[Arefin Bari]

I personally think that the October/November time frame is the best for an offseason competition. The reason I say that is because teams can bring in their new members to be exposed to the FIRST environment. It is also to get in touch wtih the teachers/mentors (since most of the time, their contacts are school phone numbers).

I didn't choose May/June/July/August frame is because, May is when teams take a break (most of the time). May/June is also prom, grad nights and graduation. Once school is closed for the summer, students don't like to come back to school. It is very hard to get in touch with the mentors too (I had hard times contacting teams in the late may/june for Mayhem @ the Museum, so I am speaking from experience). End of september is also fine. That is the time when most schools are opening back up. The planning committee should let the teams know that there is an offseason in September before the school closes so they can plan ahead.