[EricH]

I'm with Alan. Remember, the regional dates have not been released yet, so it's quite possible that there won't be a conflict, or that you can get something moved.

If the school sponsors the team, you could always pull the "OK, we'll go somewhere else, then" card--and ask them to help pay the extra travel cost, deal with the extra day or so of absence per student, and other things that necessarily ensue due to students being absent on a trip to another state. I'm not sure they'd like that financially, and so would be more inclined to work with you to find an acceptable workaround. Also note to them that competition performance will be negatively affected due to the reasons you've stated. I'm sure they'd just love a school-supported team not doing well because they sent it out with a fraction of the resources that they could have sent...