[Abhishek R]

I echo Allen Gregory's points, there are multiple events in Texas set up to be more inclusive of all teams, the ones I've personally attended being the Texas Robotics Invitational and the Robot Remix. In both of these, the captains are not allowed to pick within the top 8, and TRI had the added restrictions outlined in his post earlier. Having talked to several teams with various backgrounds, from champions like 1477 to the newest rookies in our school district, everyone has had a positive experience with these events.

In addition, we have the 2-day event Texas Robot Roundup, which is based on a purely competitive stance - ever since its incarnation, TRR has provided a great event with some of the most exciting matches I've ever seen. There were a few "B-bots," that were being used by pre-rookie teams to give them a glimpse of what competition is like (note, this is slightly different from the scenario I see being addressed in this thread, however it is similar enough). I believe one or two did make it to eliminations, but again, there wasn't any voiced concerns about this happening or it being any form of injustice to other teams.