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Unread 21-10-2007, 23:20
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dtengineering dtengineering is offline
Teaching Teachers to Teach Tech
AKA: Jason Brett
no team (British Columbia FRC teams)
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Re: **FIRST EMAIL**/2008 FRC Connecticut "Double Regional"

I'm not familiar with the venue in Connecticut, but have had experience with the Toronto "Super Regional". I have to say that I really, really like it when GTR is a two-field super-regional, as there is no delay between matches... when you sit down in Hershey Centre to watch the finals on Saturday afternoon there is constant action all afternoon. Nothing against other regionals, but having the Chevy and Pontiac fields going one after the other is fabulous. And that is without mentioning the fact that there has been CONSTANT action for the previous two days, as well.

Because the playoffs run faster this way, the GTR organizers have adapted by allowing 12 teams to pick alliance partners, and then giving the top four alliances a "bye", ensuring that teams that would likely earn a spot in the playoffs at a smaller regional still get to play. I seem to recall that more than once an underdog #10 or #11 alliance has made a serious run for the championship.

And needless to say, because all the matches are in one arena, that arena gets PACKED and LOUD when the teams come up to watch.

I haven't tried a "double regional" (well, no one has, have we?) but feel that it would miss out on the intensity of the action one gets at GTR when it goes dual-field. While I realize the choice for a double regional over a super regional may be influenced by a number of factors such as venue layout, I would be very dissapointed if the driving factor were to simply be so that there would be some justification for doubling the number of the awards.

So my vote is pretty clearly in favour of the super regional concept when possible but it isn't like a double regional would be a bad thing... just perhaps not quite as intense. There is a reason that the super regional is called "super".

Jason
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