Districts 2017
 

Which regions are moving from regionals to districts in 2017 ?

Re: Districts 2017
 

Texas will in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

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Texas is/was in regionals in 2015 and 2016 its 2017 is when they go to districts

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Whoooosh.

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I'd bet California is still two years away from districts for maybe the 4th or 5th consecutive year. In my mind, SC should switch, and Ohio/West PA/Kentucky(?) should do their thing too. Essentially the areas between where districts already exist.

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If SC does it then I will be shocked. Hopefully they take FL with them though. I would have liked to have seen a combined NC/SC district but alas...

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SC would be cool, but I don't think it'll happen til 2018 at the earliest.

Florida is about 20 teams short based on the way teams are distributed currently, plus the time it takes to plan the switch.

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Minneso... never mind.

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Its fun for me to live on SC's border. I work with 4901 a regional system team and 5632 a GA district system team.

I definitely want districts in SC, but I'm not sure how I can help yell this louder to the people in charge. You'd be amazed what could happen if we had districts for FRC in SC.

Anyone who knows how big SC FLL is knows that things would explode here if we had more competitions in state.

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I wonder when FIRST will allow areas to move into Districts without the need for a District Championship. This would address the issue of allowing teams to get more "bang for their buck" in terms of registration fee vs. play time, and wouldn't restrict areas from "districting" due to lack of team concentration. Teams would be able to accrue points over a season and the top point getters would receive a bid to championship. I've heard of this from a certain genius from Michigan **cough** Jim Zondag **cough** and think it's a grand idea!

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Any word on when New York will make the switch? Once Ohio and Western Pennsylvania goes to districts, we will pretty much be isolated from the rest of the east coast.

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I know Illinois is thinking about it but I have no idea when they will make the switch.

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I think you mean Western Pennsylvania. East PA is already in districts, but West PA still goes to the Pittsburgh Regional.

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I would love to see FL and SC join the GA district, making a large south east district.

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Re: Districts 2017
 

Instead of helping to yell, help to get the work done. Join your regional planning committee. Recruit and train key volunteers. Approach other districts about the process involved in switching to the district system. Etc.

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Sometimes trying to join the RPC or help train in key volunteers isn't as easy as it should be.

I was pm'd this document by recent alumni in the state of Minnesota. I am told that it is given to all of the recent FIRST alumni attending a specific University by the RPC. I was also told that these students have all but stopped volunteering at FRC events in the state because they feel that they are not wanted/liked. The document seems fairly professional but I could understand how if it was presented in the wrong way it would burn some bridges.

Re: Districts 2017
 

That is definitely a weird document, and it's not clear to me why the key volunteers of Minnesota felt that it was needed. Perhaps this should be the topic of a different thread? This thread may have the possibility of getting derailed otherwise.

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I agree. We don't need another thread derailed with MN people yelling about districts/volunteer issues/et cetera.

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This thread goes through many of the complications regarding New York districts.

At least for the NYC area, I'm doubtful it'll be anytime soon. Upstate may be more likely, but still tricky.

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You mean something like paragraph 2?

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...&postcount=105

Re: Districts 2017
 

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I've heard through a long chain that Ontario will be moving to districts next year. But take that with a huge grain of salt!

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Literally NYC is the area IMO that would benefit the MOST from districts. I'll save the rant by reviving that NY districts thread about getting NY to switch. Arguments against districts saying that "my area is different and special" boggle my mind.

Re: Districts 2017
 

I would love to see Ontario move to districts sometime.

My favorite part of the district system is that it rewards more than just the winners. Finalists? You're in! Semifinalists? Get to quarters or semis at your next event and you'll probably be in! Didn't win Chairman's or EI or RAS? Well your awards are still worth 5 points each!

Winner-take-all events can be frustrating for the teams that almost win. 1114 and 2056 are very difficult to compete with. Moving to districts means that you don't have to worry about being at the same event as the powerhouses, and means that teams won't have to travel far away from their home towns to compete at easier regionals in order to qualify for champs.

Re: Districts 2017
 

I know I am joining the Arizona Regional Planning Committee as a volunteer to give input and the first thing I am going to suggest is follow Indiana into the smaller district model. We have a growing volunteer base and I know personally we are trying to get a regional in southern AZ. We are proposing districts because we want more teams but schools see the money sometimes outweighs the benefit.

Re: Districts 2017
 

I have an only somewhat related question. How do we incorporate teams from outside of the US when there are only very few regional events remaining in the US? Right now, teams from Europe, Mexico, China etc typically travel to the US for at least one event when there are not enough teams in their area to support a regional event or district. If there are only a handful of regional events left in the US, they would either need to organize their own event and hope to attract enough teams to travel to them or swamp the limited events remaining in the US.

Edit:forgot an s

Re: Districts 2017
 

Looking at some of the regions around the US and the world, it's likely that we will not have full district coverage for a while. Excluding places like Minnesota/California/Texas (where districts should be happening but for some reason aren't), there are plenty of areas where the team density/raw number of teams isn't enough to warrant a district format. Take Quebec for example. Are there enough teams to support a regional? Yeah, sure. They're fine doing that right now. But are there enough teams to start the district model next year? Probably not. Western Canada, Alabama, and Louisiana come to mind in a similar category.

Eventually, we will probably get to the point where most of the US and Canada (even Australia, Israel, and Mexico, maybe) are in districts. But by then there might be Amsterdam, Beijing, Paris, Rio, etc. hosting events.

I'm not saying that it will be easy on international teams; it hasn't, and likely won't be for at least a few more years. But losing event coverage probably isn't (or shouldn't be) one of the bigger concerns.

Re: Districts 2017
 

Allow me to respond for Nate: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=138295

In all seriousness, it's a good proposal and one that I hope the GDC/FRC HQ is considering in some form.

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I REALLY like the Everywhere Else District idea. Man, I hope this becomes a thing.
This would be by FAR the smartest and best intermediate plan.

Upvote for the EED Plan.

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The density of Arizona teams suggest that districts could happen quickly.
Good luck to you and the Planning Committee.

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I think this would be amazing! the level of talent in the SE would/could rise to rival the likes of MI or Canada or WestCoast. That would be fun to watch!

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Keep in mind that Tampa Bay is 8 hours from Atlanta, and it's much further to Miami and Orlando. Myrtle Beach isn't very close either. While I would say it makes sense for SC to join either NC or GA in the near future, I'd say it's more likely that Florida becomes it's own district.

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A lot of regions seem stuck thinking that a year or two of "progress" will change their situation... just take the plunge; you won't regret it!

Volunteers will step up. Key personnel will be "shipped in" if they must. Most roles don't get filled unless there's need. You won't have "enough" FTA's, LRI's, Head Ref's, and Event Organizers until you have more slots to fill.

"If you build it, they will come."

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He's making a joke because Texas has needed districts for years, talked about districts for even longer, and yet they've still passed nothing official down.

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Kansas and Missouri are supposed to be in negotiations for the move to districts.

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I'm wondering how California would shake out if we moved to districts. By both size and population (San Diego to SF is a 9 hour drive!), California would have to be split up. Five out of the seven California regionals (SD, LA, Ventura, OC, Inland Empire) are in Southern California, so for a Northern California district to be created separate from Southern California, there would have to be quite a few new events created.

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Drive time between Atlanta and Orlando is 6 1/2 hours.
Atlanta to Miami is 10ish.

While I agree that that is a long drive, I believe that it would create a very diverse district. And while I'd love to see it, I don't believe that it's in the cards as too many believe the travel is too far.

I believe that these distances are no different that having a district event in Michigan's upper peninsula.

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Ypsilanti (site of MI DCMP) to Escanaba (UP, site of a former district event IIRC) is about the same driving distance as Tampa/Orlando to Atlanta. You were right on that one, my bad.

However, that's not a short drive by any means, and it's even longer coming from Southern FL. You might be able to pull of a better location for all in Perry, GA (site of the 2015 Georgia Southern Classic Regional), but it's still not great. Although the team diversity would be pretty great, it's probably unlikely with the current team density in FL. Teams in ATL or SC would probably never see teams from Florida except at DCMP because of all the district events they could run down there already (something that had to grow in the UP of Michigan). And then at that point, why not run separately?

SC plus GA to form the next version of the PCH District? Now that's something I could definitely see.

Re: Districts 2017
 

Ypsi is the former site; the MSC is now held in Walker (Grand Rapids suburb) which is about 40 miles closer to the UP.

However, there are teams that are 2-3 hours north and west of Escanaba. In best of times it's over 8 hours from say Houghton to Walker. In winter? On a bus with a bunch of kids? Who knows?

Re: Districts 2017
 

Currently Kentucky is not in the mix.

Ohio, Western PA, and West Virginia - WOW Alliance

Re: Districts 2017
 

WOW is an awesome name !
Is WOW starting in 2017 ?