor, administrator, etc.) and it's often really difficult to find someone else to step up if there already isn't a backup in place. When you factor in that many teams are also isolated from resources (companies, mentors, veteran teams, TX organizers, etc.), the difficulty of sustaining teams rises substantially. Then add to that all the other circumstances faced by teams that have been mentioned in this thread... It's quite a challenge.

I don't think anyone has a fix-all solution. But I think with everyone collaborating and working together as a team we certainly stand a better chance at finding solutions.