[Andrew Schreiber]

After attending the Rookie Regional, and Traverse City I feel that FiM is a step in the "correct" direction. That is just my opinion, some criteria I feel need to be evaluated.

Are some events considerably weaker than others? Yes some events are going to be weaker, this could be due to timing, first week events are generally less competitive than 6th week ones. But I am talking about geographical areas causing weaker winners. The winners from one event should be roughly equal to the winners from another event.

Does it benefit teams? Do we see more teams playing at higher levels? Higher levels is based on the skill of the team in question, obviously I don't expect every team to be playing at the level of 217 but I expect gradual improvement through the course of the season, that would be a true measure of this tests impact. A team that barely moves their first event needs to at LEAST score one ball in their second, that is a measurable improvement and I feel we should all strive to improve between events.

Long Term, one concern I have is that because we are organized by geographical districts (more or less) we will become very separate. For example let us say that the next year 85 comes out and wins Traverse City AGAIN, Im sure BOB is a great team (in fact after playing with and against them I KNOW they are) but I do not want to get into a situation where the State Championship becomes what is essentially the same teams over and over. With luck this structure will allow teams that are not perennial powerhouses to gain some ground.

A small concern of mine is that the depth of field will diminish, by the 4th alliances third pick teams should still be picking teams they WANT not just whoever is the least crappy machine left (Not saying they do or dont now, just saying it is something I never like to see) If this situation occurs frequently then there is a failing in the system.

I have some concerns about the structure, but I feel the goals are in the right direction. Best of luck and I cannot WAIT to compete instead of just watch.