Michigan, be honest, how is the district model?

[Tom Line]

Pro's:
1. We pay less to play more. This has all sorts of benefits:

• Exposure to more robots and more teams
• More practice
• More time to work out the bugs on the robots during competition
• More friendships with awesome Michigan teams
• Rapid-fire turn around means the teams get very good at fixing their problems

2. For awards like Chairmans, we get far more practice (have to present multiple times)
3. Michigan sends teams to championship that have done well repeatedly. Not just 1 time.

Con's:
1. Generally speaking, the field of teams we see in Michigan is limited to Michigan. I miss going up against Wildstangs, Technokats, Beatty, and many others nearby.
2. The events are somewhat less glamorous.
3. The district events are very much 'jammed' time wise. A day is cut out of a district to save money, which means we're usually up scouting until 1 AM on Friday night. There's no reall time to go swimming, go out and get a nice meal, etc if you're planning on picking the next day. Likewise, we start earlier. It's exhausting compared to a regional. We're HAPPY to go to state championships and world championships because, frankly, it's WAY more laid back with a much longer turn-around time between matches.

All in all, the district model is superior in my mind. However, there are things I miss about the regionals events - the glamor and glitz, the laid-back atmosphere and time to have fun, etc.