[cadandcookies]

I think it's a really interesting topic, and it comes down to what the intentions of the organizers are (and, to be clear, I really don't know what they are).

If the tournament is intended to be a well-run offseason event for successful/lucky (like mine the last couple years) invited teams, it certainly meets that goal, as the tournament, while short, has been incredibly well-run both of the years I've competed at it. The small team structure, lightning fast qualification rounds, and fast-paced elimination tournament mean that this is probably one of the best run and most professional offseason events in Minnesota. It's a bunch of fun to participate in and watch.

If the MSHSL tournament is intended to raise the profile and recognition of FIRST programs in Minnesota, it does this admirably-- official recognition and validation of FIRST teams goes a long ways for teams that don't have friendly administrations at their schools. It also puts the program on par with all the other competitive high school activities in the state, and opens the door to more public interest.

If it's supposed to determine who the best team in Minnesota is (in terms of robot or overall program), it is currently not meeting that goal. For the robot, the structure means that if a team significantly improves their robot between their first and second tournaments (as in the case of two regional winners this year, 3042 and 2177), they can still not qualify, meaning that even if a team ends up with an excellent robot, they still might not be competing at the State Tournament. If the tournament is supposed to determine the best robots in Minnesota, this is a major problem. Another issue is that teams with underperforming robots that win RCA are invited (this happened to my team last year), which can mean that more competitively strong teams are invited. The rookie bonuses also make no sense for this philosophy, as whether a team is a rookie or not has little bearing on how competitive they would be at the State Tournament. The elimination structure and low team count also mean that teams with the potential to be competitive are not invited, and of those that attend, potentially strong alliances in lower seeds aren't allowed to form.

If the structure is supposed to be emulating a District Championships , it is also does not meet that goal, as other awards (like CA, EI, RAS) are not awarded, and the tournament's sole emphasis on competition means that many FIRST values are not emphasized for the competition (this is most definitely not to say that teams don't behave with gracious professionalism at the competition-- they most certainly do-- but rather that the structure emphasizes the competition above all else). Additionally, the low team count (30) and short elimination tournament play into this-- the tournament simply cannot in its current form recognize all the different aspects of excellence and how important this variety is in the FIRST program.

Like I said, I really don't have any idea what the intent was behind creating the MSHSL tournament. I think it does a pretty good job of letting any team competing be able to qualify, at the expense of the competitiveness of the tournament. Overall I feel that the ambiguity in the system currently is a temporary problem that will be solved when MN goes to districts somewhere down the line (though that does raise some questions-- will we have two State Tournaments?).

I'm not too much of a fan of the current system, partially because it let my team qualify in 2012 and 2013 when I really don't feel like we deserved to.