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Originally Posted by BenDSterling
I like then map! I agree the competitions are way too far away from the majority of the teams. I didn't really realize how bad it was until I saw the map. It also makes it hard for volunteers, as most of the volunteers are in the same areas as most of the teams.
That being said, there is a reason the completions are so far away, and it isn't on purpose. This is already being worked on for next year. High school are just too small to host FRC competitions. Anyone who was at the KSU event last year knows how tight that was, and high schools would most likely be smaller. Hopefully next year we will be able to secure sole venues in the Kennesaw/Marietta/Roswell/Alpharetta area.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BenDSterling
You are right about wanting to expose the students to in-state technical colleges. That is one of the reasons we tried colleges before convention centers (although dalton and Albany will be in convention centers). We also try to partner with the colleges for support (for example at KSU they did a lot of the AV, and at UGA they brought a LOT of volunteers).
When I said high schools are too small I did not just mean space, but also resources. For example for Riverside Military Academy, we have to bring in a generator for power (which is a big hassle). Highs school venues simply are not designed to hold large events. In addition, High Schools tend to put school events first, making it hard to find a date that works for us the them.
As for the reason we went for Riverside Military Academy over KSU, it wasn't our choice. KSU said no to hosting both GRITS and a District Event (due to basketball). We did try to find another venue in the area but were unable to do so. This is why we went with Riverside Military Academy. One thing to note on Riverside Military Academy is that although it is a high school, it is definitely not a high school gym. This venue is about 7x the size of all the high school gyms we looked at. You could almost fit 9 full basketball courts inside the room. So this high school worked out size wise but most high school don't have a venue event remotely that large.
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High schools being too small, having a bad atmosphere or being bad venues is by and large a complete and total myth.
Of course not all high schools have the capacity to work. Hosting an event requires at least two large buildings on campus at a minimum, plus appropriate connecting hallways and paths. You need seating for all the teams, plus a some extra for VIPs and people off the streets. And no, it's not going to be as glamorous as Worlds. Sometimes, there are miscommunications and schedule issues, but colleges are exactly the same way.
But it doesn't have to be, and overall, I at least find high schools to be
better venues than the locations we had last year, not worse. Stadium seating is nice, as it produces good sight lines and better seats than bleachers. But when you barely have a hundred people in the stands, then it looks much, much worse than any gym. I would rather have a filled crowd, actively engaged in the game and making for an exciting environment rather than an empty stadium and playing in front of nobody.
The problem you seem to be referring to is not the seating, however, but the space in the pits. And there I agree with you. At both Albany and KSU, there were barely enough rooms for the teams there, not to mention a practice field and any other important resources. But just because the venue has less seating doesn't mean pits will be smaller. Most high schools with a second gym would much more easily fit a practice field and 40 pits than KSU fit a half field and 36 teams.
I'm well acquainted with the Chesapeake district, and I got a large amount of feedback that supported Southwest VA in Christiansburg, VA as a one of the best venues in 2016. Can you guess where that one was held?
You don't need nine basketball courts to have a fantastic event.
As we have found with Kennesaw and many other universities this year, there will be challenges to getting the exact right locations. Am I a fan of the locations of the events? Absolutely not, but they could be worse. Do I enjoy the massive amount of seating capacity these venues have? I don't see anything else as more pointless. But I understand why these locations are where they are. I do believe that if you want to drive team growth in an area, there are few better ways to do so than have events there. So while there really should be an Atlanta-based event (inner-city team travel is a very big issue), I understand where GeorgiaFIRST is coming from.
High schools will eventually become the norm. I just hope it's sooner rather than later.
Sidenote: Both Albany and Dalton are associated with technical colleges in the area. Gainesville is truly connected to Lanier Technical College, which hosts their athletic events at Riverside Military Academy. All of this partnership is designed to help nurture a great relationship between the universities and technical colleges of GA and GeorgiaFIRST.