[frcguy]

I wanted to post why I am pulling for districts in CA. This year, my team attended the Silicon Valley Regional. As you may know, the teams that are at SVR come from very diverse backgrounds. There are powerhouse teams, rookies, and low-resource teams that really struggle to sustain their program every year. That last category is what really impacted me and made me want to go to districts. It hurt me to watch teams that have struggles finding space, raising money, etc. pay $5,000 and throw it away on 8 matches where they could be getting significantly more for thier money in the district system. With districts, these teams get to play in two events by default. They have unbag time to practice and iterate. It is my belief that students who have the opportunity to experience more FIRST are more inspired and get more out of the program. I believe that districts can be a game changer for teams like that. Will there be challenges? Of course, but I believe wholeheartedly that together we can overcome them.

- Nick