[Collin Fultz]

Let me start by saying that I really like the District idea if it is implemented everywhere. Michigan was a perfect place for a pilot, but I believe after two years, FIRST knows if it’s going to work. In my opinion, Michigan cannot stay as this “one-off” state where people can go out to competitions but others cannot come in. I understand it will take some time, but the ball needs to start rolling one way or the other. The status quo is not fair to the teams in the states around Michigan. I know life isn’t fair and neither is FIRST, but I think we should try to make it as close as possible from a cost standpoint as we can. If another regional only charged teams $2500 and only let people in from their state, others would feel the same way.

FIRST has had incredible growth over the last decade and I see that continuing in this decade. Personally, I find it very exciting to be able to say that I was involved at a relatively early stage in FIRST's history. For those who have been involved for longer and have pushed this program to the point it is at now, you're my role models. I see FIRST moving in a few different directions during this next decade. Some of these changes are complementary and some of them are not.

1. The Championships will become a true “Championship” which you must qualify for to attend.

As FIRST grows, the increasing number of teams will make it impossible to continue to have “at-large” teams present at the Championships. FIRST will probably go to a qualification system similar to what FiM has started. The tricky part here is that you have teams with more “plays” than others and therefore more opportunities to earn points to qualify. However, this is no different than the current situation where teams can do three regionals in an attempt to qualify. It will be interesting to see which Michigan teams have qualified for The Championships and how many are the same as last year. Some may say this is a bad thing and a reason not to have a qualification requirement. But look around, it’s roughly the same group of teams attending Atlanta from other states each year anyway. There are nine teams attending from Indiana. Eight of these teams attend every year. The other is a rookie team (3176) who won RAS. I don’t know specifically about other states, but I’d guess this is pretty common.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t FLL require teams to qualify for States and Champs? If elementary school kids can handle not qualifying sometimes, I’d think high schoolers could, too. FiM has shown this to be a realistic option.

2. FIRST will transition (or at least begin to transition) to a district or modified district format everywhere.

I believe some type of district/qualifier/whatever-you-call-it structure will work in New England, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest (some group of IN, IL, OH, WI, and KY), Minnesota, Texas, and California. Will it be messy at first? Yes. The FiM structure won’t fit perfectly into the mold at each region. But, we are all pretty smart people, we can figure out how to make this work. The cost / benefit from the Michigan pilot has shown this to be a value add to the program as a whole. In my opinion, the Regional model is almost saturated in many locations. The sponsorship money isn’t available to start more Regionals as more teams start. The increasing costs also create a pretty large barrier to entry and are starting to stress an already stressed mentor base. There are a ton of teams in MN and there is no talk of slowing down their growth. Most of these teams can only attend one in-state regional a year due to financials. The District model where they got a minimum of two competitions with twelve matches each and had a higher likelihood of playing into the afternoon Saturday would be a huge step up for these teams. I think this would only lead to FASTER growth in the area.

Would it stink not to be able to travel and see other areas of the country? You bet. When I was a student, we went to Arizona twice, which was awesome. The Championships used to be at Disney, which was really cool, too. But, we outgrew Disney. Eventually, we’ll outgrow the Regional structure. Personally, I’d rather be leading the charge on this change than pulling up the rear.

Also, teams need some help with scheduling. St. Louis, Chicago, and Indiana regionals were all the same weekend this year. So, for teams to go to a second regional and not do back-to-back weekends, the second regional option was pretty scarce and usually around 8 hours away.

3. Forget the Bag & Tag, we’re moving to a point that you only ship a robot if you’re going somewhere you have to fly. You heard me, no more ship date.

Which seems more fair:
Team A goes to a Week 1 and a Week 5 Regional. At the Week 1, they see all kinds of things they can do to fix their robot to make it play the game better. They can take up to 65 pounds off this robot and take it home, improve it, and bring it back to the Week 5 ready to play. They have 3.5 weeks to make these improvements.
Team B goes to a Week 4 and a Week 5. They also see improvements they can make to their robot while watching a Week 1 webcast. But, like most teams, they don’t have a CAD model or a practice robot on which they can try these improvements. So, they do what they can, but then struggle in Week 4. They plan on taking 65 pounds home with them after Week 4, but they only have 3 days to make the improvements before the same Week 5 regional.

By going to a system where you don’t ship the robot, it can (not will, but can) lessen the stress of the build season, can (not will, but can) increase overall robot quality, and can save teams money because they won’t be pushed to build two robots so they can have one to use for practice.

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All of these changes are pretty radical and will cause a bit of a shift in how FIRST operates. In my opinion, these changes all help to bring the bottom up. The top teams will still do 2 districts, state championships, and World Championships. I think it gives teams a better shot at having that one magic year where it all comes together and they make a run to the World Championships.

I used to be hate the notion of a FIRST team in every high school. I didn’t think it was a realistic possibility. I can see it now as a realistic goal. It will take some time, but it is possible. But for that goal to have a shot, a change to the current competition structure has to happen.

Another great thread, Joe. Please, keep them coming.