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Originally Posted by 1075guy
I'd like to see everywhere adopting the Michigan model. District events, leading to a regional championship, which then awards seats at CMP proportional to the region's pre-district model size (although to be fair, Michigan should be sending more than 9 teams on merit, given the team-density. Michigan could easily support 4 or 5 regionals now, despite having only 3 when the district model started.)
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We send 18 total (9 on merit alone, 9 from awards), which is equal to 6 from three regionals. I'm not sure if I think it should change, considering the open registration periods get a lot of additional Michigan teams there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1075guy
Take an MI team, 2337 for example:
They attended 3 districts, MSC, and Championship in 2011 Total Cost: $5000+$500+$4000+$5000 = $14500.
An extra $500-1500 cost, to attend 5 events instead of 3? Yes, please! Even more so, when you consider the caliber of MSC and CMP.
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We certainly like the opportunity to play in such a number of events, too. It's not only great practice, but, as you said, the calibre of teams coming out of Michigan means that every competition is just as good as the last. Plus, keeping the Districts of uniform size (roughly 40 teams) helps to ensure you aren't qualifying a disproportionate number of teams from different districts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1075guy
I could certainly see it working for Canada: Niagara District, York/Durham District, Waterloo District, Toronto District, Quebec/Eastern Canada District, and Western Canada District lead to a Canadian National Championship, replacing GTR.
I don't think everywhere has the density to support the model on a state-by-state basis, but MI, TX, NY, and CA surely do. I expect you could glom together a few states in the northwest to come up with a big enough pool of teams.
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It's an intriguing idea...the FIRST in Michigan folks have done a good job of planning in such a way as to keep costs down, and I'm sure that it could be done as you suggest: give CA, NY, TX, and Canada their own regions, and then give less dense groups of states divisions, as well. I personally like the District System, and wouldn't have it any other way; however, there are drawbacks to the system. The venues that MI District Competitions are held in are not as high-capacity as regionals (most being in High Schools), which might take away from some students' experience. At the same time, every MI team has the opportunity to go to AT LEAST two competitions each year, which is more than teams outside of Michigan, who, with less sponsorship, might only have the money to go to one Regional and then have their season end.
If we can succeed in making FIRST and FRC as widespread as Dean (and I, and probably anyone else involved with the program) would like it to be, I think the District system would have real potential. As it is, it works well for Michigan right now, and could probably be implemented elsewhere if the initiative was there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1075guy
EDIT: I also worry about the caliber of teams we're creating. FIRST has seen huge growth in the last 4 years. I've only noticed a handful of teams with numbers over 2500 (roughly 2009-era rookies) that have been notably strong on the field. This is that quantity over quality argument everyone keeps making.
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I beg to differ, sir. From what I’ve seen from Michigan rookies this year, I have, on more than one occasion, remarked to certain mentors and students on our team: "This is the year of the rookie." I have seen numerous VERY strong rookies this season, teams that have produced robots more successful than even many veteran teams. I like to think that this is a sign of success of the culture change that FIRST is trying to bring about
: teams are willing to mentor other start-up teams, purely out of the joy of seeing FIRST expand elsewhere. FIRST in Michigan even runs Rookie Conference Calls, a campaign spearheaded by Kyle Hughes of Team 27, RUSH, I believe, and worked on tirelessly by members of my own team. Our head mentors speak on the calls regularly, and student members of our team, including myself, have participated in the calls as well. Of the roughly fifty new rookie teams in Michigan this year, our team spoke with nearly 30 of them through the FiM Conference calls. Michigan is a breeding ground for lots of STRONG new rookie teams, and I warn you not to take them lightly.
/Whew, long post. Sorry, I had it all ready and queued up earlier, then CD went down. When I came back, I added to it. I apologize for the length =D