Quote:
Originally posted by Mimi Brown
Oh, Wow. I havent posted in a while. Well, I have a lot to say about this one.
1. I really like having nats at disney, just because its got a great atmosphere, and the weather is usually great (minus the rain). I really like the idea of having each division at each disney park. That would be really cool. I definatly think that we could easily figure out a way to keep nationals at Disney without having to keep teams from participating.
2. I dont really think that FIRST can easily limit who comes to nats (i've said this before). Many rookie teams can only go to nationals, because of funding or other reasons. If we then tell them, sorry, you cant go because you didnt go to a regional, then it seems like participating in FIRST isnt worth their time.
Also, Nationals is such a great experiance. I feel bad for teams that can only go to a regional, they dont know what they are missing. It would be wrong to not allow everyone to enjoy nationals.
3. Who said that they didnt see dancing???!!!????
Our team is slightly insane about dancing to the music at competitions. (this is what happens when you team has 16 girls and 11 boys...the girls end up dancing all the time.  lol)....(think the big crowd before opening ceremonies on sat) Also, just wait until next year, when it will the danceing wil be better than ever!!!
ok...i needed to get that all out.
~Mimi who had lots of built up posting energy in her
|
Let me respond point by point:
1) I think all of us enjoy Disney as a location for nationals. However, the fact that it is Disney makes it harder keep people focused on FIRST. I know I have trouble with that myself even though I love FIRST and I've already been to Disney 3 times. That is one of the main reasons that moving nationals to another location would be beneficial regardless of the additonal capacity of another location.
2) FIRST already has limited the number of teams going to nationals. If you mean limit nationals attendance to teams that also went to a regional, I personally feel that that would be a good idea. Why? Because the experience of a regional is much better and much more rewarding than the experience of nationals. At regionals there's more a feeling of competition; people are sitting in the stands watching most matches; people are excited; it's louder, there's more enthusiasm; there's a better chance of winning something. I've done just the regional thing for a year, and I would recommend that over just going to nationals. Regionals are just more fun. The main thing I get out of nationals (besides seeing people) is just the size and expansiveness of FIRST. Yes, it's a good feeling and it's neat to see, but I don't think it's necessary.
3) I didn't say anything about not seeing dancing, but I will say I see a lot less dancing and yelling at Nationals as opposed to regionals. I personally believe that there was more yelling at the finals in NJ than there was in the finals at Nationals (this could be because I was down by the field at NJ yelling while I was sitting in seats at Nationals but that was the impression I got). There's just more enthusiasm at regionals. I don't remember seeing random conga-lines sprouting up at Nationals but do at NJ (yeah, I know, no conga music but it still counts).
Personally I hope to see FIRST stay at Disney and to allow unlimited teams to show up. Unfortunately, I don't think that'll happen. We'll wait and see what FIRST decides.
Matt