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Unread 06-05-2011, 10:41
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JesseK JesseK is offline
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FRC #1885 (ILITE)
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Re: FIELDS. YES FIELDS.

I think that most of us who 'blame' FTC for the pit fields (and minibot crap, tbh) are more appalled that FIRST is willing to sacrifice some of the relationships they've built with mentors (who put in 1,000's hours over the years) on their flagship program in order to ... erm, do something with the big picture. That's the part we can't figure out, and that's the root of the frustration. In the meantime, while FIRST figures out what to tell us, we're stuck with ... major inconveniences ... during both build and competition season. If they'd been more transparent about the 2 pit fields from the start of the season, or long before BEP approached them, then perhaps we'd have had more time to digest it and say "please make sure we have X".

Yet with that said, <puts on flame-resistant suit>

Having been on both the FTC [FTC1885] and FRC [FRC1885] side of things at the Championships, I'm a proponent for keeping FTC in the dome. To make it to the Championships in FTC, as Carol has indicated, you literally have to be THE best. You can't simply tag along at your regionals, you have to SEED high and THEN beat everyone (or get Inspire). Our kids worked their tails off last year to get their bot in top-notch order to compete at the regionals they attended. They deserved to be in the dome 'under the lights' just like the other programs. Bill hints that they'll expand to more fields for FLL/FTC in the dome, which is a good thing holistically IMO.

The pit fields were good, except for the lack of seating. I only witnessed what the elims were like for the pit fields, and it was bad ... very bad ... for the teams and their parents/mentors/supporters. All we can do is hope that it was simply an oversight on FIRST's part, and that they fix the problem. I'm sure they understand they'll have major protests if they don't.
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