[dtengineering]

Congratulations to the GTR team on ten years of excellence. It would be great to see the champion alliances from each field play off against each other... perhaps the schedule can be amended to permit it. However there is another way to do it...

When we set a double regional VEX tournament for the BC championships, we clearly marked an "A" division and a "B" division. Teams that had won awards, or been to the finals at a previous event that season were placed in the "A" division automatically. Other teams got to choose which division they wanted. It took a bit of guidance and cooperation but we ended up with pretty much a 50-50 split.

The teams in "A" got to experience the top-level competition that they would expect at the World Championships, while for many teams in "B" they got the experience of advancing through the playoffs, or captaining an alliance for the first time.

So I'd suggest that the double regionals should run an "A" division and a "B" division... in "A", both the winners AND runners-up qualify for the Championships. In "B", only the chairman's winner and rookie inspiration do.

The number of qualifying spots for the championships stays the same, but you likely end up with more deserving teams qualifying, and those that qualify will be better prepared as they have survived a gruelling test against the best in "A" division. There should be no complaints about 1114 and 2056 alliances, as if you're playing in "A" the whole point is that you're playing against/with the best. If you don't want to do that, then sign up for the "B" divsion.

No matter how it works out, it will be a great competition, but we had a very positive experience in VRC by differentiating teams by ability/aspiration and letting the "top dogs" go at it flat out while giving some of the newer and less well resourced teams a chance to experience the thrill of victory and gaining some Saturday afternoon experience for when they advance up the competitive ladder a notch or two. There would be some challenges in porting this model to FRC, of course, but it might be worth trying at some point.

Jason

"We've experienced victory, and we've experienced defeat. Both have been great learning opportunities for our team... but I know which one was more fun."