[Undertones]

As a member of the Alberta Tech Alliance, I think it's safe for me to explain our plans and achievements regarding a new regional event.

If you are not aware, there are about 60 teams in eastern Canada (Ontario region). There is a fairly strong FIRST community there, with several regional events. However, in western Canada, it is a different story. Our team, 4334, is one of two teams west of the east/west divide. Because there are so few teams, there is hardly any FIRST community. Nobody knows what we do, why we do it, etc.

Being one of two teams in an extremely large area is hard for a couple reasons. One, sponsorship is hard to find. Especially being a rookie team. Nobody wants to be the first to sponsor us. Also, it makes attending a regional event very, very difficult. In the 2012 season, all the regional events closer to us filled up very quickly. The closest event to us was Toronto. Now, I don't know if you're familiar with Canadian geography, but it is reaaaally far. And strangely enough, flying there is super expensive. We're lucky to have super supportive parents, and they all wound up paying airfare for us to attend GTR East. Frustrated, we started looking into hosting our own regional event. We talked it over with FIRST Canada, and they gave us the green light. Then at the championship, a meeting with the board was held regarding a new regional event. It was approved.

So, circumstances permitting, there will be a Calgary regional next year. You may be wondering how, being as there is only 2 teams... The Alberta Tech Alliance is working on building curriculum that we can take into Calgary and area schools, and making it as easy as possible for schools to have FRC teams. The Calgary Catholic School District has already approved $10,000 in sponsorship to every FRC team in one of it's schools. We also are working to use an unused school property as a communal build site, where teams can share expertise, parts, tools, a facility, and perhaps most importantly, rent.

The real question is, can we get 30 teams?

Time will tell.