Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Stratis
I don't know how your events are run (obviously), but in MN there's just a different feel for the State Championship versus our other 3 off season events. The other events are minimally staffed, run by teams out of their school gyms...
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The first FIRST event that I was involved in was run in a gym in Texas. That gym based competition regularly has in it teams 57, 118, 148, 457, 624, 2158, 2468, 2587, 3847, and a bunch of other world class teams. the level of help that those teams give (including robots for pre-rookie teams to use) is incredible. Don't underrate the power of those "small" off season competitions. They were also extremely well run and the direct and intense attention given to the "new kids" is amazing.
Having another event in Texas (or anywhere else) is always welcome. I do hope to see more an more of them. I am just not sure it has to be all that much larger.
From all I have heard and seen Texas is moving to a district system. I will make up my mind on whether or not it is a good thing when I see how it turns out.
In terms of UIL... More support to FIRST is a good thing. The way that they are approaching this seems like a good path. The level of inclusion does not seem so great though. Nothing like excluding the teams that are based on Girl Scout Troops (Go Lady Cans!), Boy Scout Troops, Explorer groups (Screaming Chickens!), home schoolers (My own daughters), most secular private schools, K-12 online public school students, religious private schools (Go Iron Fangs!) and any other non-Texas Education Agency (TEA) or Texas Private School Accreditation Commission (TEPSAC) accredited group.
There is a very large section of the FRC population that will not be recognized by UIL.
At this point I think it is good for FIRST to have UIL support. I just hope that UIL will at some point be a bit more open to diverse groups.