Quote:
Originally Posted by JABianchi
I want to share what I wrote in my survey, as I feel it represents a viewpoint that is not voiced much in this thread, which may be more representative of teams that would be thrilled just to have a competitive chance of making it to the World Championships.
"Stop Build Day is an essential component to keeping FIRST equitable. With a longer build season, teams with many resources (money, school support, parent support) will be able to leverage those advantages to an even greater degree to the detriment of less-resourced teams' ability to be competitive and likely, less inspired. This is the same reason why we need to continue limiting the cost of the parts used on the robot.
"Additionally, coaches & volunteers that are stretched thin for those 6 weeks will feel compelled to keep up that break-neck pace for possibly double the time just to stay competitive, leading to much higher rates of burn-out. The way my team is currently structured, we would not be able to effectively compete without Stop Build Day. If FIRST is serious about reaching out to under-served communities, we will choose not to stack the deck further in favor of the privileged.
"The question is: 'Does FIRST want to be a club for the competitive elite or does FIRST want to create an equitable experience for a broad range of schools to realistically compete?' Far less than 20% of teams qualify for the Championship event each year. What can we do that will help that 20% have a high turnover rate?
"When the amount of time is limited, there is much more variance in a competition. This is why the NFL is the most equitable pro sports league in North America. Only 16 games, and single games determine elimination in the playoffs. On 'any given sunday', the worst underdog has a legitimate chance of upsetting the very best team. In any given FRC season, with a limited build season, even a struggling, under-resourced team can have a shot against some of the best teams. Please don't change that."
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1678 build three robots. Removing stop build day will save us maybe 500-1000 man hours and about $6k. We will still have 16 weeks to build, program and test.
5458 and 6174 (the rookie teams 1678 started) each build one robot. Neither qualified for WCMP in 2016. Neither can do driver practice with us because their one and only robots are in arbitrary plastic bags, while we are training our drive team and programming auto modes simultaneously during the competition season. These two teams have much more to gain from eliminating stop-build day than we do.
Teams already keep a "break neck pace" all season. Maybe you just aren't aware of it?
There are a lot of reasons why many teams never qualify for WCMP, but I'd wager stop-build day widens the gap, rather than leveling the playing field.
Thanks for sharing your opinion, mine is only one more among many.
Best,
-Mike