I believe you've missed the point, you can't see the forest for the trees.
It doesn't matter if the build season is 6 weeks, 12 weeks, or half a year. The point of FIRST is not about the build season, or the robot, or the competition. Its about what happens during the build season, the learning that goes into the robot, and experiences people have at the competition.
I also believe that trying to make it more "fair" for teams won't lead to the outcomes that you're looking for.
It's the diversity of teams that make FIRST competitions so interesting to watch, and participate in. Every year, people wonder "What's Hammond, Wildstang, Simbotics, etc." up to?
In another thread, someone was advocating for more separation between powerhouse veteran teams and rookie teams, to make it more fair. None of the rookie teams wanted to be separated, because some of the best experiences they had were from competing against, and with veteran teams.
If I can find the post, I'll quote it here.
From 3 years ago...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy Baker
They brought up the subject of fairness between teams, the idea of "divisions" of teams, separating the high resource teams from the low resource teams. Ken Patton, Joe Johnson, Raul Olivera and I were sitting together (for you new to FIRST, these three guys are some of the best robot designers and most inspirational engineers there has been in this program). We realized that we were these "high resourced" teams (since then, btw, each of our teams have lost resources). Lead mentors from the newer, lower resourced teams were giving their opinions. Of course, there was one guy who was really liking the idea of putting the higher resourced teams into their own division.
After some discussion, one quiet mentor from a rookie team spoke up, saying, "At the end of this year, we asked the kids what their highlight was. Our kids overwhelmingly answered this: when we beat Wildstang in a qualification match. I don't want that opportunity to go away. The teams who are new to this, or with lower resources must have the opportunity to play 'with the big boys'. While this surprised me, I understood it when it came from their point of view."
Of course, I am paraphrasing here, but something much like that was definitely said. The discussion ended right there. The one guy who was pushing for divisions was now quiet.
David needs a chance to beat Goliath. You want a way to inspire kids? Hand them each a little rock. Pour your heart into this program. Work side by side with them. Work late. Work through your problems. Get frustrated together. Let them see you mess up. Design that shooter for the 4th, 5th or 6th time. Don't give up. Tell them to go out and beat Goliath. They'll do it. No... that's not right... you'll do it together.
The propagation of the idea of making FIRST into a perfectly fair competition is just silly. Teams need to win, and they need to lose. People need to realize that the difference between winning and losing is HARD WORK. Woodie says this anytime he speaks... this is the HARDEST FUN YOU'LL EVER HAVE. It's not easy. This is life.
Andy B.
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