Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

I think this is the big thing that gets missed in discussions about Minnesota going to Districts. Right now, the organizational structure for FRC in Minnesota is at best opaque and at worst comes off as exclusionary to teams outside the Twin Cities area, at least at the decision making level.

From where I'm standing (at the bottom, looking straight up, and without any inside knowledge) Minnesota needs some sort of exterior push to go to districts-- the system we have now is hindering us from progressing to districts. When we only have two weekends in the state with events, it makes it much easier to keep the same volunteers (and teams), which is a double edged sword-- it means the volunteers we do have tend to be very well seasoned and well trained, but it makes it much more difficult to train new volunteers, both in the practical sense that the slots for our existing regionals seem to be mostly filled, but also that from a team's perspective there isn't a need for them to be volunteering when everything seems to be under control.

On a little bit less of a concrete of a note, I also get the feeling that at the decision making level, there simply isn't much support within Minnesota for districts. I might be wrong (like I said, I'm pretty far outside the know for this), but that's the impression I've gotten.

We have a lot of talented and invested people here in Minnesota that currently aren't being utilized for FRC-- a sponge can only hold so much water. Maybe if we had a bigger sponge, we'd have more room for volunteers and a bit more diversity with who's filling volunteer positions.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

Speaking as one of the individuals actively working to increase key volunteers (specifically LRI's) across MN... it's not as easy as people seem to think. We get plenty of inspectors, but not all inspectors would make for good LRI's. Since I became an LRI here, I've worked every year (literally) to identify and train new LRI's. You can identify someone who might be good for it one year, work the next year to train them, and then, finally, get them in charge of an event... but even then we do everything we can to have another experienced LRI there to back them up in case something horrible goes wrong. So, realistically, it takes another 2 seasons after you've identified someone before they're really running on their own. It's part of our focus on providing high quality events - throw someone into a situation they aren't completely prepared for, and the outcome won't be as good for the teams.

Now, all that said, I'm (personally) finally getting to the point where I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. For the first time EVER, we'll have 4 different LRI's FROM MINNESOTA in charge of the 4 Minnesota events. All previous years, we've imported LRI's from Wisconsin or doubled up. I also have a couple of people identified for training this year so we can have them ready to go when districts hits (whenever that is, I have no information on that!).

But that's just one key volunteer position. As Tanis said, we only have 2 FTA's returning for this year, and last I heard only 1 Head Ref.

Lets put it this way... would you want to attend a district with a head ref who got the job because someone was desperately needed for the position, or one who got the job because they had been reffing for years and were identified as a good fit for the position?

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

Trust me, there's still plenty of room for more people to volunteer, especially in key roles. The only reason it seems that "all the slots are taken" is because people are pulling double duty all over the place filling those roles both in Duluth and Minneapolis... and they're only doing that because we need them to in order to get the events to run. We're desperately looking for people with the "right stuff" to hold those key volunteer roles and doing our best to train them in when we do identify them. Unfortunately, they don't grow on trees.

Speaking of the discussions I've had with others helping to run things here, the common theme is "Districts are coming... and we're not ready yet". We're working on it.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

To be clear, I'm not claiming that it's easy (it's pretty obvious that it's harder than I can fathom or try to solve through writing words on the internet). I just think that it might be the case that Minnesota isn't organized in a way that makes it easy to train volunteers quickly (both inside and outside regionals). Add that to the exterior perception that there's a lot of robot politics going on that make it difficult to volunteer in a meaningful way, and at least from the outside looking in, the path seems unclear at best for how we'll actually get to districts, regardless of all the fantastic people currently involved with volunteering at FRC events here.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

whatever happened to getting at least northern idaho into the PNW district? The last few times just this year it seems the idea is brought up,gets a little headway, then just disappears without a trace.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

You know, if I was in your shoes, I might consider volunteering at a position that might allow you to move up towards one of those key positions in a few years.

Getting someone fully trained and ready isn't really easy anywhere. According to FIRST's own guidelines, I could apply for a head ref position at a regional; I've got the two years (at two events/year in my case) and most if not all of the rest of the requirements. According to me, I ain't anywhere near ready for that yet! (And I'd bet the other refs I've worked with--including the head refs--would say the same thing.) I figure maybe a couple more years before I even try to put in for that, if I ever do.

But, the primary reason I started reffing was because I figure that once districts arrive out here, a lot of refs are going to be needed. I haven't been wrong, though that's been because the first year was AA, and last year was a new event. (I added a second event late in both years.)

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

Funny enough, that's exactly what I've been doing. I started volunteering this past year with FTC and, time permitting, plan to do the same this year. The key thing being that "time permitting"-- as a student I don't know my schedule for FRC's season until at the earliest November, and at the latest January, after trying to switch things around to make volunteering a possibility. I have a great deal of love for FRC, and last year I did a great deal of work to make it possible for me to volunteer at two regionals and Championships, plus an FTC Super Regional, but as I'm pretty sure anyone who volunteers at events knows, sometimes it simply isn't possible for it to work, and that's even more of an issue for college students who are passionate about the program and want to stay involved.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

Michigan had 2 head refs to cover 3 regionals in 2008.

We went to 7 district events in 2009 (plus MSC) - added one new head ref, and imported at least one head ref from outside MI to cover one of the events.

In 2010 we still had 7 district events, but now had 4 head refs - 2 new, one retired.

Last year we had 18 district events, 8 head refs (2 new).

So most of us do 2 or 3 events, plus MSC.

Now FTA's - we have a couple insane ones who work every weekend!

My point is, you can develop key volunteers as you expand. It would be a big jump the first year for MN, simply because of the size - they should have gone to districts 2 or 3 years ago. But I understand why they didn't, because they had so many new rookie teams in the years prior, they couldn't handle districts then. If they don't go to districts soon, though, the initial implementation will only get worse.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

If Illinois is switching to districts they should consider adding Wisconsin into that district too. They share a population center (fairly) near Chicago, and could use it as a central location for the District Championship.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

Are you sure the key volunteers are only doing two events because they have to? Every single key volunteer I've ever met does multiple events because they love volunteering and would be there anyway even if they weren't needed.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

Personally, I would be content with having a lower-quality head ref at my events for one year if that meant we could get to districts faster. Even if one whole district event of mine is completely ruined by a series of stupid calls, I would still participate in another whole event as well as (possibly) district championships were we in the district system, which is more than most teams have currently with one regional.

I'm probably in the minority here though.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

Funny, that's how it is out here too. It also, for some reason, breeds consistency between events when the LRIs for later events drop in on earlier events to help out for a day (and the same for head referees). I can't quite figure that out ;).

That being said, most of them (out here) aren't in the key spot for all of their events. That makes life a bit easier on them, I think.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

IN and IL were supposed to form a district. From my understanding IL decided they weren't ready.

IN had been preparing for the change and when IL said not this year they convinced FIRST to let them pilot the mini-district model which they did very well with.

As I've said in the past WFR really really wants the N. ID teams to join. Summer 2014 FIRST agreed to that plan. N. ID teams got together and decided/were convinced to not join the PNW district. Come the week before registration they changed their mind and everything was a go for the 2016 season. In the mean time plans to put a Regional in Boise popped up (not that I've seen it show up on in the system) which took the N. ID team out of eligibility to join the PNW at least for the time being.

On the plus side AK is joining PNW for the 2016 season! OK so it is only one team. They decided they wanted in, they asked WFR and we said yes they asked FIRST and they said Yes with the caveat that they need to commit long term and not decide next year that they want to go back to the Regional system. Presumably if a new team pops up in AK they will be required to join the District system.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

I'm happy to see our Alaskan friends joining us in the PNW, but this has the potential to really stifle team growth in Alaska for a while. Two travel events with a reasonable likelihood of a third would be a tough sell for most schools.

Re: Current Districts Map. Who is next?
 

Not just regular travel either; AIR travel.