Quote:
Originally Posted by ManicMechanic
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Far more successful were the 2 scrimmages held by the Northern CA State partners. These events were "come as you are." Some teams came with reasonably advanced robots, others came with never-opened Vex kits in boxes. At the first scrimmage, teams mainly built and tested on the field throughout the day (several teams had no practice field or elements at home), and around 3:00, a series of 2 vs. 2 matches were held, open to any team that had something that rolled on the ground. Because of the small number of teams (8), each team had the chance to play 6 or 7 matches (run in rapid succession over the course of an hour). My team loved it because every member got to driving practice, something that would never happen at a formal event.
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I have to agree, even though it might appear to conflict with what I said above. I think the "bring anything that rolls" model is one to emulate when bootstrapping new teams.
What has evolved into the community (still very loosely organized) that is becoming the Potomac Vex League, started with a couple of come-as-you are "practice session" and every month since then has attempted to hold a workshop or scrimmage if something big isn't already occurring in the region that month.
Giving teams, school classes/clubs, etc. the early chances to get their machines built and driven in nearby, low-key, no-risk, supportive somethings called practices, workshops, and/or a come-as-you-are day of fun, seems to be an effective way to get them over the initial hump. Then after they have played a little metaphorical tee-ball, they are ready to ease into a steadier diet of periodic events.
Next season I hope to see 5 or 6 new formally registered teams come out of this year's informal league regulars, and see the league pipeline become primed by another 5 or 6 groups who are repeating the process we seemed to get right this year (or we just got lucky - time will tell).
To connect this to my previous message and to MM's comments: Announcing to a group of complete newbies (perhaps containing a high percentage of NEMOs) that a hard-fought competitive season is going to occur if they sign up, might scare them away. Easing them into a steady diet of periodic competitions can work well; and then once they are in the habit of inspiring students by steadily giving the sustained positive feedback (fun) of frequent competitions, FIRST can enjoy the side-effect of not having to make every FIRST championship so long and exciting that it makes the entire season of work worthwhile. The league play took care of much of that.
However, there is still the matter of figuring out a way to run a championship's field-competition so that the participants generally agree that the best teams have bubbled to the top. Giving teams plenty of time on a league field before the championship only hits some of the important aspects of a successful FVC program, not all of them. Ensuring that enough championship matches are played in a format in which the luck-of-the-draw is substantially less important than the skill of the team, is not solved by league play unless, the league play results are somehow factored into the championship matches.
Summary:
Come-as-you-are practice sessions & workshops = Good for
each/every early season and especially for new clubs/teams/classes.
Frequent league events = Good for helping teams feel they get enough return on the time and money they invest during a season.
How to best organize champoinship matches = ???, but a small handful of Quals doesn't seem to sit well. There is too much random luck involved.
ManicMechanic - Did I get this summary right?
Blake