Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

Pittsburgh would be quite a good deal for you guys. The other groups it would be much more difficult, but maybe they get included in the VA/TN districts?

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

Indiana FIRST was trying to include Illinois and Ohio when starting the District planning process a few years ago. I would expect that option to still be on the table. And I personally would be extremely happy to be able to call an Illinois/Indiana/Ohio (and maybe Kentucky) collection the "Cardinal" region.

Nobody's going to stop you from attending as a volunteer, right?

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

I will be quite upset if Iowa gets left out of all of the future regional systems in our neighboring states. Why is distance a different issue with districts? We have to travel to events anyway, so we can travel to out of state district events instead of out of state regional events.

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

In the Pacific Northwest we have 10 districts 2 each on weeks 1 thru 5 then the Championships on week 6. This works out very well for most teams.
I like this model, last year we played 62 matches in 2 districts, PNW Championship and worlds.

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

I wouldn't mind being absorbed into Indiana. At least if we went to the Kokomo District, I wouldn't have to pay for a hotel :]

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

I'd agree. Teams from Iowa are as much a part of MN events as MN teams are-- I can't image North Star without you guys, and not having 525 in the state last year was just weird.

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

This is how the scoring goes.
2 Districts > 1 Regional Championship > Worlds
2014- 153 teams in districts 64 Regional Championship 24 to Worlds ( this has moved up to 32)

To see how the scoring goes :

http://www.usfirst.org/sites/default... 0Summary.pdf

I like the system, lots of playing and very good teams move on.

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

Is that 242 miles determined as the crow flies? Because 857's second closest district event is 370 miles away (to Traverse City). The second closest event (Duluth) is 220 miles away.

And for us, it's over an hour less driving to go to Duluth than Milwaukee.

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

My hope is teams in sparsely populated states (teams/events wise) or teams teams in states who in the regional model typically competed out of state for their home events, will have the ability to choose and declare which region they will belong to based on what is best for them. This is of course if future developments on inter district play doesn't solve the issue to begin with (which I hope they do).

Basically though, this would implement the idea NE FIRST had proposed in the planning phases of the conversion in regards to the NY Tech Valley. You can read more about it here:

http://www.nefirst.org/2012/10/24/inter-district-2/

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

Yeah it's as the crow flies, turns out computing driving directions for all district teams for all district events is hard (I'm up for it if someone has an idea how to do it/just wants to chat about it). It also limited for events in your district. There were a handful of teams (you guys, and a handful of Maine teams) that the closest event was not in their district.

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

The general issue with distance/sparse population and districts is not the distance itself but the number of times you have to travel (to have a chance at qualifying for worlds). As opposed to traveling to and perhaps winning one regional, you now have to go to two Districts and a District Championship to potentially make it to worlds. Additionally, while more travel means more play (for less money), there have been claims that because District Events are less 'flashy', their recruiting power is lower. The corollary there is that the travel/money schedule of 2 Districts + District Championship (which has at least the flashiness of a regional, but in my experience is even better due to the quality of teams) makes it hard to recruit and retain students.

This is what typically comes up in "Districts?" threads anyway. I am not in a sparsely populated area, so I am no claim that this is actually the case. We generally feel like districts are a better 'shot' at qualifying for Worlds, not in terms of percentages or input energy, but because better/longer measures of consistency mean less luck and more team control. We've also found that districts are great for recruitment and retention, simply because you far play more and with the same group of teams. (My students are much, much more likely to have more friends on more teams than they were pre-districts.) There's also an interim goal/awesome experience to aim for besides the difficulty of qualifying for worlds. That said, many MAR teams also benefit in recruiting by having more 'home' (close) events. This is not a benefit less densely populated areas would see, though I don't know what affect, if any, that would have.

To be clear, I'm just trying to answer this particular question, not suggest that anyone should cut Iowa out of districts. Personally I'd like to see a huge free-for-all where you just register for 2 Districts anywhere in the world, and choose your preferred District Championship.

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

This is my feeling about it. It's no doubt that FIRST will be entirely districts in the near future and for the teams in rural locations, they should have the choice of which system fits them best.

The teams in Iowa may find it best to align with Minnesota for a district system for example.

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

Go west, young man.

(Most of) Ohio FRC has a more natural connection with parts east, traditionally. I firmly believe that is the direction in which we are headed.

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

Case in point: Rochester and buffalo area teams have treated Cleveland and Pittsburgh as second regionals for as long as I remember, even with the addition of tech valley. The only other close option for us is Toronto, and most teams don't go there because of the difficulty of transporting a robot and team of people across an international border.

Re: Ohio going to Districts?
 

Here in Cincy - we are closer to most of the Indiana events than NE Ohio or Western PA, but will be extremely happy to compete as much as possible in any district or regional events - east or west, north or south! We really enjoy spending time with all of our FIRST friends in all parts of the world!