How does the Districts system work?

[Lil' Lavery]

The Virginia regional also has to line up with the VCU spring break, which likely puts it too early in the season to hold a Capital Region Championship. VCU could still hold a district event, though. While most FiM/MAR districts are in high schools, a few have been hosted by universities (Kettering, GVSU, TCNJ, Rutgers).

[DELurker]

Originally Posted by gabrielau23

About how much time is there between matches? Like, if something on the robot breaks, is there much time to fix it?

Well, if you're team 75 at the Mount Olive District Event, you are participating in matches 59 and 61. However, typically, you have 10-20 minutes in the pits before queueing back up.

At 36 teams per District Event, you are participating in one match out of every six. That's 5 matches between. Since they queue two matches ahead, you have about 2-3 matches to get things adjusted/modified/fixed. It's tight, but it can be done.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

The Virginia regional also has to line up with the VCU spring break, which likely puts it too early in the season to hold a Capital Region Championship. VCU could still hold a district event, though. While most FiM/MAR districts are in high schools, a few have been hosted by universities (Kettering, GVSU, TCNJ, Rutgers).

Lining up the VCU academic calendar and the dates of prior Virginia Regionals, it was not held during the VCU Spring Break in 2011 or 2013.

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by PVCpirate

Usually I hear that called a dual or double regional, like the ones in Minnesota and Seattle in previous years.

Or perhaps a Double DECCer?

[gabrielau23]

I've only been on 2537 for two years, and I'm always stunned by the sheer amount of people at the regionals. (Something I always like to do--listen to 2000+ people clap during the Cha Cha Slide--it's AMAZING). I went to a smaller regional over spring break, actually, and I had to get used to the smaller field. The teams were closer and they got more matches in, but the "Big Event" feeling wasn't quite there. Regardless, it was an awesome regional. I'm only not saying which regional I went to so that I'm not telling everybody online where I went over spring break .

[gabrielau23]

Originally Posted by DELurker

Well, if you're team 75 at the Mount Olive District Event, you are participating in matches 59 and 61. However, typically, you have 10-20 minutes in the pits before queueing back up.

At 36 teams per District Event, you are participating in one match out of every six. That's 5 matches between. Since they queue two matches ahead, you have about 2-3 matches to get things adjusted/modified/fixed. It's tight, but it can be done.

o.O
At regionals, we usually have nearly an hour in between matches. It's kinda fun, though...you get to know people in your own pit REALLY well, and you have more time to see the robots around the event. I could see myself getting VERY tired at district events. That being said, it's always fun to get more matches in, which would be cool.

[Maldridge422]

Originally Posted by ehfeinberg

If there is a Capital Region Championship, I would think that it would be located in or near DC. I understand the point about how VCU has long ties with FIRST, but the problem is that the biggest density of teams which would be located in the Capital Region are in the DC - Baltimore corridor.

After looking at the 2013 Team map (358's team map for reference), I have counted about 35 teams spread out between Richmond and Norfolk. However, there are about 65 teams centered in the DC - Baltimore corridor.

If the championship was held in either location, I would see a good number of teams from Virginia or Maryland heading to either the North Carolina or Pittsburgh regional. Maybe the location of the championship should switch every year.

Although the DC tournament is immediately closer for many teams, Virginia is a very big state and I think we should be concerned about growth in the region, not just the metropolitan centers. Using the map you referenced, the most remote team in Maryland is 4 hours away from VCU. The most remote team in Virginia, however, is 6 hours away from the DC Regional.

I think holding the championship in DC would damage both the growth and sustainability of FRC in western Virginia, which is certainly a large enough area to be concerned about.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Maldridge422

Although the DC tournament is immediately closer for many teams, Virginia is a very big state and I think we should be concerned about growth in the region, not just the metropolitan centers. Using the map you referenced, the most remote team in Maryland is 4 hours away from VCU. The most remote team in Virginia, however, is 6 hours away from the DC Regional.

I think holding the championship in DC would damage both the growth and sustainability of FRC in western Virginia, which is certainly a large enough area to be concerned about.

In addition, costs for teams travelling to Richmond are far, far, far lower than costs for teams travelling to Washington DC.

[ehfeinberg]

Originally Posted by Maldridge422

I think holding the championship in DC would damage both the growth and sustainability of FRC in western Virginia, which is certainly a large enough area to be concerned about.

I would disagree with this because for most of western Virginia, (or at least the part I consider western) the North Carolina Regional is closer than the Virginia regional is.

However, I will agree that housing the championship in DC would be more expensive for teams traveling and staying overnight.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by ehfeinberg

I would disagree with this because for most of western Virginia, (or at least the part I consider western) the North Carolina Regional is closer than the Virginia regional is.

Why does that matter? Grundy High School (team furthest to the west) has been travelling the extra hour to the Virginia Regional for all 14 years of its existence, and they likely would not want or be given an opt-out.

[ehfeinberg]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Why does that matter? Grundy High School (team furthest to the west) has been travelling the extra hour to the Virginia Regional for all 14 years of its existence, and they likely would not want or be given an opt-out.

Because in a district system, they would be forced to attend 2 districts + the potential of championships. I highly doubt there will be a district event in the western half of Virginia, so this team will have to go to 2-4 away events (no matter where championships is). Given that 388 usually travels to only 1 regional a year, I doubt they would enjoy being forced to go to a 2nd away event and would rather enter in the North Carolina regional.

If championships were in DC, 65/110 teams would not have to stay overnight, while if championships were in Richmond, 30-35/110 teams would not have to stay overnight. That's a huge difference...

[who716]

as a very small team, with money very hard to come by I'm looking forward to districts hopefully within my time on the team. I will miss the traveling opportunities however.

[EricH]

I think we can all agree that for the cases where a team is included in a district model and has to travel a ways for both district events--and other events are closer--the district system could be vastly improved.

However, I'm quite hopeful that as district models spread, more and more district areas will become open to cross-pollination and having teams from different district areas coming in to compete. Unfortunately, that's probably quite a ways off.

[Patrick Flynn]

I'm wondering if it would be possible to set up a travel cost sharing system for those teams that are on the edge of districts and would have two travel events. Teams that were close to the center of the district would pay some fee due to the fact that they were near the center and this would be used to help the travel teams afford to attend a second event. Or maybe just have the travel team pay a lower entry fee.
I would think this would help teams to promote team growth on the outskirts of their region and in turn grow enough teams so they could hold their own event and no longer need this travel stipend. Is this something that's ever been considered?

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

As a Virginian involved with VirginiaFIRST, I personally would like to see all 3 stay separate but transition the current competition of the tri-region over to the district system, which would likely result in 8 district events and a championship at VCU. For those who don't know, VCU's Siegel Center is the closest you can get to "grandaddy of them all" for FIRST venues, behind only Eastern Michigan University for oldest active regional locations, once again, if my memory doesn't escape me. In addition, it's not out of the question to see the commonwealth of Virginia grow to a number of teams in the next 5 years where VirginiaFIRST would prefer to structure its own district system structure separate from DC and Maryland, much like Michigan.

What about cutting Virginia in half? I'm not incredibly familiar with VirginiaFIRST. I'm thinking along the lines of what they did with MAR. It's New Jersey, Delaware, and the eastern half of PA (I'm not sure of exactly where the cutoff is), so there is still the Pittsburgh regional for teams in the western half of the state.

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Why does that matter? Grundy High School (team furthest to the west) has been travelling the extra hour to the Virginia Regional for all 14 years of its existence, and they likely would not want or be given an opt-out.

It matters because teams with fewer resources stay closer in the hopes that they don't have to worry about getting a hotel or finding parents willing to drive kids to far regionals. Before MAR, a lot of South Jersey teams opted to attend the Philly regional over the NJ regional because it was closest, even though NJ would've technically been their "home regional."

Originally Posted by Patrick Flynn

I'm wondering if it would be possible to set up a travel cost sharing system for those teams that are on the edge of districts and would have two travel events. Teams that were close to the center of the district would pay some fee due to the fact that they were near the center and this would be used to help the travel teams afford to attend a second event. Or maybe just have the travel team pay a lower entry fee.
I would think this would help teams to promote team growth on the outskirts of their region and in turn grow enough teams so they could hold their own event and no longer need this travel stipend. Is this something that's ever been considered?

Not that I know of, but it's not rare to see teams sharing buses to cut down on costs. I'd imagine teams could do something similar to this for district events.