Quote:
Originally Posted by Pauline Tasci
Rolling out districts in NorCal first would limit so many teams from attending events. And what defines NorCal or SoCal? Where would Central Valley go? Both our regions depend on that area for another event. I understand the idea behind it, since there is a larger pull from the northern region for districts, but then we get limited down here. We already depend on Arizona and Vegas for our regionals, taking out the northern California options for us limit our interactions with the regionals and the teams in northern California. Especially since we are considering as 2 district champs model, that means the only time SoCal would compete with NorCal for the years NorCal has districts and SoCal is still on the regional model would be at 1/2 champs.
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Very fair concerns.
In a quick count, I tallied ~7 SoCal teams at CVR, out of 49. It is definitely a primarily NorCal event (
confirmed by team distribution map from 2014)
I think SoCal will depend on Vegas/Arizona regardless until Districts happen. And, luckily, both of these areas appear to be strong and/or growing (I've been particularly impressed with AZ in the past few years).
Once Districts are established, the state will likely be split in half anyway, with only a few teams traveling for inter-district play. It is the natural progression to the model of a High School sport.
Why could this roll-out be beneficial to both regions? I hear so much doubt and misinformation surrounding districts in CA. It's almost like 1/2 of FRC hasn't made the switch already and disproved many of the concerns that get recycled almost daily.
If half the state can go to districts in 2018, then maybe that opens the door for the other half to come in as soon as the following year. Showing what is possible is part of garnering support of people that would be hesitant to embrace change otherwise.
From my perspective, it could very well be a win-win. Believe me, I am pushing for this because I want all FRC teams, particularly in CA, to be more sustainable, more successful, and more inspirational.
Maybe it is less of a "Goodbye" and more of a "See you on the other side"?
-Mike