[Boe]

Originally Posted by Chief Hedgehog

And for those of you that discount the MN State Tourney as a mere off-season event - you are incredibly wrong. I can speak for all the teams involved as they take this event as seriously as any other FRC event. 4607's initial goal every season is the MSHSL Tournament.

No you cannot speak for all teams involved. When I was a student the MN State Championship just another off season for me, compared to the real prize of going to and trying to win at worlds, or even going to IRI. I would much rather go to my first event sit dead on the field during every match and not go to states, if it meant having all issues worked out for our next event and doing well and going to worlds. I have spoken to a number of students who share this same opinion. Perhaps part of the reason I feel this way is that I dont agree with how teams advance to the state championship (I feel it should be your best event or the average of all your events), this comes from my idea of what the goal of the state championship should be which doesn't necessarily align with MN FIRST.

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

Honestly, at this point I'm not sure what the deal is. It seems like everyone is acting according to what they believe to be the program's best interests at heart, but somewhere along the line the community here lost an entire set of people who could have been welcomed into helping FRC in Minnesota move forward, but have instead been pushed away from volunteering (or in some cases even being a part of the program). I know people who have been called up and told not to post here about districts in MN, or to be told that they would not be assigned to a volunteer role because of posts on social media or CD. I know that there are incredibly talented and passionate people who have just flat out given up on volunteering here in Minnesota because they no longer want to deal with the "Minnesota drama."

This is extremely troubling and very disappointing that this is something that happens in Minnesota, though from the way I've heard certain people in MN FIRST talk about districts it is not entirely surprising. During my time in Minnesota I talked to many people mentors and students from large teams, small teams, teams with large budgets, teams with small budgets, ect. and the vast majority of people I talked to were in favor of districts (and 100% of the students were in favor of them, once I explained what they were).

Also the MN-ND-WI-IA region is basically at capacity for how many play spots there are vs how many are desired, if not for the addition of the Iowa regional there would have been a fair number of teams not able to get a second play, which is very discouraging for teams that work hard to fundraise enough for that second play only to find out there isn't a spot for them.

To add on as someone who competed in MN throughout highschool and now attends school in Michigan I can attest to one of the biggest arguments for regionals vs districts arguments.

Venues: While competing at Mariucci or the DECC is awesome and I would argue some of the best venues in FRC they lose some of their charm when your in a giant stadium and there are four dead/broken bots on the field. After volunteering at the Kettering district the I didn't really noticed the smaller and more personal size of the space but it did not detract from the event.

I may post some of my other thoughts on having now experienced a district event after doing for years of regionals if I get some time with all the studying for finals