Quote:
Originally Posted by Rangel(kf7fdb)
Since the venues are already booked, what if we had FRC in one venue and FLL/FTC in the other. As I understand, FLL and FTC already don't have enough teams at champs. I know here in Arizona, we are only able to send a team to championships bi yearly for FLL(Not sure if this has changed). If FTC and FLL had their own venue, they could have more teams that go to their championship event so that it isn't so much of a problem. FLL and FTC have more representation and FRC keeps its world championships. What does everyone else think about this?
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On paper I like this Idea, but just like having 2 championship competitions it has issues. I know several teams that have FLL, FTC, and FRC teams going to worlds. If you split the parties, suddenly the teams have to deal with the overlapping mentors. It could end up being a real pain for teams, maybe even going down to telling highschoolers that they cant go due to lack of chaperones because you dont want to crush the excitement of LL kids that got to go to one location while you were assigned to the other, or crushing some poor LL kid's excitement saying "Sorry FRC is a bigger investment".
FIRST has certainly found themselves in a weird situation. I certainly hope that more things get fleshed out. I am feeling skeptical of the idea, and Im saddened by the saturation of "Everyone is a winner" in competitions as of late. I hope we arent traveling down that path. While yes, the competition is about inspiring, inspiring others isn't what most highschool students are in the program for.
FIRST, I love you dearly. You are the reason that I am alive right now. I know its hard to run such a giant program, but please hear out our concerns. I was skeptical about "woodie math" back with rankings in Breakaway, I dont like the removal of the win/loss, but I dont feel like splitting our family into areas is harsh.
It hurts bad enough in Michigan when I cant see teams from other states or countries (I was lucky enough my team traveled to Canada anyhow), but not being able to see half the competitive field- as well as my friends from there- hurts. I have worked with several teams via Skype, and I look forward to seeing them all at worlds... if they dont get put into another competition. I feel like this change will limit the amount of collaboration there will be with teams that are far away.
I also hate to boast about the state, because there are lots of other places that pump out good teams, but Michigan is crazy as far as team skill goes. It would be a right shame to see teams from Michigan, Canada, MAR and whatnot seperated from Teams over in Cali and Texas. You cant ignore the fact that you are separating some of the most insane competition we have ever seen.
Ill give you the benifit of the doubt. I need more information until I am willing to pass my ultimate judgement on this, but as someone whos only been around since 2009 (I suddenly realise this is longer ago than I was thinking it was) I am NOT a fan of what is on the table right now. I will continue to support FIRST through changing times. I know that FIRST is a huge competition and is paving the way for competitions like it in the future. There has to be a first time for everything, and you cant expect everything to be perfect, but I feel like there may be better options than what have been put out.
Im curious to see if we can get FIRST to explain its reasons behind 2 World competitions as apposed to super-regionals or anything else like that.