[JackN]

When I initially heard about the District Events, I was really skeptical. The idea of holding events for cheaper costs seemed like a bad idea to me. But after attending five of the seven districts I think that I would say they were a great success. This season our team got to play 47 matches for $9500 where some teams paid $11000 for one regional and championship and will most like end with 20-25. Any system that allows me to play more matches for cheaper is something I can get behind. I do have a few event specific gripes, such as the seating at Kettering and the parking at the Traverse City, but on a whole every event was run smoothly and with few problems. I am very excited to see how the Cass Tech and Lansing events change and get better the next few years. I would like to see more matches at the State Championship, but that isn't necessary, the event itself is pretty great.

One unexpected side effect of the districts for me is how little of other regions I watched and studied this year. Give me a Michigan team and I can give you a pretty good summary of their abilities, but teams like 399, 254, 968, 148, 2056 and 121 I have not really seen.

Overall the FIRST in Michigan model is great and I would love to see it adopted in other regions. It makes the competitions closer to home and cheaper, both of which are good things. I am excited to see where they will add an event next year, but I am sure it will be great like all the others.