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Re: Is competing at multiple regionals REALLY fair ?
My reaction to this thread includes our perspective as a 2nd year team.
Our first year we did not get a NASA grant... we got busy and raised enough money for 2 regionals anyway.... We came to CD for help and we got it...
We ended up at our "local" Regional (in Portland) and at a distant regional (Las Vegas)
We received the Imagery award in Portland and we went to Las Vegas and BECAUSE we got picked by an Oregon team with experience (1425) and a powerhouse team (254) we won a regional. We also got Rookie All Star and got talked into going to Atlanta. We would NEVER have gone if we hadn't gone to a second regional. We scraped up that money too somehow... primarily on the backs of the parents and the PTA.
We got valuable experience in this which we parlayed into more fundraising this year.
If 254 and 1425 had not been in Las Vegas... or we had not been... we would probaby have not gone to Atlanta last year and this year would have been much more difficult.
We were INSPIRED by teams like 233 and 254 that attended Vegas... We came back with a desire to emulate them.... to become better....
This year again we had no NASA grant... but we started fundraising earlier...we were determined to be a better FIRST team... We worked offseason... we worked in season... We built a practice field for the region... We helped with a workshop and mentored FLL teams and had an FLL regional...
This year we were lucky enough to be 3rd seeded in our new Seattle Regional and to pick two terrific partners and to win it. We also got the EI award here and we won two more awards at Portland. On Galileo this year we were the 5th seed and played in the quarterfinals with some incredible teams.
I am not boasting here but we SAW what good teams were like in Las Vegas and in Portland... and in Atlanta....We came back energized... ready to take on a challenge.... We feel that we are well on our way to be a good FIRST team....
Without those big teams coming to small regionals ... rookies and local teams never get to see anything to aspire to.... Please keep them coming...
And that's all I have to say about that....
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