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Originally Posted by robochick1319
Districts clearly benefit teams and would spur growth in SC. It's a real shame that the SC "gatekeepers" aren't yet convinced of the benefits of the district.
We could combine with GA and have district events in Myrtle Beach (a la the Palmetto regional venue), Columbia, and Greenville. We'd be a huge district with lots of options. And there are strong teams in all of those areas who could help support local district events.
I wonder what it's going to take for SC to move to districts. Perhaps seeing TN and FL do the same?
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Indiana is the smallest state to try going it alone, and they did it with 49 teams in the state this year. We had 41. Get that number to start with a 5, and we might be closer. If any of the regional committees were working closer together, I think it could've happened--but it's pretty clear people wanted to play in their own sandboxes for whatever combination of reasons.
(For the record, I'm all for districts as a competitor. Less time out of school and work is clutch for us!)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Stratis
Just a small point... Billfred said they weren't convinced, not that they weren't convinced of the benefits. A lot goes into making districts happen, and it's entirely possibly that they just aren't convinced they can pull it off yet.
(blah blah blah)
...we, as a state, won't go to districts until we feel confident we can deliver the same high quality experience at a dozen district events as we currently do at our 4 regionals. We are not currently convinced we can do that, I would suspect something similar for SC.
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This. South Carolina has one head ref, 1.5 emcees that are local to Myrtle Beach, one lead queuer, and with Barry Hudson's retirement one game announcer. (Oh, and don't look down to FTC--I've announced that state tournament the past two years too.) I know I'm pretty game and Terrell Burch literally refs the first and last match of the season, but that's not how you sustain four events.
Quote:
Originally Posted by robochick1319
That is a fair point but right now it isn't clear (to me anyway) that the move to districts is being discussed seriously at a high level. If there are concerns about moving to districts, they aren't being readily shared with teams that could be part of that conversation. Perhaps the dialogue with teams and event organizers will take place this year since our neighbors have moved to districts. There are a lot of great teams in SC that would be very willing to help with that transition.
A SC district would be a small district. We only host one regional, though it is a VERY large event. I feel confident that we could handle three small district events and a championship. There are a lot of great, community driven teams in SC who could make it happen.
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It shouldn't be discussed at any level yet, because we lack the key ingredients. We need 50 teams (nine to go, if nobody shuts down), we need four venues that can hold 40 teams for a real event (read: no venue SCRIW has ever run--we cram 24 in with non-standard pits), and we either need some spare key volunteers or a cloning machine. Could it happen by 2017? Not impossible, but I'd bet on 2018.