Could we have been asking too much

[Kyle Fenton]

I was really thinking. I remember people complaining about how regioanls and nationals are so closely together that they wanted nationals later. But by pushing the date to a later time, we push the date of nationals to the April Vacation. And for Disney, that is an extremely busy time for them. And Disney knows that it needs the parking space for its guests, than to devote more to FIRST. Also for the team party, that Epcot would be too crowded with both FIRST and their regular customers. So I am guessing if the Nationals were back on April 4 or the first weekend of April, that there would be no restrictions on going in. So it is possible that by demanding too much we got something we didn't want.

[Matt Leese]

I'm going to say that the date had little to do with the new restrictions. Instead, these new restrictions were a long time coming. One reason I see for the date having nothing to do with it is that this year's nationals occur at about the same time nationals occured in 1999 and there was no limitation then. This has nothing to do with the date of nationals, instead simply the size.

Matt

[A. Leese]

Originally posted by Kyle Fenton
But by pushing the date to a later time, we push the date of nationals to the April Vacation. And for Disney, that is an extremely busy time for them.

You must remember..most Florida colleges have spring break the first or second week in April..but high schools have theirs mainly in March this year..and there will always be someone's April break who will be interrupted by nats..so that shouldn't play that big of a role..(and Disney isn't that crowded as much as you would think during spring break, anyway)

~Angela

[Kyle Fenton]

I'm going to say that the date had little to do with the new restrictions. Instead, these new restrictions were a long time coming. One reason I see for the date having nothing to do with it is that this year's nationals occur at about the same time nationals occured in 1999 and there was no limitation then. This has nothing to do with the date of nationals, instead simply the size.

The nationals in 99 was about this size. I still have a video from back then, and it said that it had 280 teams nation wide. Which is about the size of this comming years regional. That is 100 less than last year. With almost double the size of the first. So go figure.

I still think that the date has at least some factor in limiting the size for nationals. I mean during the April break, a lot of familes come for a week in Disney. Manily because of the warm weather, and it is not as crowded as it is during the summer. But in first weekend in April, it is as slow as can be, becuase that is usually the end of the Spring Break, and no sizable holidays of any kind. And that is where we can get at least 400 teams. Instead we downsized to about 288 teams. I was just thinking that if they can handle 400 teams last year, why can't they handle 400 teams this year. I mean I can see not expanding, but what plausible explanation can you find that they had to take a hundred or so slots away.

[David Kelly]

Originally posted by Kyle Fenton


The nationals in 99 was about this size. I still have a video from back then, and it said that it had 280 teams nation wide. Which is about the size of this comming years regional. That is 100 less than last year. With almost double the size of the first. So go figure.

I still think that the date has at least some factor in limiting the size for nationals. I mean during the April break, a lot of familes come for a week in Disney. Manily because of the warm weather, and it is not as crowded as it is during the summer. But in first weekend in April, it is as slow as can be, becuase that is usually the end of the Spring Break, and no sizable holidays of any kind. And that is where we can get at least 400 teams. Instead we downsized to about 288 teams. I was just thinking that if they can handle 400 teams last year, why can't they handle 400 teams this year. I mean I can see not expanding, but what plausible explanation can you find that they had to take a hundred or so slots away.

one of the other reasons they moved it back was because they had to add another week of regionals. FIRST can't move the season forward any more because of the holiday season, so they had no other choice than to move it back. FIRST didn't want to put the new regionals along with the older ones because we would have even less choices to go to. This was the only logical way that it could be done. I think in the long run, people will like and get used to this new format.


That's my $.03

[Clark Gilbert]

In 2000 and 2001 Nationals fell perfectly on my school's Spring Break........Personally, I thought it was the best thing ever.....since we only had to miss about 1-2 days of school.......Now since Nationals are in late April it should be interesting to see how the make-up situation is.......




(now i get 2 "spring breaks" but i dont think i'll like it)

[P.J. Baker]

I'm sitting home tonight lending moral support to my wife as she studies for an upcoming actuarial exam. So I thought that I'd chase down a few numbers since it has become obvious to me that many people are misinformed about the number of teams going to Florida this year and in years past:

In 1999, 206 teams attended nationals, which were held late in April.

In 2000, 268 teams attended national, a 30% increase over 1999.

In 2001, 335 teams attended nationals, a 25% increase over 2000.

In 2002, FIRST has announced intentions for 288 teams to attend nationals, a 15% decrease below 2001.

In terms of the number of teams, it is 47 fewer, not over a hundred fewer than 2001. 288 teams is also more than any previous event besides the 2001 nationals. The 2002 Championship is still going to be a huge affair.

I understand the disappointment about the new rules, but I urge people use avoid drastically inflated figures when making arguments for or against them.

P.J.

[Jessica Boucher]

Wow, actuarial exams.......I wish her the best.

[Shelley_delphi chick]

I don't understand why people are having such a horrible time with these new rules. That just makes it that much more interesting and I think challenging. Our team was sent the new rules by our engineers and we all said that this year we had to pull together as a team and win. Eventhough you may not wim there are other awards that you can recieve points from, don't overlook anything!! My team has began the brainstorming on what we are going to include in our Chairman's Award this year. Look upon the things that it is challenging us to doa nd think about, not that every team will not be able to go to the "championship event."



My Added $0.04