The views & expressions listed is solely my own and no reflection of my team(s), program or district.
That being said.
I coach FTC in the middle of nowhere(150miles to a large city). We only take students that are part of the school system due to district policy. I agree that the way this seems to have rolled out with some lack of communication, can and will stir up issues and bring things into light maybe people didn't think of when deciding to implement. No one has addressed several issues that the forum has brought forth. They, FiT, have implemented an FAQ section on FIT. So there is progress and being proactive in the issues.
The concern with the UIL is the teams are not being able to participate. It is a double edge sword. FIRST to me has always invited all to play, all are welcomed. This is UIL "borrowing" TRR for a year and most likely wanting to steal some thunder from FIRST. I feel UIL wants to join the bandwagon and slap their name on the program. So they can say they have a new program and FiT gets more teams involved during the normal season as a by-product which in turns more funds.
From my viewpoint, UIL will not affect the normal FRC/FTC season. It is just adding another layer to compete in during the year for some teams.
Not UIL school you can't go. Do not like the idea of UIL not letting a team play, then do not go, your teams call. I think it can be used as a tool to spin your own view. I think FiT & FIRST need to address the "partnership". For some of us, it feels like a hostile take over. Several of us have a bad taste when you mention UIL.
No one as well has mentioned if FTC will only be allowed 1 team per school. That is the normal allowances in UIL. I have 4 teams here and I know most larger schools have 3-6 teams. What about multiple schools that feed one team. It gets muddy quickly. I know FRC that is not an issue.
I do agree about the money issue(s) as it relates. I have been given some information when I questioned why 20% of the FRC world population went to worlds and only 2% of the FTC went to worlds.
I was told point blank that it's about money. When you factor the costs of team registrations and other fees, FRC generates upwards of 22+ million vs. 1.25 million. I was told they would have to raise the costs for FTC to register to 1000$ per team and invite a crazy amount of teams to worlds to compare.
IMO, this can be seen as non-profit to profit or it takes a lot of money to run the program. I understand we all have been in a situation where we needed to look for new money streams to help our program. I assume and hope this is what Fit & FIRST had in mind.
I love FIRST!
It is my family and families do not always see eye to eye on things. I do,however, have a major issue when the core values can get side swiped and we start down a dark path that the mission is no longer the voice of FIRST.
Just curious, was there every a vote or poll on this move to include UIL or how did that occur?
J. Reed
Robotics coach 2008 - present