Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin Pardus
The 6.5-week Build Season does not seem to be a maintainable option in the near future.
Since the 2010 FRC Season, the number of competition weeks and events has increased significantly (see chart below). The FIRST Championship (CMP) seems to have been pushed back as far as it can go. The VEX World Championship (17-20 Apr 2013, 23-26 Apr 2014, and 22-25 Apr 2015) now basically coincides with FIRST's CMP dates.
It is very safe to say that more Regional-Region and District events will be added in the coming years. FiM now has 12 District events scheduled for the 2014 season, while PNW has 10. Once FiM, PNW or another Region reaches the need for 13 or more District events within its Region; I think more competition weeks will be needed, since it will be very hard for a Region to manage 3 District events on a single weekend. If the 6.5-week Build Season is to be maintained, it will mean a December Kick-off and Start Date for future Build Seasons. It also means you are going to have a Build Season that will overlap most High School Winter Breaks (may not be a good idea) or have to enforce an arbitrary Stop-build period over the Holiday Season.
The increase in the number of competition weeks and events also needs to consider the possibility of Super-Regionals or Intermediate Championships being added to the FRC tournament advancement structure, as has been done for FTC this competition season. VEX VRC has changed their tournament advancement structure this season as well; it now includes a State Championship level for advancement to the VEX World Championship. So eventually, we could end up with a November Kick-off and Start Date for future Build Seasons or just might end-up going year-round.
Season / Weeks / Competition Dates / # Regionals / # Region CMPs / Districts / FIRST CMP Dates / Total Events
2010 / 5 / 04 Mar-03 Apr / 43 / 1 / 07 / 15-17 Apr / 52
2011 / 6 / 03 Mar-09 Apr / 48 / 1 / 09 / 27-30 Apr / 59
2012 / 7 / 01 Mar-14 Apr / 52 / 2 / 15 / 25-28 Apr / 70
2013 / 7 / 28 Feb-13 Apr / 58 / 2 / 17 / 24-27 Apr / 78
2014 / 7 / 27 Feb-12 Apr / 54 / 4 / 37 / 23-26 Apr / 96
Regions: FiM, MAR, FINE, & PNW
|
Or... we could just push the championships back into May. Why not?
And eventually we are going to need to have more events per weekend. The only limitation to this that I can think of is lack of volunteers (yes it would cost more money, but that is what districts are solving). However the solution isn't to add more weeks so that volunteers can volunteer at more events, that is just asking far too much of them.
I just don't understand why this is an issue to you. But whatever the issue is, adding more competition weeks is a temporary solution to a permanent problem.