2013 North Carolina Regional

[Greg Young]

I'm going to get this thread started earlier this year.

2013 North Carolina Regional:

May 14 - 16, 2013
Dorton Arena
Raleigh, North Carolina

There are currently 36 teams registered with six slots still open. I expect they will go quickly once second registration opens.

32 North Carolina teams
2 Virginia teams
1 Alabama team
1 Netherlands team

Only three rookies so far although one of them is coming all the way from Eindhoven, Netherlands. Welcome to FIRST all of you.

I am happy to see that our old friends the NASA Knights, Team 122, are coming to NC. We've seen you at a regional every year since we started in 2001 and look forward to seeing you again this year.

[Carl C]

There seems to be fewer teams registered this year. Is this the case?

Either way, I think the fact that this regional will be on week three (earlier than usual) might change the game up significantly.

Looking forward to seeing you all again there!

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by Carl C

There seems to be fewer teams registered this year.

Moving it from week 5 to week 3 wasn't helpful...

[Carl C]

Originally Posted by ebarker

Moving it from week 5 to week 3 wasn't helpful...

It looks like we North Carolina teams are a bit stuck in early regionals. Peachtree and Virginia are also on week three. Palmetto is moved from week four to week one. I'm actually really looking forward to this. For once, we'll get a chance to define the game a bit. How the game operates in the field is always different from how the game operates in the strategy meeting. So this year, it's going to be a surprise for us.

It's just a bit unfortunate that many teams we are used to seeing at NC will have to choose between other regionals the same week.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by Carl C

There seems to be fewer teams registered this year. Is this the case? !

No that's not the case.
Last year at this time North Carolina had only 20 teams registered.

So, it's 180% better

[Greg Young]

I predict that North Carolina will fill up to initial capacity on October 25. I talked to several South Carolina teams at SCRIW last weekend that want to register for North Carolina.

If they hold final capacity at 54 like last year that will leave 12 slots for late rookies and waitlist. So far only two rookies have registered in NC and I hope there will be more, but I don't expect 12 more.

I hope they cap it at 54 teams and use the same pit layout as last year. I really liked the pit layout. That said, I also hope they find a way to get at least a half field for the practice field. The two quarter fields of last year was not adequate. Maybe if they shrink the queue area to get extra room.

Having VA, Peachtree and NC on the same weekend is less than ideal. I heard a rumor that staying at week 5 would involve a multiyear commitment to Easter weekend so they moved to week 3. Maybe they can move one of the three next year.

We've gone to Peachtree the last four years and wanted to go back again. Obviously that's not possible. It looks like we'll try to get into Palmetto even though first week regionals can have lots of field problems.

[Jacob Paikoff]

Originally Posted by Greg Young

I predict that North Carolina will fill up to initial capacity on October 25. I talked to several South Carolina teams at SCRIW last weekend that want to register for North Carolina.

If they hold final capacity at 54 like last year that will leave 12 slots for late rookies and waitlist. So far only two rookies have registered in NC and I hope there will be more, but I don't expect 12 more.

Having VA, Peachtree and NC on the same weekend is less than ideal. I heard a rumor that staying at week 5 would involve a multiyear commitment to Easter weekend so they moved to week 3. Maybe they can move one of the three next year.

I can tell you for a fact that there is a hard cap at 54, just like last year. Rumor is that we're going to have around 6-7 rookie teams this year which leaves about a dozen spot left for veteran teams.

Since I doubt one of the regional will want to move your best bet might be a new regional in GA or NC/SC.

[PatrickBrew1086]

Blue Cheese, FIRST Team 1086, is excited that we were able to get of the wait list yesterday! We can't wait to see everyone at this amazing regional in mid-March! Good luck to all the teams this upcoming build season.

Patrick Brew
Co-Captain
FIRST Team 1086

[Greg Young]

Lots of changes since last time I posted here. Busy, you know.

Registration is up to 48 teams so there will probably be six more.

There are now 5 rookies with the addition of two more NC rookies. Welcome 4767 and 4795. There should be at least one more rookie if I understand the NASA Regional Challenge grants. There is a rookie from Logansport, IN that got a NC Regional Challenge grant that hasn't registered yet.

There are
37 NC teams
4 VA teams
2 AL teams
1 Netherlands team
1 NH team
1 SC team
1 TN team
1 WV team

It's great to see Blue Cheese (1086) returning for another year. I look forward to seeing you all again.

Epsilon Delta (116) is making their first trip to NC. I haven't seen them at a regional since VA in 2008.

Mechanical Mayhem (1519) is coming down to defend their title.

Six of this year's teams won a regional last year.

We'll see six of the other teams at Palmetto on week 1.

It's looking like a great regional. I can't wait.

[Greg Young]

Excellent! Another of the North Carolina veterans has registered. I'm glad to see 3796 is still with us. That leaves only two of last years NC teams unaccounted for.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Greg Young

I'm going to get this thread started earlier this year.

2013 North Carolina Regional:

May 14 - 16, 2013
Dorton Arena
Raleigh, North Carolina

There are currently 36 teams registered with six slots still open. I expect they will go quickly once second registration opens.

32 North Carolina teams
2 Virginia teams
1 Alabama team
1 Netherlands team

Only three rookies so far although one of them is coming all the way from Eindhoven, Netherlands. Welcome to FIRST all of you.

I am happy to see that our old friends the NASA Knights, Team 122, are coming to NC. We've seen you at a regional every year since we started in 2001 and look forward to seeing you again this year.

I think the Knights had to forgo playing at home in VA because of their deal with Langley. I will miss them and I will miss NC. If it wasn't a Week 3, I think my guys would be there. Dorton Arena is a great place for a competition especially when the weather is nice in the spring and the sun goes through the windows so perfectly. It's a booming regional and I wish you all the best!

[chmconkling]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

I think the Knights had to forgo playing at home in VA because of their deal with Langley. I will miss them and I will miss NC. If it wasn't a Week 3, I think my guys would be there. Dorton Arena is a great place for a competition especially when the weather is nice in the spring and the sun goes through the windows so perfectly. It's a booming regional and I wish you all the best!

On behalf of the Knights (Team 122),we are happy to be coming back to the great state of NC and bringing our wonderful new friends for the Netherlands with us!! Unfortunately we are missing our home regional back in VA, but we took a team vote and decided NC.

[Greg Young]

So much for a cap of 54 teams. There are now 56 teams registered for the NC regional. I'm going to assume that 56 is the final count. I may well be wrong.

There are 10 rookies, eight from North Carolina, one from the Netherlands and one from Indiana. Rookies make up 18% of the teams. Welcome to 4816, 4824, 4828 and 4829 who signed up since my last post.

The teams come from:
NC 43
VA 4
AL 2
SC 2
IN 1
Netherlands 1
NH 1
TN 1
WV 1

North Carolina has eight rookie teams this year for 19% growth over last year. We appear to have lost one veteran team from last year.

Six teams won a regional last year. 1519 and 2642 are back to defend their regional title. 4083 made it to the finals last year and is probably looking to improve on that performance.

Eight of the teams will have seen each other at Palmetto in week one.

Team 587 is hosting a set of workshops organized by NC FIRST this Saturday at Orange High in Hillsborough. I hope to see some of you there.

The fourth North Carolina Regional is looking good.

[Ed Sparks]

This will be the first time we've played in the NC sandbox ......... looking forward to it!

[ming08108]

Yeah! I am part of team 4795.

Also NASA funded most of the rookie teams this year I think. (They funded us.)