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personally I think that FIRST needs to take the focus off the championship as a reward
and put more glory into the regionals. There is currently a lot of variation between the regionals - if you goto Cleveland the team party is at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but at Toronto the 'team party' was at the arena where the games were held
To level the field, every regional should have it own unique appeal and level of excitment, so that a team with a $6,ooo budget that can only attend the regional in its hometown
doesnt feel that its less a part of the FIRST program than teams that goto other regionals.
As for the championship - if they make qualification be by current year performance, and nothing else, then a lot of the hard feelings will go away
and maybe we can even set it up so that, if your team wins a regional, then you get to goto the championship for free?
To be honest, the two times Ive been to the championship (with two different teams) I got the impression that the regionals were more about FIRST, and the championship was more about rewarding the students for the effort they had put in.
I dont see any reason why the regionals cant be a reward too - why cant we have a regional at disney world? or on a cruise ship? or in Hawaii? London? Toyoko?
We dont need to have ALL the teams in one place for an event to be an outstanding life changing experience.
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