[Andy Grady]

Ok...basically I'm gonna attempt to describe a little bit better what I am envisioning...as well as some problems that may show and so forth...

First of all in response to travel problems...the last year of Rumble at the Rock, teams traveled from as far as california to be at. The idea is to hold the competition in late summer before school starts and give teams a good amount of notice and time to prepare. My goal would be to hand out invites to the selected teams at the national competition.

As for number of teams...at least for the first couple of years I would like to stick to a 32 team format. This is a little bit less costly and takes up less room...which is good for a competition which is trying to get its feet off the ground.

The selection process is probably the biggest issue of the whole thing...I would love to have a committee of about 12-15 people from across the country looking at robots and selecting the teams. A few problems arise from this, as if you have 15 people from 15 different teams selecting, those people are going to want their own teams in the competition, and there would be a possibility that it wouldn't happen, which wouldn't go over too well with a committee member who really wants his/her team to be there. One thing that I have thought of to maybe cut down on this problem is to accept FIRST Alums or people who go to competitions but don't really compete. It is also possible to take someone from a team that totally understands that his/her team may not get picked. There will be no favorites. Of course there will be alot of things that are in the criteria to get picked, but thats something that the committee and I will think of if/when we meet.

Of course one of the big problems with doing an invite only competition is the possibility of upsetting a team who really wants to be there and thinks they deserve it. And there will be many of them...but an invite to this competition is almost looked at like an award...something for teams to strive for every year. There will be grumbling...but its gonna happen reguardless. We just need to be professional about it and hope teams selected are too.

Finally, about the location of the competition...I am really thinking that its very possible that FIRST All Stars would change locations from year to year, starting probably in the northeast (as i have already had some good ideas of locations in Mass, i.e. Boston or Worcester, plus being the first year of the competition it would be easier for me to take care of many of the logistics closer to home as this thing gets off the ground) then moving to maybe the midwest, south, california, and possibly even canada at some point...of course right now im more interested in seeing if we can even get a first one of these competitions off the ground.

Basically this idea has the potential to be a very good event. However, there is alot of work to be done if this competition is even considered to be put in action. First and foremost I need support from you! Especially the people on these boards...let me know how you feel, if this should even be attempted, also if you have ideas I would love to hear them. And most importantly...sponsorship is key! A competition of this magnitude will not get off the ground without solid financial support. If anyone has any ideas on sponsors (especially in the Boston/Worcester Area of Mass to start) I would love to hear them.

Keep up with the feedback, questions, comments, and constructive criticism...the more I hear from you, the more of a chance this thing can get rollin.

Thank you,
Andy Grady