[techhelpbb]

As the CSA on this event, a sponsor of Team 11, a mentor of Team 11 for programming and CNC, and an FLL Judge...
I want to say a few things about this:

1. It's a tough job setting up one of these events and made only more complicated when you host it the first week. Odds are if something is going to go wrong it's going to go wrong the first few times you do something.

2. I have to say I find it strange that FIRST has gone to great lengths to have remote access to their fields since the ill-fated Einstein for troubleshooting reasons but doesn't trap this sort of error at their central location.

3. I've worked with the FTA and FTAA in question and I want to say that generally they have been professional and responsible and as I said sometimes things happen. There is no process in place that I am aware of either locally or remote to the field to check this condition. It could happen at any time or any place. That should be addressed and if there is concern for this happening in the future someone should time the events and bring it to the attention of someone. I know no one brought it to my attention during the matches. Had they done so I wouldn't have stopped till the concern was addressed.

4. I have been critical of FIRST in the past about issues with the fields and let me say clearly I've been involved with setting up and tearing down several of them over the years (hardware, electronics and software). I have to say that there are some things with these fields that need work. I've stood up and defended the fields when I felt there wasn't adequate proof from various teams but I see issues that -will never be solved- because of the limited access to the fields. These current issues are obviously hard to resolve because of their nature. Other issues are more deeply technical. I am going to say what I essentially have said before: please FIRST understand that you can't ignore the frustration your organization creates when the culture exerts pressures like this on people. This field system needs work and whatever is going on with the 2015 RoboRIO and the radios I hope that it won't take several years and random people stumbling on things before any bugs are acknowledged or even recorded. When a team - any team - raises a concern they can't solve themselves it ought to be at least recorded somewhere and I too often feel it gets quietly lost in word of mouth.

5. I also want to add and I've said this before with people from MAR: when I am the CSA or any other volunteer position at any event it doesn't matter to me that I am mentor or sponsor of Team 11. I have an ethical obligation to not allow my affiliation with Team 11 to alter my actions negatively in that role and I take my ethics *very* seriously. To hold the professional obligations I have means that I can't lower myself into that sort of situation because it would reflect on me elsewhere. To my knowledge - no one on Team 11 has ever allowed their team affiliation to alter their duty as a FIRST volunteer. In short even if someone, somewhere feels that because this event was hosted by the home school of Team 11: Team 11's standing during this year at that event ought to demonstrate that we are not influencing anything intentionally. Unfortunate situations like this cut us all. No matter the perceived rivalry with Team 11 I am there to provide good clean competition and anyone that has watched me work knows that I will spend hours and my own money if that's what it takes to make that happen.