[Bob Steele]

There was some discussion on teams opting out of doing a third district event.
I know that our team considered this before the season and made a conscious decision to try and get students and mentors to events as volunteers (primarily video crew) rather than try and get the whole team to another event.

This is the first year of districts and we felt that support of the entire system was more important than getting another "practice" in.

A secondary consideration was the possibility of taking away points from other teams that were competing in one of their districts that "counted" for them.

I think we need to take a look at that. If our team competed in a third event and we were lucky enough to do well or to win an award, the points we scored that don't count for us are points that a team participating for the 2nd event would not be able to get.

Yes it would be a benefit to get another practice in but at the expense of allowing other teams to get points for District qualifications.

It think this issue needs to be addressed next year. I, for one, would choose to remove 3rd play teams from the elimination rounds and also not allow them to win awards at their 3rd play. I know this seems radical but I think it is the only fair way for teams to advance to district championships.

I am in NO WAY berating teams that have chosen to do a third play this year under the rules we are playing. I am only suggesting that we need to think this through next year.

For many teams that do not have a history of success, they will see the stronger teams coming in to play for a third time as taking away their chance to score points. If we are doing it for practice... then just do it for practice...

Good luck on the fields!!