Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark McLeod
If my count is in the neighborhood, 68 vets didn't re-register in 2007,...
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FYI
My earlier statement was in error. I see that 112 teams went missing in 2007 for an ~91% retention rate this past season.
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The Regional Directors do have a difficult time of making sure there's room for local teams that cannot afford to go anywhere else, especially teams in Israel, Brazil, Hawaii who are far from alternate Regionals. Directors do have a regional focus for developing, maintaining, and expanding FIRST programs. Even veteran teams are affected periodically by advisor/administration/sponsor turnover that delays their registration and restricts their attendance at away Regionals. For instance, even under normal circumstances some teams have a long wait for School Board approval before they can register.
I don't imagine there are a lot of teams turned away though, but that may be due more to limiting expectations via "Open Capacity" as a way of discouraging too great a flood of teams into any one Regional, or otherwise convincing teams to reapply elsewhere. The Directors I know always work to accommodate everyone possible, but of course venue space limits exist. On Long Island we've had a team or two from off-island jump in at the last minute and the Director's been able to make room, but if five teams tried that some would have to be turned away.
I could see how a team that registers elsewhere first, instead of at their local regional might end up lower on the wait list than a neighboring team that can only afford one local Regional.