Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr V
It is not a matter of an area "deserving" to be part of the district system it is a matter of an area having the people willing to make the jump to the district system as it requires a non profit org being set up if there isn't one already and a lot of work from the organizers and an increase in the number of dedicated volunteers.
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While this may not apply to Ontario, it does apply to Minnesota. It seems unfair to complain about the Michigan, MAR, PNW, and NE areas benefiting from a district system and "excluding" everyone else, when they have put in a lot of work to get where they are. If Minnesota (or any other area) wants a district system, they need to work to get the volunteer base, the venues, the funding, and the infrastructure to do it. Despite what people might think, FIRST does little more than issue guidelines for how to participate in their global competition structure. They don't actually make any of it happen, it's the volunteers, students, parents, teachers, and the rest at home who do all the work of organizing events, venues, volunteers, team funding, etc.
The other thing local organizations need to think about is the health of the teams in their area. It's not just about starting lots of teams and getting events and recruiting as many volunteers as possible. We want this to be a quality experience for our kids. Poorly trained volunteers and a large number of floundering teams don't help.