Where will/should nationals be?

[Dave Flowerday]

Yes but it is about lots of young people that need something (semi-constructive) to do in the off-time of competition weekends. Just imagine if the amout of people who went to Nats. were just left with nothing to do in the off-time.

Back when I was a student on the Holland High/Haworth team, I distinctly remember the most fun, most exciting competition that I attended being the Midwest regional. It was my (and our program's) 3rd year and it was the first time we'd gone to a competition other than Nationals. There was just something really awesome about the crowd being really close to the field, and the bleachers being full and noisy. I think a lot of students who go to Disney are allowed to leave the competition and go into the parks during the day as long as they're back for their own robot's matches. If the distraction of the parks wasn't there, we'd have everyone watching the matches, cheering teams on. Maybe teams would get to know other teams better.

Why is it that we need something "fun" like Disney to supplement the competition? I always thought the competition itself was more than enough fun. Besides, how much time is there to fill at night after the competition? After you go back to the hotel and get some dinner, the evening's mostly gone by then. I know by that time I was usually so wiped out that I just wanted to watch a little TV and go to bed to be rested up for the next day!