[KathieK]

I was observing off and on throughout the day. One comment that is not aimed specifically at the RR event, but as a general observation - when there is no bleacher seating available, teams and spectators tend to gather around the playing field to watch. This is great if you can get up close, but if there is a spectator who is there checking out the program it would be very difficult for them to see what was going on. If you can't have tiered seating, at the very least rope off areas around the perimeter so that spectators have to keep back a little. It will give judges, referees and others who have a legitimate need to be close a chance to work. I've found in instances where the team is allowed to surround the field a lot of coaching is done by team members/mentors who are not the actual coach. Cheering and being enthusiastic to the drive team is different from actually telling them what to do. (I recall the FRC game (Stack Attack?) from a few years ago where teams received penalties if team members coached from the sidelines).