Quote:
Originally Posted by FoleyParent
I have been a part of FIRST since 2005 when my son was a freshman in high school and have always enjoyed reading Chief Delphi for as many years. But, I have never officially registered or posted. This is my first, so please go easy on me  . |
There are some really great ideas in this post. Welcome to the CD Community. If the rest of the posts are anything like this one, you'll be a valued member very quickly.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FoleyParent
Right now in FiM, when there are open slots available at a district event, teams can register for a third district for $500. Registration for these open slots occurs after regular registration (your first two choices) is closed. Last year we were able to play in 3 district events. This year we were not.
I propose that a team’s third event (for that same $500) can ONLY be for open slots in district level events outside your home state/region (which operate in the same or similar format as FiM). This would go in both directions, thus providing teams outside Michigan to compete within Michigan, as well as essentially reserving the extra slots for only outside teams. Only your 2 district events within your state/region would count toward your qualifying points for your state/regional championship event.
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I really like this idea and think that it can be implemented the quickest of any of the other ideas proposed here with the current FiM structure. It could be a first come / first served for "outside" teams. I would love for our team to come see how a district competition operates and how the model could be expanded to other regions. What better way than to let them compete. A few caveats I think that would need to be in place: 1) Since there would be so few spots available - the "outside" team would get no Championship qualification from these events. Since a Michigan team cannot qualify for Championships simply by winning a district, why should a team from another state? Also, to make sure none of the Michigan teams lose point earning oppotunities at that district, what if the "outside" team was not able to win any judged awards, at least during the learning phase of the "team swap"? It would stink not being able to win awards at a competition, but that's a price you pay to go to this extra event for so cheap.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FoleyParent
In response to State lines not working for all states, I do not think that ‘conferences’ (to steal a word from sports) has to be based along single or multiple state lines. It might be more cost effective for some of the teams in the upper peninsula of MI to play in a ‘conference’ out of Chicago or the North Central US. Or maybe, for teams in northern CA to be a part of a Northwest US/Southwest Canada 'conference'. There is no reason why the lines couldn’t change and/or the district format evolve as FIRST grows… continuous improvement . |
I love this idea. What if, every three years you had to declare your "region"? This would put the onus on the teams to figure out where it fits best for them to play. You would be limited to only select from say 3 regions surrounding your general geographic location, but the choice would still be yours. This can be implemented while there is a mix of districts and regionals, too. Why can't, after two years of trying it, a team from Michigan decide they don't want to do the FiM structure? Why can't a team from a state close to Michigan decide that, for the next three years, they are going to be a "Michigan" team?