South Florida Regional?
 

Hello! I have know idea if this is totally ignorant, but mass amounts of googling has yet to give me an answer so I figured I should branch out to the experts on these kinds of things.

My team will be going into our fourth year this season. Last year, we were able to go to two competitions, the first time we've ever done that. We're located in SC, so this year we know for sure that we're going to Palmetto, but we really want that double-competition experience. We're looking at Florida regionals, but Orlando is way too soon after Palmetto for us. I know that there is also the South Florida regional, or at least there has been one, but I can't find any information about when it will be happening. Does anyone have any information about this event?

I'd also love any random advice you wanna toss this way. We're currently working on moving forward and expanding, and we are very open to suggestions!

Re: South Florida Regional?
 

Just so you're aware, FRC policy is to post events as details become available (details like venue contracts and similar things are rather important to host an event, for some reason). A large number of events are available on the FIRST site, but at this time South Florida isn't one of them. (Neither is Los Angeles, for that matter.)

If it's going to happen, it'll be up before registration opens.

Re: South Florida Regional?
 

This is the webpage I've been using. Thanks to Koko Ed for posting it in another thread.

May I also suggest Rocket City? It's Week 4, and about the same distance from where you are in South Carolina.

Re: South Florida Regional?
 

Thank you! I've checked there, as well as a few other places because I'm one who likes to plan as early and thoroughly as possible. I just know that a lot of times, the "locals" can make accurate predictions before things get 100% confirmed.

Re: South Florida Regional?
 

We actually went to Rocket City last year! We had fun there, especially considering that it was a first year event, but our Coach had some issues with the infrastructure and other things. We will definitely consider returning to Rocket City in the future, because the overall experience was positive. Until then, we're interested in testing the waters so to speak with other regionals nearby.

Re: South Florida Regional?
 

Nice! Well, Smoky Mountain, which is in Knoxville, TN, is actually an even shorter distance. If you're looking to get away from SC, it might not be the BEST spot, but it's still a pretty good regional. Hope everything goes well!

Re: South Florida Regional?
 

The South Florida Regional is generally after Orlando however the exact date and venue has changed quite a bit compared to the Orlando regional likely contributing to the delay in its announcement. While 179 did attend both Rocket City and South Florida this year i cannot comment on the differences as I was on different teams in season. I can say that over the years it has generally been a pretty good regional with a variety of teams and a good team atmosphere although the recent volunteer atmosphere has more than 1 or 2 marks on it from recent memory.

One thing that does stick out to me is the quality of refereeing being very high. Even with 2014s heavy load on referees and as a driver I recall the reffing being very well done, with replays carried out as needed and better foul explanation than any other event I attended.

Re: South Florida Regional?
 

Thank you for the suggestion! We may be headed to the Smokies. Time to do more research ::rtm::

Re: South Florida Regional?
 

Thank you for the comments on the event. Like I said, our team is just starting to leave the safety of our home state, so learning about other competitions through people's own experiences is really helpful.