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Unread 10-03-2013, 15:49
Mr. Lim Mr. Lim is offline
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Re: 2013 Greater Toronto East Regional

Atonomous is obviously frustrated.

I don't mind his comment at all - because it is painfully honest. At least he/she is saying exactly what's on their mind, instead of slipping away quietly, throwing their hands in the air, and leaving the FRC program entirely without ever expressing their frustrations. For all I know Atonomous could be one of the incredibly dedicated Ontario mentors who's been involved with FRC for over a decade, has worked tirelessly to build a world-class robot year after year, but just can't take the final step to qualify for Champs because it is so incredibly difficult to do in Ontario.

Or maybe he/she has just sacrificed a year of their life trying to do the ultimate FRC challenge: getting a rookie team off the ground. Maybe they are contemplating not coming back next year because they feel disenfranchised. Team sustainability is one of the biggest challenges FRC faces, and the last thing we want are good mentors walking away from the program.

What I don't appreciate is a throng of non-Ontario teams jumping down his/her throat and pushing them further away, instead of actually trying to understand why this person is frustrated, and maybe even fix it.

That's just lazy and unproductive.

I am in a very fortunate position where I constantly get to hear very raw, unadulterated, and passionate comments from other Ontario mentors. I couldn't tell you how many times a mentor has pulled me aside at competition and started the conversation with "I'm not coming back next year because..."

Frankly, you need to take comments like that very seriously, and act on them (i.e. pushing for a WildCard system, district point system, or even putting together a plan on how to help their team obtain a qualification spot to CMP).

Being in Ontario, it's not hard to see why people (like Atonomous) say these things.

Consider the following:

In a pre-wildcard system, if 610 had competed at GTRE instead of BAE this year, 610 probably wouldn't qualify for CMP.

In 2012, if 610 had competed in WAT instead of AZ, we wouldn't have qualified for CMP.

In 2011, 610 played only in Ontario, and did not qualify for CMP. We attended only because we pre-registered as we hadn't qualified for CMP for so many years prior. This robot went on to be 469's 1st pick, and a Curie division finalist, losing to the eventual world champs in 3 matches.

We're lucky that 610 has the resources to travel... we would travel anyways, because we love representing our city, province, country and FIRST as a whole. But fundamentally, we are an Ontario team who should be competing in Ontario as much as possible. Consistently leaving Ontario to find a spot at CMP seems... well... wrong. Truthfully, I don't think the people in the areas outside of Ontario where we compete find it all that great that we take away local spots from them either.

But it's that, or strategically trying to be the 24th best team at all our Ontario regionals, which also seems... well... wrong.

And it's not just 610. There is a large pool of world-class teams in Ontario who probably deserve to go to CMP each year, but just can't find a way despite building robots which are CMP worthy, but just not as good as 2056 and 1114.

188 did not qualify or attend CMP in 2012 - a shocker, because both 610 and 188 were actually favoured to beat 2056 and 1114 in the GTRE finals that year. Yes, hard to believe CD, but ask the actual people in the stands that day at the 2012 GTRE and they'll tell you the same. Also, 188 only snuck in to CMP in 2010 and 2011 as a last-minute wait-listed team as they couldn't qualify. Crazy...

What if 4334 was an Ontario team? Would their robot ever qualify for CMP again? They're too good to be 24th pick at an Ontario regional, but not quite good enough (yet) to beat them. The original "Eh Team" would never reunite at CMP.

I would never berate a team who is looking out for their own success. Winning a regional is of the utmost importance to some teams. It was to us last year in AZ, and this year in BAE.

But as we know, FIRST is about so much more than the robots...

For teams who have already secured a spot at CMP, it could also be about ensuring that our area/province/country is represented by as many of the best area teams as possible at CMP, and that these teams get the opportunity to be inspired on the biggest FRC stage in the world. This is a bigger picture view that has a lot of merit, especially for teams that believe in the concept of "Team Canada" or have similar patriotic or regional motivations.

Now, the wildcard system changes things dramatically in Ontario, and I hope people like Atonomous appreciate the effect it has on us. It's still not perfect. It's not quite the district points system, but it is much better than before. Previously, at GTRE, WAT and GTRW a total of 6 of the 9 Ontario winner qualification spots could be used up by two dominant teams. Those duplicate spots used to simply disappear, lost forever into the abyss. The remaining 3 would go to "24th-best" calibre robots. The 3rd to 6th best robots in Ontario would never get a shot at CMP. With the wildcards now, the landscape changes dramatically.

Consider the "worst case" at Waterloo and GTRW, assuming 1114 and 2056 win both. At both these regionals the Finalist Alliance Captain and their 1st Pick would be offered spots to CMP.

You'd better believe teams like 772, 907, 1310, 1334, 1503, 2013, 2220, 2386, 2702, 2852, 3161, and 3683 are going to be gunning for those 4 finalist spots. Whereas in the past, they would be completely shut out.

You'll notice there is no negativity towards 2056 or 1114 in this post. They've earned everything they've gotten.

But there needs to be a way for Ontario's other teams to see success as well, because quite frankly, they've earned it too.

We're getting there, but there's still plenty of work to do.
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