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Unread 15-05-2015, 18:24
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Re: [FRC Blog] Two Championship Survey Results and Path Forward

Quote:
Originally Posted by evanperryg View Post
Case in point. Angry people tend to be louder than happy people. However, Holtzman makes a very good point that we, and FIRST, should consider. The numbers show a larger negative trend than it might seem.
My problem isn't completely with the 2 championship idea. I think with the right refinements, it will work just fine. I have a problem with how FIRST is dividing the event, because, at least in my not-so-humble opinion, they are moving the wrong way. Here's a quote from Don Bossi, copied from the transcript of the 2 Champs informational session:
"At this event last year we announced that we found a way here within St. Louis
to increase that and try to get that back into the 20 percent [of all FRC teams qualifying for champs] range by going to 600 teams...
The story for FIRST® LEGO® League, FIRST® Tech Challenge, Junior FIRST® LEGO® League is
much worse. FIRST Tech Challenge has the capacity for about 3 percent of their teams at
Championship. FIRST LEGO League, it kills me when I talk to a FIRST LEGO League partner
for a country and I say, oh we can’t even send a team this year, we don’t have a slot this year."
He then discusses some thrown-out options for changing FRC. The fact that he doesn't go into detail about how changing the timing of FRC would improve qualification rates leads me to believe that the ideas he discusses wouldn't have fixed anything. As far as I'm concerned, his presentation of these ideas is little more than a way to strengthen his point through shocking the audience.
Rhetoric aside, the most viable solution to the problems experienced by FLL and FTC are most easily resolved by the one solution that was discussed for the least amount of time. Why not put FTC at one event, and FRC at another? I recognize that FIRST wants to keep their programs intertwined, going along with the "progression of programs," but by giving FTC their own world championship venue, the size and scale of the FRC venue, they will be able to boost qualification rates astronomically. An FTC/FLL championship would also permit FTC to gain its own public identity. When asked about student robotics competitions, I have never come across a non-FIRSTer who knew anything about FTC. Most of them will answer a question about student robotics with something related to "I saw one that plays basketball!" or "oh, the little lego robots, right?" Perhaps it's time FIRST allowed FTC to gain their own identity, and make their championship event into their championship event. Perhaps it would be more logical to expand FLL into a double championship format, as head-to-head competition is a small, even nonexistent part of their program. By splitting FLL, you avoid the problems with not deciding a single winner of a highly competitive program, and you offer more space for more FLL teams to qualify. By putting FRC at one event and FTC at another, you keep the 2 most competitive events together, while significantly increasing the qualification rates for FTC.
This is an interesting passage because it reveals an important motivation for FIRST HQ. I think they see FLL, not FRC, as their future. I suspect that LEGO has a huge voice behind FIRST--FLL must be an important market of LEGO. So raising the visibility of FLL becomes most important.

Unfortunately, this is like trying to use AYSO to promote interest in soccer. While AYSO participation has exploded, it has had little impact on the interest in soccer in the U.S. In fact such interest has only increased as the women's team became dominant at the World Cup and the men's team really became competitive in 1994.
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