[gblake]

Originally Posted by ManicMechanic

I am hoping that FTC has a better way of distinguishing its various levels of tournaments this year. Last year, regional events were "Championships" and the big Atlanta event was "The Championship" -- very confusing. In contrast, FLL and FRC seem to have better ways of distinguishing events. The generally accepted terminology seems to be:

FLL: (Non-qualifying locals and) Regionals --> Championships (formerly State events) -- > World Festival
FRC: Regionals --> Nationals (according to Dean, but "World Championship" to others)

Because The notion of APs being responsible for States has absolutely no meaning outside of the internal paperwork of FIRST, and therefore has absolutely no effect on how FTC teams are run or where they compete; I recommend calling the events before the World Championship something other than "State___".

It is extremely confusing to have more than one Championship, I don't recommend calling these events leading up to the World Championship, the " ___ Championships".

I recommend calling them ___ Regional Tournaments. Fill in the blanks with either the name of a well-known landmark or geographic feature, or with the name of the host city.

Calling an intermediate event the ___ Championship very strongly implies that participation is limited to teams within the borders of ___, and as we all know that isn't the case. Anyone from anywhere can participate in any competition.

Calling an event the ___ Regional describes exactly what is occurring. Any one from the region around the event may participate. Regions are not constrained by state, national, hemispheric or other boundaries.

Blake