Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexD744
I was going to post something along these lines in the Florida Rankings thread, but since the debate has started again here goes.
So, here's a proposal. Instead of sitting and waiting for Florida to be ready for districts, why don't we set up a committee of people to try and prepare the state for the transition. Regardless of whether or not it speeds up the process, it will make the transition smoother if planning begins a few years before the switch happens. Districts are going to happen. Period. The question is will Florida be ready?
The committee could address problems such as:
-team density (specifically in north florida)
-scouting venue locations
-securing funds for a field
-is there a good solution to accommodate our out of state friends? Perhaps discussions with them
-team retention!!!
-key volunteer recruitment and training (this is especially important to have done early. In NE this year I knew quite a few people who volunteered every week because of the need for key volunteers)
-etc.
Do we know of anyone in Florida FIRST that would head something like this up? I would certainly be willing to help as much as I can from Boston... Thinking I might send this proposal to the RD's. Thoughts?
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This a thousands times this and not just for Florida but everywhere.
It is a lot of work to make the transition to the district. For PNW FIRST originally told us they wanted us to move to the District system for the 2013 season in mid 2012. We put it off for a year and used off season events, with an official field, between the 2012 and 2013 season to start to train FTAs and other volunteers. About this time in 2013 people started to tour potential tons of sites.
One thing that could potentially lessen the cost of moving to the District system is the new field that AndyMark developed. It has yet to be approved for official use by FIRST but will be used for IRI and some other off-season events and FIRST personnel will observe how it performs and if it is similar enough with the current field. FIRST wants to be able to make a single design of game specific elements that will work properly with both versions. The AM field is set to retail for $20,000 including the 3 road cases that it fits in. This is much less than the current field purchased from the fabricator that FIRST uses and that doesn't include the road cases which is another significant cost.
Andy had fliers about the field that he was handing out at CMP.