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Well, there seems to be a lot of very heated discussion here over this issue. I hope that FIRST will come around and realize that this decision breaks down one of the fundamental beliefs in "gracious professionalism", i.e. helping out other teams. How many veteran teams have helped out rookies or even other veteran teams when a defective design broke down during a competition. How often have I been told "it is more important to compete than to win". It is for this reason our adult advisors make ourselves available during competitions to help other teams. We have literally helped many teams over the years (and have been helped), and those teams were able redesign, or rebuild a broken robot and compete. The students of those teams getting the opportunity to see first hand "gracious professionalism" at it's greatest and getting the chance to compete. How many times have other teams even taken a time-out to allow us to make repairs or mount up a spare even though they were the opposition team/alliance.
To allow some work on redesign helps everyone achieve their best without harming the "level playing field" concept. The few days available in the past helped maximize the experience for the students. Considering that some teams will not compete at nationals, there should be some leeway in this ruling to insure maximum effort by each team and minimal interfernce/damage.
Let's remember that this program is designed to give students a positive experience and demonstrate cooperation even between competing corporations working towards a common goal.
Good Luck All,
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Good Luck All. Learn something new, everyday!
Al
WB9UVJ
www.wildstang.org
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Storming the Tower since 1996.
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