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Unread 25-04-2010, 21:57
Lil' Lavery Lil' Lavery is offline
TSIMFD
AKA: Sean Lavery
FRC #1712 (DAWGMA)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
Rookie Year: 2003
Location: Philadelphia, PA
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Re: Chairman's Award -- is the bar too high now?

To anyone who thinks that Daisy has raised to bar to places well beyond where it has been before didn't pay attention to the teams who are already in the Hall of Fame. I, personally, have done outreach with two Hall of Fame teams (111 and 365) shortly after each won the Championship Chairman's award. I've competed at Philadelphia Regional, where three hall of fame teams attend annually (103, 365, and 341). My teams have submitted at events where 234 and 612 won, two teams that haven't yet been inducted to the Hall of Fame, but will be. The team I mentor was founded by someone who previously mentored a Hall of Fame team. I can tell you that the bar for this award has been tremendously high for some time.

Make no mistake about it, this isn't in any way to belittle Daisy or what they accomplished. But as anyone else who's familiar with Daisy and their history can attest to, they're far from the only incredible team in the mid-Atlantic regional or the Philadelphia regional. 341 has a long history of success, they won RCAs in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, and 2010. But you can see the holes in that legacy. The holes where teams 357 (2006), 1727 (2007), and 433 (2009) stepped up their game and managed to convert the incredible things they accomplished into an RCA in an event where 341 submitted. And from the opposite perspective, ask Daisy how they felt about having to submit in the same area as 365 for so many years before MOE won Chairman's.

And for all those who feel that age is a prerequisite to winning Chairman's, I suggest you re-read the paragraph before this one. 1727 won a RCA at the Chesapeake regional in only their second year. 341 submitted at that regional. I won't pretend that a long tradition of continued and increasing impact isn't helpful. I won't pretend that a RCA is the same as winning it in Atlanta/Indianapolis. But it shows that even the most storied and legendary teams are not guaranteed to receive the honors over a younger team if that younger team truly is a role-model.

The ultimate message is one that has been said far more eloquently and effectively already. But if you strive to win the Chairman's solely for the sake of winning Chairman's, you're missing the point.

Last edited by Lil' Lavery : 26-04-2010 at 09:17.
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