Quote:
Originally Posted by MARS_James
The last statement is a little misleading yes Florida has less teams then our peak but lets look at the long term situation say 5 years:
2011: 55 Teams
2012: 76 (+21, The first year of the South Florida Regional, the last year of the JC Penny Grant)
2013: 72 (-4, No more JC Penny grant, NASA removes some grants for South Florida, South Florida moves to a more expensive location)
2014: 63 (-9, Rookie Teams from 2012 can no longer receive the grants from NASA based on age)
2015: 64 (+1)
So over the last 5 years we have had a net gain of 9 teams not spectacular but still not an overall loss. Also in 2015 50% of our teams attended 2 or more regionals while in 2011 that number was 18%, yes there wasn't a second event in our state at the time but it shows that half of our teams are already paying near the $10,000 required for districts and district championships.
Florida is closer to being able to sustain districts then our loss of 12 teams in 4 years say especially with a possible 3 off season events potentially leading to an increase of volunteer base. That being said your statement about geography as well as the way our highschools are designed (very open and airy lacking space big enough to host districts) lead to our issues.
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Agreed, we have turned the tide of team losses, have 3 coordinated off season events, and the volunteer base at south florida is more and more a different group than in orlando. Locations are a problem, but I doubt it would be impossible to find the right ones. Florida is on its way to districts, but it'll take some time to get there. And while we still have many hurdles to cross, the signs are finally starting to be good, which they haven't been for a long while.