[brickmaster2]

While I am new to FIRST I have to say that the FiM structure worked pretty well as far as I could tell. Having 12 matches for each team was great from a crowd stand point because you got to see your team compete more often. Also, I like that it gives you a lot of opportunities to find weaknesses in your design and/or strategy that you can fix and see how well you can improve at the next district event. Also, since the event went by quickly, it really made it clear which teams were prepared and had sturdy designs. From the point of view of a rookie, FiM is a good system that improves the events and makes FIRST much more affordable.