Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

So I am going to ask the tough question-what defines a "region."

It's not necessarily by state.

What drives the inclination to group "Philly" with NJ?

Is this based on the assignment of the RD's who are often assigned based on where there are current Regionals?

Sorry, don't mean to derail your thread Jane. But until FIRST designates regions, it can be a complicated conversation.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I guess my "region" would have to be Upstate New York which isn't all that big and is a little disappointing considering that Syracuse has only one team Buffalo only has a few and the Albany teams outside of 250 are more like misplaced New England teams who play over there than participate in this community all that much. There are more teams spread out here and there in the state like 229 and 639 as well.
So it's mostly Rochester up here and you have some solid representatives with team 191 and their two Chairman's Awards, 340 and their repeated Chairmans wins, 1511 and their multi award winning powerhouse and team 1126 the Sparx and their two Einstein ventures and are almost always in contention at any regional they attend. Once you get past those teams it's hit or miss. 578 has the potential to grow to the level of the upper crust and their Engineering Inspiration award proves that. Team 1551 is an amazing success story that is growing rapidly year after year as a FIRST program to be recond with.
But outside of that there are concerns. The city teams outside of 191 are small and very isolated. They don't participate in the community as much and struggle to make it from year to year as shown by the one and done existence of the Monroe and Jefferson teams and the struggles of my alma matta East High have shown ion the past having to go with middle school students and having to start anew with kids because the previous ones would not come back. We have to come up with a way to make these kids have an investment int his program because nobody needs this more than they do.
There are a few rural teams that have some moderate success with the Victor and HFL teams in the forefront of that but I would have thought there would be more teams by now.
The suburban teams are probably in the best shape with new young teams like 3157 Eastridge but there is room for improvement there as well.
The new Rochester Engineering Centre will hopefully help with the growth of teams in the local community and the four mainstays will no doubt do their part but it's going to take these younger newer teams to step up and do their part to grow the robotics community as well.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

If the U.S. wants to go by regionals, that's fine. Outside the U.S., if region helps define the area, that's fine. Bigger than just the community that the team is a part of. When people combine areas, they are defining that. I have no problem so far with how people are making decisions regarding region as long as they are clear. If they are unclear, ask them to clarify rather than justify.

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Some things I'd add/change to the Indiana list:
-The FIRST teams get together at least once a year for workshops/training.
-Indiana is the home to a Founding FIRST Team - FRC45.
-Indiana is the home of many people both directly and indirectly involved with high levels of FIRST, including but not limited to Collin Fultz, Andy Baker, Mark Koors, and Amanda Morrison.
-Indiana has at least four Woodie Flowers recipients.
-In addition to the Muncie Pre-Ship Scrimmage and CAGE Match, Indiana hosts the premiere event in all of FIRST (said by some to be more prestigious than even the Championships).

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

One more factoid: the Indiana FIRST organization is very strong in its communication and connections between teams. We might even rival Michigan in that respect. Put the two states together...hey, look at that, someone already did!

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Michigan Weaknesses:
Dave Verbrugge did a really nice Speech at the opening ceremony at Kettering. It is the Good and the Bad of having a lot of Einstein level teams in the area. The bad is it is really hard to compete against them. There are a few teams that take the top prizes at most events. These tend to be well oiled veterans that have built their teams up over the years.
Other weaknesses include difficult to see outside teams. (Still waiting for the day when open slots can go to outside teams).
Lots of distance to travel for the few teams up in the U.P.
****************************
Some double edged swords (good and bad).
More key volunteer positions (tough to fill, but you get better exposure having better volunteer positions available). Net overall there is a wider base of experts that keeps getting bigger each year.
More steps to make it to the Championship. It is more difficult to "luck" your way into the championship.
*****************************
We have a pretty strong group around the lower 2000s here in Michigan that are stepping up and turning into top teams. They have a few years under their belts and are turning heads. 2137 won at Kettering. 1918 won at Traverse City. 2604 won the Chairman’s at Kettering. 2834 won the Engineering Inspiration (2nd time!). The teams up in the 3000s are still cutting teeth. Last year 3357 made it to einsteing with 254 and 233. There are a few others that worked in the off-season to improve their machines and compete in off season events. These are symptoms of future tough teams.
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A couple things to improve your region. Host an off season. Intentionally try to run this with a mix of experienced and in-experienced persons. This will help you get FTAs, Inspectors, and Refs ready for future events yet to be formed. Make sure you invite young teams that may have only played 1 time this year. Ideally help them improve a couple things about their team so that they are stronger next year.
Document these efforts and throw it into next years chairmans submission.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

The MEZ is actually sponsored by the University of Michigan. http://www.engin.umich.edu/newscenter/feature/mez/ Gary, for that error I sentence you to visit the MEZ wearing MSU attire and see what happens.

The first two seasons of FiM the district winners did receive an auto entry to the Michigan State Championship. This year they do not, and must accumulate points. With that being said, winning an event is worth 30 points; going undefeated in qualifying is worth 24. Performance in eliminations is really the lion's share of the points. The 2011 point system can be found at http://www.firstinmichigan.com/FRC_2...Supplement.pdf

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Oops, sorry. I hope Lisa doesn't see that; I'll be assigned to drudge duty at AA. I guess I was confused because MSU had such a presence at Cass Tech last year or 2 years ago.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

If I have to call a ref in here, you guys are in big big trouble. :D

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I am going to attempt to speak for the Silicon Valley area and will probably find myself heavily corrected, but I figure I should at least enter us into the conversation.

First of all, there are just a lot of teams in our area. Practically every school seems to have one these days, and there are even schools like Gunn (where I go) where there is a "school" team (192) and a "floater" team (1868).

I think Silicon Valley is unusual in that it has a wide range of middling to good teams that are mostly pretty old. These teams are well run and organized, and reliably turn out well built and competent robots. Some examples of teams I'm thinking of are 668 and 1280.

What tends to happen, however, are that there are a few very, very good teams that tend to sweep certain areas of competition and awards. For robot design and quality this is usually 254, for animation 192, for Chairmans and EI 115, etc. And once you remove the fact that 254 has won the regional almost every year, the pool of people who remain who have also won varies quite widely.

That being said, the teams in this area could not be more helpful or kind. A lot of us share sponsors and so we find ourselves doing events together. BAE sponsors quite a few teams in the area, and of course the NASA house teams are around each other constantly. Some of the outreach I have heard about from other teams is just incredible.

I certainly don't think we can compete with Michigan or some of the older districts, but I definitely think Silicon Valley is a good place to start a team or compete in any of the FIRST competitions. And I do think that an environment of good, but not powerhouse teams helps rookies be appreciated and welcomed into the community.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Chris introduced 14 WFFAs who attended just the NJ Regional this past Friday. Some were from out-of-town and I include the newest WFFA, too.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Bravo!

If you do get 'heavily corrected', not to worry. Michigan and Indiana are leading in that, sometimes correcting themselves. Let's see if your region can catch up. :)

Jane

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

I'm going to bring up Michigan again :yikes:. I will, however, list concrete numbers:

• 2 Hall of Fame teams - 67 and, you guessed it, the one that runs this forum
• 9 of the past 11 years, at least one World Champion was from Michigan
• Since there's been a Michigan State Championship, at least one of the State Champions has been a World Champion
• 67, the team with the second-most World Championships
• The average score per match at the Michigan State Championship in 2010 was double that of the average regional score per match

There are two things I don't like about Michigan:

• It's so hard!
• The district system is a bit restrictive: we don't let other teams participate, and all teams in Michigan are required to participate (though teams can choose to go to regionals in addition). This means that Michigan teams often don't become as well known as other teams.

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

What about last year? None of the Michigan State Champions (1918, 469, 2834) became world champions...

Edit: Oh, I get it. At least one of the State Champions each year has previously won a world championship. In 2009, every single team on the winning alliance was a previous world champion... crazy, huh?

Re: Strengths/Weaknesses In Your Region
 

Yes, but how many of your young teams are World Champions? What is being done to help move them towards that goal? THAT's what I'm looking for.

Jane