Personally I love it, (but I will openly admit to a little bias
).
Why do we participate in FIRST?
Some of the posters in this thread seem to indicate that the primary goal is to get to the Champsionship via the easiest and cheapest path possible. Wrong. The only teams who should be at any championship are the ones who legitimately have some chance at being a champion, regardless of the sport. Anything other than this is just promotion of false hope.
The “Scalable District System” (this is the actual original name) was designed to increase participation, sustainability and growth in the FRC through several means:
1.
Reduce the price of entry: This is more than just enrollment costs. More events and more teams means lower travel costs and more support.
2.
Increase Return on Investment: Every team in our system plays 2 to 3 times more than teams do elsewhere under the traditional system for the same price and the same lost time from work/school.
3.
Remove Barriers: We work hard to remove things that waste time, waste money, add needless complexity, or generate frustration. We still have much work to do here.
4.
Create an Environment which promotes success: We want all teams to strive to be successful, and we provide measureables which allow them all to gauge their own success.
5.
Provide Local Infrastructure: Our FIRST Community is here, not in New Hampshire. As with everything, the best help and support always come from a local level.
6.
Bring more attention to the FRC: We have a great group who work together to promote all 10 of our events, not just one regional. The 2011 MSC special is just the beginning.
Many of the “fixed points” are set by New Hampshire and are not under local control:
1. Would we allow teams from other states to come here if we could?: Yes
2. Would we give points for the “Culture Changing Awards” if we could?: Yes
3. Would we reduce the initial registration fees if we could?: Yes
4. Would we reduce the cost for enrolling the State Championship?: Yes
If other regions chose to go a similar route as we have, maybe together we can make such changes. Thus far we have been unable to affect these items at all.
So, does it work? Yes it does.
- Team growth has been very good.
- Team Retention has been very good.
- Team Satisfaction has been very good.
- Team competitive success has been very good.
- Community awareness and media exposure has been exceptional.
Backing up to some points made earlier in this thread:
Fact: teams who play more get better. This is not just an opinion, it’s a fact.
Let’s look at some data. (Remember kids, without data, you are just another person with an opinion).
At the 2011 St Louis Event, we had the following breakdown of prior experience.
Teams at 2011 Championship - 352
Teams with 1 prior event - 163 - 46.3%
Teams with 2 prior events - 153 - 43.5%
Teams with 3 prior events - 29 - 8.2%
Teams with 4 prior events - 6 - 1.7%
Teams with 5 prior events - 1 - 0.3%
So there was a roughly 50/50 split of teams with 1 prior and teams with more.
So how did everyone do when they got there?
Teams in STL Elimination Rounds - 96
Teams with 1 prior event - 13 - 13.5% - 13/163 = 8.0%
Teams with 2 prior events - 56 - 58.3% - 56/153 = 36.6%
Teams with 3 prior events - 29 - 24.0% - 23/29 = 79.3%
Teams with 4 prior events - 4 - 4.2% - 4/6 = 66.7%
Teams with 5 prior events - 0 - 0%
So basically, even though almost half the field were in the “one prior event” group, only 8% of these teams advanced. The other, more experienced group, were 44% successful overall.
Every member of our Michigan top 20 ranked teams was in St Louis this year. 19 out of 20 (95%) of these teams advance to the Elims. No other group of any kind had a similar level of success.
We have studied the population trends in the FRC for over a decade. Team capability grows very consistently with experience through the first three events and then begins to level off. Only the very best teams begin their season at near full capability; the other 97% of the league see definitive growth with increased experience.
If you want to improve FRC in your region, you have to get the robots on the field. It is as simple as that.
"Hope is not a Strategy" - Rick Page