Thread: The Society for More Qualifying Rounds
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Unread 23-06-2002, 22:05
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#0047 (ChiefDelphi)
  
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One more thing...
Posted by Chris, Coach on team #308, Walled Lake Monster, from Walled Lake Schools and TRW Automotive Electronics.

Posted on 3/15/99 4:23 PM MST


In Reply to: The Society for More Qualifying Rounds posted by Joe Johnson on 3/14/99 7:43 PM MST:



I'm sure this won't win me a lot of friends, especially considering the host of this site, but here it goes...

I think each team should be limited to one (and MAYBE two) regionals MAX. This is for a variety of reasons, two of which I'll share here:

1. The regionals are becoming way over crowded. If you want more qualifying matches (which I definitely do), the only way to get this is by reducing the number of teams. Another point: if teams that only get to go to one regional and that regional happens to be the Great Lakes Regional, that team is only guaranteed 10 matches between the regional and nationals. That is very little reward for all of the work that went into the project. It would be nice to play more matches.

2. Big Money = Big Winners? Is this what FIRST is all about? A team that can afford to go to multiple regionals is at a HUGE advantage. It essentially gives these teams more time with their robot (beyond the six weeks). First, the drivers get much more practice at the regional. Second, the team gets to debug the robot at the regional. Third, the team gets the robot for 72 hours after the regional for more practice and work. A team that goes to multiple regionals can do terribly at the first regional and by time nationals comes along, they could be one of the best teams. On the other hand, a team with less money may only go to one regional and miss out on all of the practice and debug time and will end up being an also-ran at the nationals.
In other words, one team may actually have better engineers, builders, drivers, etc. but it won't be seen because other teams get much more time.

If FIRST continues to allow teams to attend as many regionals as they wany, they at least should give everyone their robot for 72 starting on Saturday night following every regional. This would allow the small money teams a better shot at competing.


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