[David Kelly]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

Really, though, I'm bothered by this because it's a small regional in an area with no current teams. So FIRST is funding teams in Israel, plus an expensive regional for said teams plus a very small number of other teams. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, FIRST has raised the first regional entry fee by 20%, discouraging rookie and poorer teams here in the States. One can only wonder how FIRST can afford this if they've already had to raise prices to break even already.

Don't get me wrong, I realize FIRST is doing this to inspire people worldwide. I just question the logic of an organization that does something like this when it's already having funding woes and growing pains at home.

Oh, but there ARE teams in Israel. If you refer back to one of the speeches from Mr. Lavery last year during a regional, I think it was the VCU Regional but I'm not totally sure, he mentioned that there were going to be teams in that country.

FIRST catches a lot of undeserved flack for issues that people have no clue as to what they are talking about. FIRST raising fees to fund the Israel teams? Thats an insane idea.

For those of you that do not already know, FIRST is already quite established over across the pond with the FLL. In-fact, there are FLL teams in USA, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Turkey, United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, China, Korea, and Japan. If you don't believe me, look for yourself.

If the FLL can work on the other side of the world, why can't the FRC work the same way?

It disappoints me every time somebody accuses FIRST of doing something, or not doing something, that has no backing to it. Don't bash FIRST for what you do not know.

We should applaud FIRST and be optimistic and not pessimistic about working in Israel and other parts of the word. This is a HUGE step in changing society and [i]nspiring students across the world.