[archiver]

Posted by michael bastoni, Coach on team #23, PNTA, from Plymouth North High School and Boston Edison Co.

Posted on 5/10/99 7:32 PM MST


In Reply to: Bottom Line? posted by Dodd Stacy on 5/7/99 8:54 AM MST:




Ahh playing the game of what if......

What if we could have enough regionals across America that we could:

1. Limit entrance to only 36 teams or less
2. Play 8 - 10 qualifying matches per event
3. Allow the top 12 teams to pick two alliance partners from the remaining 24

This would allow EVERY TEAM into the elimination matches...Everyone
gets in...everyone gets a shot....it's about the best team...it has to be, because everyone is in...
no one to cry foul or bad luck....

And what if in addition to the 36 team maximum we had:

1. 10 games per season...10 Weekend 'events' each season
(That represents alot less time and money than you currently spend each year on FIRST)

And how could we do that you say....Well I say come to Rumble or better
yet go to our web site at pnta.org and download the Rumble Recipe...

What if instead of building the Robot new every year...we built it every
48 months and teams spent their precious time and money putting on MANY LOCAL
competitions instead of say 20,000.00 to 50,000.00 going to Disney...

Instead we put up 5K to 8K for a local competition and paid for it
by charging teams who come 100-300 dollars....Think about this folks.

LETS PUT THE EFFORT INTO MAKING MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO PLAY THE GAME.
Does it not seem silly to spend 60+ days building a great machine just
to use it twice?

C'mon lets put these valuable resources to work doing what these kids, teachers, engineers
and parents really want to do.....let's put our time resources and
capital into PLAYING THE GAME......

10 games per season with high point winners advancing through
local state,regional and finally national competitions....All for less money than
most teams spend now.....because we extend the building cycle to
36-48months and PLAY WITH THE MACHINES through a defined season....

Am I insane to think this way ?....Ask the folks who are going to
'post season' events all across this country if I'm insane...ask the
folks who come to Rumble if they'd rather build em' or play with em'.

Do sports team practice because they like practice...or do they practice
cause they like to play the game better and better?

Who wrote it in stone that things had to be the way they are?

Would'nt you like to playing with your robot right now...Our kids sure
would....

Mr.B