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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To your first point, this has been happening for probably over a decade. The teams with 'many resources' are building two robots and attending multiple events to increase the likelihood of qualifying for world championships. Having a closed build season has not been FIRST equitable as you mentioned, and I believe removing the stop build day will have little change on how those teams operate - we would surely not build two robots and would probably enter more tournaments instead.
We lost two of our FRC mentors to our FTC program exactly for the reason you mentioned the 'break neck speed'. Spouses are now happier and they have both come back for another FTC season. Your team is already now competing with teams who don't stop building, improving, practicing, etc. We always tell our students we don't stop working on the robot until the last match on Einstein at the World Championships. Only then is it 'done'.