Invading other regions!
 

Checking out the teamlists so far, looks like we got some travelers! Team 25 decides to come up to New England for the Hartford Regional! Way to go guys! May I send out this invite to every team outside of New England looking for a challenge...come on out! No more talking about East vs. Midwest, or New England vs. Midatlantic. Lets just do it!

Furthermore, how about that Florida regional!?! New England sending 5 of its best down south to take on the big dogs! I'll definately be tuning into that webcast.

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Team 254 is likely venturing east to the Great Lakes Regional, depending on cost.

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Cyber Blue 234 is finally going up to the east coast and will be competing at the Long Island Regional!

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Last I checked, VCU was on the East Coast and 234 was here in 2003 :p

Wetzel

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233 hasn't decided on our 2nd regional yet. in the past we've travelled:

utc, phillie, nyc, denver, toronto, seattle, boston and IRI twice. who knows where we'll be this year....

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New York > Everything else.

We're going to California. Does that count?

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Virginia isn't the north east though. I consider it being South.

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...and yet many of us in the South would contend that Virginia is not the South, but rather the beginning of the North. Or, if you're allowing more resolution than the Civil War did, the Mid-Atlantic.

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We are a traveling team. The same places get kind of old.

We're debating what regional we want to go to next. I want to go to GLR REALLY BAD but it's the week following GSR. We don't do that week.

So my next choice would have been LA, but it's that same week.

So now I really want to go to Boilermaker.

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Team 987 is registered to attend the SVR and looking forward to competing with 254, 8 (again) and a host of other new teams...any ideas for good places to stay/eat near SJSU?

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There are teams from upstate NY(229) and Indiana (234) competing in this year's Long Island Regional. Normally, I would be thrilled to have teams participating from outside the area. However, the event capacity was lowered to 30 teams this year and some local schools may be shut out.

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The couldn't they just participate in the New York City Regional which can accommodate about 60 teams?

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Remember, the number of openings posted on the Regional registration chart on FIRST website doesn't reflect the many slots held back for newer/rookie regional teams...

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They could participate in the NYC regional. However, teams from eastern Long Island would probably have a 3 to 4 hour commute each way due to traffic. Hotel rates are ridiculous in the city and parking is hard to find and expensive. Mass transit would be difficult as the Javits Center is not convenient to any subway stops.

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How can everyone forget the land of the Wedding Crashers and Crabs???

There are still 40 spots open for the Chesapeake Regional! (I'm actually thinking about volunteering there in the spring, but I'm not sure.)

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Well would you recommend them banning teams from outside the area? I don't think that would go over very well in the FIRST community. Most regionals welcome teams from outside the area because it's hard filling up regionals. Just ask regionals in Pittsburgh and Waterloo who would love to have your problem.

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Like I said previously, I gladly welcome teams from outside the area. I just feel that it is unfair for a team to have to travel for eight hours a day when there is a regional right in their own backyard. Teams such as ours expect to attend our local regional and develop our budget accordingly. We usually raise just enough money to participate in our local regional. If we had to travel we would not be able to participate in FIRST at all.

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The regional planning committees withhold capacity at the events for local and late registering teams. If a team wants to compete and can only manage to attend a local event, the folks who work so hard at organizing these events (and get nothing for it, nine times out of ten) will work with them to accomodate their needs. I promise.

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Thank you for the info. I was unaware and greatly appreciate it.

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Yeah, that's why we signed up for Boilermaker first. This is going to be the second year in a row that we really traveled a far distance for a regional. In 2004, we just went up to Sacramento. Last year, we went to the BAE Regional in the Northeast. We were there for the whole week, and went on college tours the days before the competition. When we go to Indiana, we'll probably go on some college tours so we have a legit. reason to take the whole week off lol.

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Maybe a tad bit off-topic.. Just looking at the regionals, did UTC drop as title sponsor (it's now the Hartford Regional)

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No, Virginia is one thing: Hell. ;)

VA is south of the Mason-Dixon line, it's in the south.

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585 is hopefully going up to Indiana for Boilermaker. It'll be quite a change from going to nothing but west coast/centralish regionals.

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Ed, Think about it do you want to go to Pittsburgh or Waterloo for 3 to 4 days? :) :) :D

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Well.......... lets put it this way. There is NO Virginia. There is Northern Virginia (Looks like, smells like and is part of NORTH), and then there is South, which is actually rest of Virginia. For those who live in VA have to agree with me that Northern Virginia is totally different than the rest, hence known as the 'gateway' to North.

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Out-of-towners-Come to Chesapeake!
We had teams from Alaska to England last year.
30 minutes to BWI, a SW Airlines hub.
Held on the US Naval Academy grounds. Take a tour.
Combine with a trip to Washington DC, visit your elected reps and tell them about FIRST.
FOOD: Unlike most regionals, you can bring food into the pits. Bring those coolers. Teams set up assembly lines of food. You can have pizza delivered. You can walk outdoors and have probably the best view at any regional event eg, the Severn River on the Chesapeake Bay.
You can walk 5 minutes out Gate 1 and to the City Dock area of historical and scenic Annapolis.
New website under development, but meanwhile, I'm happy to answer any questions.
Maryland has one foot in the South and one in the North, hon. Lots of history here.

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That's certainly the way I remember northern Viriginia, from my pre-school days there many years ago.

Kind of ironic that the Army of Northern Viriginia was commanded by Gen. Robert E. Lee.

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Yup, and we were also taught that Virginia is warm and charitable on both sides of the gate, something about the word, hospitality. We were taught that in school.

Edit: my school at the time was in Missouri

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I'd love to... But it's the same weekend as Hartford... :(

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Sign-up for SBPLI and get on the waiting list now.
There will be room for more teams.

FIRST asked the Regional Committee to reserve more slots this year that will be distributed later. Maybe three local rookie teams are anticipated this year and one is already registered and taking one of the regular open slots anyway.

It's going to be tight, but more local teams will get into the event. You have to be on the waiting list though. It'll be first-come, first-served when the slots open up.

---------------------
Hey, 234 - Jerome Kator one of your old mentors from Rolls Royce works here at Northrop Grumman in Bethpage. Reunion time.

------------
And Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy. My brother worked there, but "let's not bring the Civil War into this." }:['

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One of the reasons i went to Chesapeake Last year :p
Food is simply AWESOME at Chesapeake!!.....not to mention Naval Academy Cafe!!

If you are looking forward to attend one of the coolest regionals....Chesapeake is the place to go :)

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Chesapeake was on our list, but it was knocked off because of the cost to take 30 kids + 15 or so adults halfway accross the country. We don't fly, and it's a long bus ride. But we'll be at the Championship!

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Well 118 will be going to the new New Orleans Regional :)

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I wonder how Javits is going to work out this year. It would be really interesting to have all the great teams from around the country converge in the coolest city ever (no bias, I swear). It would probably be great for publicity. On the other hand, FIRST already gets a good bit of publicity as is. Also, whenever my team travels, we're always the last to leave the pits and barely see whatever city we're in.

Anyway, 694 is hoping to travel to GTR this year, in addition to making the arduous twenty minute slump from our school to Javits for our home regional :P. Then it's off to Atlanta.

On an interesting fund-raising side-note, we struck a deal with our advisor that we would get to go to Nationals if we students raised the registration money entirely through our own labor. We bought boxes of M&Ms and other candy from Costco and between about fifteen of us (out of the thirty that will eventually participate), we've raised over 500 dollars in PROFIT (which means over 1000 in raw cash) in only about five days. The coolest part of it all is that however much money we raise that exceeds $5,000 gets detracted from our travel expenses! So for teams looking to go far this year, there's a great way to make some fast cash for you.

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I know a lot of people will disagree with me on this. However, I think the issues with wait lists and getting locked out of your local regional can be solved by initially allowing teams to register for their local regional only. Then, the number of open slots could be posted and teams could register for non-local regionals.

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sweet! how about FLR? Rochester, NY is lovely at that time of the year and i was just told tonight that was the best regional a certain person has gone to!

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I'm glad to see that STL will be invaded by (at least) three strong teams from the general vicinity of Purdue. Should make for interesting competition.

We'll try to return the favor by coming to Boilermaker a couple of weeks later -- if we can get in. :)

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The thing is, there isn't an issue with teams getting held out of local regionals. Each regional committee holds aside spots for late registering local teams, as has been stated earlier in this thread. The committees decide on how many spots to hold back based on how many local teams existed in the previous year, and how many rookies they project to join. I've seen accommodations made for local teams who've waited until late November to register for their home event. Because of the way the system is setup right now, there's no need to make unnecessary restrictions to the registration process.

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FLR and Florida are on the same week.
Unless they build a second robot and split their large team in two I very much doubt they can come.

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hmm that brings up an interesting point. Can one teamhave two robots and compete in two diffrent regionals on the same week? I figureit's a NO! but let's see what we get out of this. (sorry if this jacks the thread).

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One problem is defining what is local. Some make sense - Portland is local to most teams in OR and WA. But for a team in the western Detroit suburbs, is local GLR or DET? For a team in N VA, is local Richmond or Annapolis?

Beside that, what if you can't go to your local because of a date conflict? Are you shut out from registering for your first regional, and then can't get into a regional with preferred dates for your team?

If teams are concerned about getting into one and only one regional, they have to be prepared to sign up immediately when the registration process opens. Yes, a couple regionals fill up quickly - DET within hours, for example - but as Karthik posted there are spots held back for special circumstances. Talk to your state/regional partner.

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Eagle Corps Robotics Team 1158, from Collbran, Colorado, is planning on attending the Florida Regional.

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Glad you are coming to sunny Florida. Let us know if you need any assistance finding hotels and what not.