MAR 2017
 

The FIRST Mid-Atlantic District Event Schedule for 2017 was approved at tonight's board meeting. Thank you to all our 2016 hosts for returning in 2017!

Week 1 – March 3-5 – Hatboro-Horsham – Horsham, PA
Week 2 – March 10-12 – Mt. Olive – Flanders, NJ
Week 2 – March 10-12 – Westtown – West Chester, PA
Week 3 – March 17-19 – Springside-Chestnut Hill – Philadelphia, PA
Week 3 – March 17-19 – Bridgewater-Raritan – Bridgewater, NJ
Week 4 – March 24-26 – Seneca – Tabernacle, NJ
Week 5 – March 31-April 2 – Montgomery – Skillman, NJ
Week 6 – April 5-8 – Mid-Atlantic District Championship – Lehigh University – Bethlehem, PA

Re: MAR 2017
 

Looks like a solid lineup. Good riddance Week 7.

Re: MAR 2017
 

Time to figure out which ones I want to volunteer at. ;)

If our regional schedule stays the same Ill probably be at Hatsboro Horsham and Bridgewater-Raritan. Not sure yet whether to volunteer at NE DCMP or MAR DCMP. Both with traffic end up being around the same distance.

Re: MAR 2017
 

No down week between district qualifiers and district champs. :(

The three PA events being weeks 1-2-3 :( :( :(

Re: MAR 2017
 

Well Worlds are Week 8 and 9, week 7 doesn't work too well with that... Not to mention Good Friday/Easter occurring week 7 as well.

Seneca isn't that far away!

Re: MAR 2017
 

MAR teams attend the week 9 super-regional by default, so there would have been a gap week. Would have preferred week 7 as well. Disappointed to not receive a survey about this change, or any mention of this in the board meeting schedule.

Re: MAR 2017
 

I noticed this as well.

Having MAR Champs Week 6 also limits feasible Regional options :/

Re: MAR 2017
 

FIRST requested us to move our district champs to week 6 starting in 2016, but due to a schedule conflict, we had to keep it at week 7 last year. Because of the double champs, FIRST wants all districts to move their champs to week 6 this coming year. It has been discussed in great detail and has been mentioned at board meetings for the past 2 years. It's not new.

One of the other benefits of having an earlier district champs is that it gives teams more time to prepare for travel to worlds. Those who have been in the positions to make travel arrangements & fund raise in less than a week and a half know this pain. And with more teams than ever qualifying for worlds this year, giving 2.5 weeks will help.

Re: MAR 2017
 

This is why I am happy to see DCMP move to Week 6. Planning our first trip to CMP was enough of a headache, and was with us starting early after our Week 1 district win. I can't imagine putting the whole thing together in 1.5 weeks. It wasn't until this year that I understood why so many teams decline their CMP invites.

Re: MAR 2017
 

Chesapeake ran its events in the first 4 weeks with a Week 6 DCMP. It's favorable to a lot of things, but it definitely limits teams in the CHS system from playing outside of it. The way the schedule set itself up last year, we had to lock ourselves into a punishing back to back to back schedule to get the events we wanted. I loved it but we can't do that again...

There are 4 format choices you can make for a district season, and none of them will make everyone happy and have every complementary activity made simple. Run events on 7 weeks like Michigan and you get jammed into two unfavorable turnarounds on coordinating a full season (although most teams in Michigan could plan for them easier in the future). Skip Week 6 before a Week 7 DCMP and you still get poor turnaround time from DCMP to the postseason expos. Run a 6 week schedule and you limit outside opportunities for your teams. Run a 6 week schedule with a gap week and you really corner them into a tight schedule up front for a friendlier planning process down the road.

I don't see any solutions to district calendars as long as the season calendar stays static.

Re: MAR 2017
 

+Mount Olive moved to week 2
+DCMP moved to week 6 (although this had greater impact with a week 8 CMP)
-DCMP still at Lehigh
-DCMP still at Lehigh
-DCMP still at Lehigh

Re: MAR 2017
 

Isn't MAR perennially scraping by financially while getting Lehigh donated?

Re: MAR 2017
 

I'm probably not alone in being unable to attend board meetings, and the MAR email blasts/blog posts are pretty sparse. I try to listen in when there's a working stream, but am not always able. More detailed meeting minutes used to be available, now they're pretty much just a few bullet points - so it's hard to have an idea of what is actually being discussed at meetings. I can't find anything on the MAR site anymore, but meeting minutes used to be posted there.

After the first MAR season in 2012 - I remember getting a nice survey asking about the MAR champs schedule, competition weekends, RFS vs FSS events, etc. It was good to be able to give feedback on proposed changes, and have some involvement in the process, even if it didn't end up matching our individual preferences.

There are obviously pros/cons to any arrangement, but I'm sure there are many teams in MAR who would have given feedback if asked. Worst case - it would have given the MAR board a better idea of team preferences, even if HQ is trying to force the move.

Are all other regions moving to a week 6 DCMP? Seems like it would be a difficult move for Michigan and New England.

Re: MAR 2017
 

I would personally write and compile all of the surveys/information because I valued everyone's opinion because it was not reasonable to make unilateral decisions based upon what I preferred over what the majority of the teams preferred. As it was, it wasn't the majority of the teams who gave their opinion, so the ones who don't fill the stuff out are just stuck with what is chosen. I resigned from the board after District Champs of Aerial Assist year. I believe my last survey was fall of 2013.

The truth is, if you want all of MAR represented, you need to change the bi-laws and make the MAR board like the House of Representatives where each group of teams (geographically likely) gets one representative. That representative is then responsible for his/her teams and knowing their opinions. Then you actually have someone who is responsible for you, your team, and your team's needs, rather than a single group responsible for everyone.

FYI, Congrats to Jim Hobin (3314) and Randy Coren (223) for being elected to the FIRST Mid-Atlantic Board of Directors and representing Northern NJ.

Re: MAR 2017
 

To be transparent, I wanted to explain the decision process and approach in generating the MAR schedule for 2017 as I've heard both positive and negative comments from a few people both on CD and in person.

Overall Goals & Approach:
-Spread out events based on geography and team density
-Minimize overlapping events in the same region
-Week 6 Champs per FIRST request
-MAR has event "regions" that are not based on state lines but rather are determined by our equipment transportation method. As many know, we use PODS. There are 2 franchise hubs within our region, Hatfield, PA & Edison, NJ. To limit costs, we try to avoid crossing the franchise territory boundaries. Southern NJ (Seneca) is part of the Hatfield hub. Central NJ is within Edison's. So, our south field has an event week 1-2-3-4 and north field has an event 2-3-5.

Venue Specific:
-Mount Olive was shifted to week 2 due to venue availability.
-Montgomery was shifted to week 5 due to venue availability and the shift of district champs to week 6.
-Bridgewater was shifted to week 3 to not overlap with Seneca and Montgomery so that there are not double events in central/south NJ weeks 4 or 5.
-Westtown was shifted to week 2 due to venue availability and to not overlap SCH and Seneca weeks 3 or 4. We also prefer district events to be earlier in the season to allow teams to qualify earlier for district champs. If we even could have had Westtown week 5 again, it would force teams into the position of fundraising or preparing travel in 2 days for district champs, week 6. We already have that condition with Montgomery, week 5, which is not desirable.

While we have very flexible and generous host venues, venue availability is the number 1 factor that creates our event schedule. If any teams would like to have more options to create a different schedule, please consider hosting an event yourself. It's a very rewarding experience for both the host team and local community.


And just to clarify. Congrats and welcome to all the new MAR board members, who represent MAR as a whole, single community: Randy Coren, Kevin Dieterle, Bill Garfield, Jim Hobin, Chris Lester, & Priscilla Zawislak. It's a strong addition.

Re: MAR 2017
 

I'll second this, very happy with the elected board members.

Thanks for all you guys do. MAR's events are better run than any other location I've visited.

Given the schedule, 225 would probably opt for weeks 3 & 5. I'm in the camp that loves DCMP in week 7, but I get why it needs to be pushed back.

Re: MAR 2017
 

With registration starting today - I'm in the process of cleaning up the annual registration google doc. Will be updating intermittently over the next few days as teams register for their first event.

MAR 2017 Schedule

And in case people are interested - the all-time MAR standings are linked below, updated with 2016 data.

All-Time MAR Standings

Re: MAR 2017
 

Thank you for doing this, Scott! I always love these spreadsheets.

If you'd like some help keeping it updated, let me know.

Re: MAR 2017
 

Ditto! Thanks so much for your hard work year after year, Scott! Much appreciated as always.

Re: MAR 2017
 

Thanks for the inside look at how the events were planned and the criteria that got used to figure it all out. The ability for teams to go from "well that's stupid" to "oh, that makes sense" is great. Nothing like a little transparent enlightenment to start the new season.

Since people complain season after season about MAR Champs at Lehigh, how much more would it cost MAR to use another venue?

Re: MAR 2017
 

The easiest answer is a recent response from our Competition Committee Chair, Eric Zygmont.

We always listen to any ideas for consideration but have not found any viable options to date. As Eric mentioned, Lehigh provides the exact services and venue we need at a very low cost with no labor issues (i.e. labor unions). We have studied in depth other options for an alternate venue but nothing has been comparable.

MAR's operations are entirely run by volunteers who are members of our local teams. Does hosting at Lehigh have its flaws; sure. But its ease of set up, cost of venue & rentals, safety in surrounding complex, and flexibility of Lehigh personnel make it an easy choice for our operating committees.

Re: MAR 2017
 

Thanks for the repost, I knew I had seen it someplace before.

I think its important for the district leadership to keep these things out in front of the teams so they know whats going on. MAR has been very good about being very open about what they are doing an why they are doing it.

It doesn't stop the whinging, but it does help cut it down quite a bit. Thanks for your posts.

Re: MAR 2017
 

Kickoff registration is coming up soon so I thought it would be good to post the MAR area kickoffs too.

• York Country Day School, York, PA - http://www.firstinspires.org/team-ev...event?id=25579
• Hatboro-Horsham High School, Hatboro, PA - No link yet, but I've heard it's happening
• Lenape High School, Medford, NJ - http://www.firstinspires.org/team-ev...event?id=25581
• Montgomery High School, Skillman, NJ - http://www.firstinspires.org/team-ev...event?id=24935
• Not sure about NJIT?

If NJIT is still in, it seems like there are plenty of locations for teams all over MAR to receive kits as long as each kickoff has the required 10 team minimum attending.

Re: MAR 2017
 

TechFire is very excited to host a kickoff event this year at York Country Day School's new $15M STEAM Center.

Please consider attending Kickoff with us, or picking up your KOP here. We will also be holding a workshop on PID control and get into Vision during our workshop.

We are very excited and hope to see a lot of teams at our kickoff.

:-)

Re: MAR 2017
 

Re-quoted for truth. I've seen a few this past year, and let's just say I think MAR has on average the best-run events by a good margin.

Re: MAR 2017
 

Here's what I see:

Week 5:
North Carolina
Israel

Week 6:
New England
MAR
Indiana
PNW
Peachtree

Week 7:
Michigan
Ontario

Re: MAR 2017
 

Updated as of 2:40PM, will update every day or two. 80 of the 121 teams from last year have registered so far. Hatboro and Mount Olive continue to be the preferred choice for 1st registration slots.

One new rookie team so far, 6327/The Tin Men. Think that's the 4575/Tin Mint's spinoff team.

Welcome back to teams 265 (JV team for 223), last seen in 2014. Also returning is team 747, lists rookie year as 2002, but no competition history, so they must have been MIA for a while.

Re: MAR 2017
 

Yea 6327 would be the Boy Scout team the Tin Mints started this year. I believe it was for some of the FLL kids that aged out/others had interest in a team.

Glad to see 265 and 747 back!

Re: MAR 2017
 

Two days until second district registration - MAR is a tiny bit better off than it was at the same point last year.

2016: 106 teams total, 17 teams missing, 2 rookie/returning team
2017: 109 teams total, 15 teams missing, 3 rookie/returning teams

Of the 17 teams missing at this point last year, 8 didn't return, and 9 registered at some point after 2nd event registration opened.

Last year we ended up with 8 rookie/returning teams. So we need to add ~4-5 new teams, and retain ~50% of our missing teams in order to match our size from last year. 752 and 1791 register late every year, but the others were registered at this time last year (excluding rookies).

Missing Teams:
613
752
869
1370
1791
3167
3340
4281
4342
4373
4475
4637
6015
6016
6216

Historical District Size:
2012: 99
2013: 109
2014: 110
2015: 121
2016: 121

Re: MAR 2017
 

70 teams registered in the first 90 minutes. Hatboro, Mount Olive, Seneca, and Montgomery all hit their initial capacity. Odd bug with Bridgewater where TIMS lists 0 available slots, but there are only 19/32 teams registered.

42 teams sitting at 1 event only, 12 teams from last year who haven't registered yet. Sitting at 112 teams in total, so only 9 off of last years total.

Montgomery looking like the deepest/strongest event overall, with Hatboro, Chestnut Hill, and Montgomery having the strongest top ends.

Re: MAR 2017
 

We are aware of a registration issue that is affecting teams that wish to attend the Bridgewater-Raritan District Competition. We have contacted FIRST and are working on a resolution.

If you intended to register for the Bridgewater-Raritan Event, please join the waitlist. We will be accepting the waitlisted teams as soon as possible.

Re: MAR 2017
 

Here's a matrix of how many teams are attending each possible pairing of MAR events:

The same pairings in list form, with teams (omitting conflicting events):

• 15, HH, SCH, (103, 341, 423, 708, 1218, 1807, 2095, 2234, 2539, 2590, 3974, 4373, 4454, 5404, 5420)
• 15, MO, MG, (11, 25, 75, 193, 222, 303, 555, 1279, 1672, 1923, 2016, 3314, 4573, 5624, 6016)
• 9, HH, SEN, (709, 1647, 2180, 2607, 5113, 5401, 5457, 5684, 5895)
• 8, WT, SCH, (321, 433, 484, 486, 1168, 1495, 1640, 5407)
• 8, WT, SEN, (272, 316, 365, 816, 1712, 2729, 4750, 5938)
• 7, BR, MG, (56, 102, 223, 1676, 3637, 4653, 4954)
• 4, MO, SEN, (293, 1089, 1228, 2600)
• 4, SEN, MG, (1391, 4575, 5666, 6327)
• 3, WT, BR, (834, 1989, 6203)
• 3, SCH, SEN, (203, 204, 2191)
• 3, MO, BR, (41, 219, 747)
• 2, BR, SEN, (224, 1626)
• 2, SCH, MG, (225, 2495)
• 1, HH, BR, (1257)
• 1, MO, SCH, (5310)
• 0, HH, MO, ()
• 0, HH, WT, ()
• 0, HH, MG, ()
• 0, WT, MG, ()

Re: MAR 2017
 

MAR 2017 Schedule

Waitlist cleared and all teams have registered for 2 events. Currently sitting at 118 teams, we lost 6 from last year, added one rookie. So I would guess that we'll have 24 +/- 1 slots for the St. Louis event unless we have a large late influx of rookie teams (22 last year). A few of those missing teams tend to be very late registrations, but 869 missing seems odd.

For teams looking at 3rd events - Westtown and Bridgewater seem like likely candidates, with the other events being within a couple slots of their listed capacity preference.

Montgomery is both the largest and deepest event, and should be a useful preview of MARCMP gameplay.

Re: MAR 2017
 

A couple notes:

The waitlist for third play will be cleared shortly. We sent in the list a week ago to FIRST. Basically all teams on the waitlist will get into the event they choose except Montgomery which is at max capacity.

MAR Team Survey: There is still time to give us feedback for next year. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MARsurvey2016

MAR Kickoff Video Top 10 List: Submit your way you know you are in MAR and see if it makes the cut. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/T5L9XBV (We want all the pranks over the years too!)

Re: MAR 2017
 

I have been updating the sheet with 3rd event and outside district/regional registrations. Post in here or PM me if you know about any other external regional/district registrations. I can only quickly find the internal MAR 3rd plays.

You can see roughly how many 3rd event slots are still open on the far right "Listed Capacity Remaining" column.

Re: MAR 2017
 

869 rebranded as 747 Flight Crew

Re: MAR 2017
 

Hey Brian -

I saw this line and was curious about waitlist clearing and submittal to FIRST. In NE, we dont need HQ approval to clear waitlists, so it struck me as something different in another district. Do you guys work through HQ to clear your waitlist?

-Brando

Re: MAR 2017
 

So THAT'S why those people we played with in elims at Brunswick Eruption looked so familiar.

Re: MAR 2017
 

We don't have direct access to the the registration system (and from my knowledge, no district does), but we provide recommendations which FIRST follows 99% of the time. We message our contacts at FIRST who manually adjust the team registrations within their system. Each year, our Competition Committee oversees team registration within MAR events making sure all teams get at least 2 plays and that the event rosters are as even as possible. Moving forward, our new Program Director will oversee registration every year.

Re: MAR 2017
 

It would appear that MAR is getting another New England visitor this year: 2168 at Bridgewater.

Re: MAR 2017
 

The MAR website reads...

MAR Consent and Release

Student team members under 18 years of age are also required to submit a Mid-Atlantic Robotics Consent and Release Form, available above. After downloading these forms, they may be filled out electronically and printed out for signature. Submit your form to your Lead Team Mentor before your earliest 2016 event (kickoff or District Event). The form may also be submitted electronically through the FIRST Team Registration System.

I can't figure out how to do that. Could someone give me an idea? Thanks!

Re: MAR 2017
 

Are you referring to the MAR Consent and Release form? If so this can't be electronically submitted through FIRST. The wording appears to be incorrect, I'll work on getting the website updated accordingly.

Re: MAR 2017
 

FIRST was working on a system to collect district consent and release forms through their website but it was not ready in time for 2017. We merged the student and adult forms to one to make it easier for their online system and added that note assuming it would be ready for 2017. You'll need to submit it at the districts events the old way (hard copy). Hopefully next year we can get it online!

Re: MAR 2017
 

Thanks for the explanation!