Texas Registration 2014

[JohnSchneider]

I think that funding is probably the biggest issue in Texas, with so many teams being started on JCPenny, NASA, and TWC grant money and then having no plan for survival after.

The other thing to look at in Texas is alternatives. Texas has some HUGE BEST hubs. Texas Instruments is in Texas after all. And I think a lot of these teams were ones that decided to make the jump to FIRST, and realized it was SIGNIFIGANTLY more work and involvement than BEST. I think a lot of programs just say "Well BEST is free and we were doing well there so lets just keep doing that".

[Whippet]

Originally Posted by jessjank.

They are targeting teams whose members:

• are in 9th through 12th grade ONLY

*snip*

Well, this is pretty disappointing. From grades 6 to 8, I was on an FRC team dependent on the TWC grants for entry fees. Without that team, I would not have the same opportunities that I have today. It saddens me to know that joint middle and high schools will have to exclude half of their students simply because of a prerequisite for their funding.

[waialua359]

We are glad we barely got in for Dallas today at 12:00-12:01 EST today.
We knew we had to given that we may never be able to do it ever again.....*district*

[safiq10]

Originally Posted by animenerdjohn

I think that funding is probably the biggest issue in Texas, with so many teams being started on JCPenny, NASA, and TWC grant money and then having no plan for survival after.

The other thing to look at in Texas is alternatives. Texas has some HUGE BEST hubs. Texas Instruments is in Texas after all. And I think a lot of these teams were ones that decided to make the jump to FIRST, and realized it was SIGNIFIGANTLY more work and involvement than BEST. I think a lot of programs just say "Well BEST is free and we were doing well there so lets just keep doing that".

Coming from a school that does both BEST and FRC. FRC is a huge hassle compared to BEST. But FRC provides a better work and learning experience than best in my opinion. Also If I'm not wrong the Houston BEST hub recently went under and closed. Also I can't speak for other school but the devastators is apart of the HARMONY school system. Which had FRC teams in every school then all of a sudden tons of them quit about 3 years ago, and the only HARMONY FRC teams are us and 2948 in Dallas. Our plan is to go back up to our main office and try to convince them to open the team back up again.

[lynca]

Originally Posted by waialua359

We are glad we barely got in for Dallas today at 12:00-12:01 EST today.

Glad to have 359 come back to Texas and bring many of your Hawaii friends !

Dallas is more stacked than any time in History, It will be interesting to see if 148 can continue their Dallas regional winning streak this year !

Hub City needs the most help right now at 18 teams , any veterans interested in going out to Lubbock , Texas ?

[itsjustmrb]

I am not sure if you would consider us a veteran team, but we will be attending Lubbock if there are slots available upon time of registration.

[Whippet]

Originally Posted by lynca

Glad to have 359 come back to Texas and bring many of your Hawaii friends !

Dallas is more stacked than any time in History, It will be interesting to see if 148 can continue their Dallas regional winning streak this year !

Hub City needs the most help right now at 18 teams , any veterans interested in going out to Lubbock , Texas ?

4301 will be going to Lubbock again. I'll try to convince 3043 to attend as well, but it's not likely that they will leave Dallas after it being their exclusive regional for five years.

[rsegrest]

Originally Posted by jessjank.

...all teams who have not yet registered.

This was the problem with 2582. I was waiting on an alternate contact issue to be cleared up in TIMs and it was fixed today. We have finally registered for Lone Star so you can add one more Texas rookie from 2008 still alive and kicking.

[Alpha Beta]

Originally Posted by lynca

Hub City needs the most help right now at 18 teams , any veterans interested in going out to Lubbock , Texas ?

Really enjoyed Hub City last year, and can recommend it to any other team thinking about a week 1 week 2 venue. With the addition of week 0 events it seems like most of the bugs were worked out before the actual season started. Back in the day we used to anticipate a major rule change after week 1. Even though last minute changes (like no human player throwing of white discs) are never pleasant, at least we all played under the same rules this year, including week 1 events. Hub City ran very smoothly. Should be even better as a week 2 event this year.

Teams who are signing up for a 2nd or 3rd event right now are probably doing so with the ability to travel. That makes having a webcast for family and friends back home an added bonus. Last year we had to rig up a cellular network at the last minute to get a broadcast out. Any word on a webcast for this year? The rest of FRC would love to tune in to a week 1 event to see how the game will be played.

[Whippet]

Originally Posted by Alpha Beta

Any word on a webcast for this year? The rest of FRC would love to tune in to a week 1 event to see how the game will be played.

Seconded. I really enjoyed Hub City last year, and I would love for my family to be able to watch from home.

[jessjank.]

Originally Posted by Alpha Beta

Really enjoyed Hub City last year, and can recommend it to any other team thinking about a week 1 venue. With the addition of week 0 events it seems like most of the bugs were worked out before the actual season started. Back in the day we used to anticipate a major rule change after week 1. Even though last minute changes (like no human player throwing of white discs) are never pleasant, at least we all played under the same rules this year, including week 1 events. Hub City ran very smoothly.

Teams who are signing up for a 2nd or 3rd event right now are probably doing so with the ability to travel. That makes having a webcast for family and friends back home an added bonus. Last year we had to rig up a cellular network at the last minute to get a broadcast out. Any word on a webcast for this year? The rest of FRC would love to tune in to a week 1 event to see how the game will be played.

Hub City is actually Week 2 this season. Alamo is back to Week 1 this year after it moved to Week 5 last season. We'll definitely have a webcast for Alamo.

[Michael Blake]

Originally Posted by lynca

I wanted to get all the bright minds together to discuss the Texas Registration Problem.

Current Texas registration is around 90 teams, which is a significant drop from 139 in 2013.

Here's a chart of the Texas Registration Growth since 2003
http://2013.discobots.org/node/84

Any ideas on how to revive these teams ?

Andrew... you're right to be alarmed by the numbers!

I'm in the middle of my 5th FTC season and about to embark on my 4th FRC season... and I think I've become seasoned enough to know what's going on in Texas and can formulate relevant solutions that would help build towards getting to what Michigan has.

However, trying to do this on CD _never works_ because in my experiences as soon as you touch-on the sacred-cows and the sacred-people, the flaming begins, and the "smarter-than-everyone-else-in-their-own-minds" folks show up, and then the whole thing devolves into irrelevant back-and-forths.

EVERYONE involved in FIRST, in my experience, are good people with good intentions. But, if we're not going to talk in specifics and only in generalities because if we get specific it then forces people to be accountable for their actions and/or their lack of actions, then it's ultimately a futile exercise because it always devolves into the above description.

--Michael Blake

[Michael Blake]

Let me take an IMHO stab here... and risk getting flamed... lol

1. Texas RD's should work directly with school district superintendents that already have 1 or more FRC teams and urge the supers to convert them ALL to school district-wide teams that take ALL passionate robotics students in their district, and can spawn into new teams as their rosters grow.

2. Texas RD's should contact and work with school district superintendents that DO NOT HAVE at least 1 FRC team in their district available to ALL students in their district. Those RD's should offer to do themselves and/or supply with others the necessary manpower for the first 2 seasons to get the FRC team formed and established.

3. The Texas RD's should provide a base-line financial commitment of a minimum of $10,000.00/year to ALL school district sanctioned teams during their first 4 years. This money could come from donations/corporate/government and filtered directly to the teams through the FIRST district's coffers _ONLY_ if these teams take the extra step and establish their own checking account. < $12,000.00/year would probably be better >

***You can't give $$ directly to a school/school district entity's checking account because it mostly becomes a black-hole of access to those funds for team use due to bureaucracy and the _dreaded_ team-killing Purchase Order process***


The Texas RD's should prioritize available funds to help these "golden-spike" school district sanctioned teams _first_... before moving to support financially the rookie teams that percolate up around Texas because of some EASY initial money available.

--Michael Blake

[Meredith Novak]

Is there any information about how many of the missing Texas FRC teams just went back to doing BEST exclusively after the easy FRC money dried up?

I am seeing that here in Arkansas.

[geomapguy]

Originally Posted by Michael Blake

Let me take an IMHO stab here... and risk getting flamed... lol

1. Texas RD's should work directly with school district superintendents that already have 1 or more FRC teams and urge the supers to convert them ALL to school district-wide teams that take ALL passionate students in their district, and can spawn into new teams as their rosters grow.

2. Texas RD's should contact and work with school district superintendents that DO NOT HAVE at least 1 FRC team in their district available to ALL students in that district. Those RD's should offer to do themselves and/or supply with others the necessary manpower for the first 2 seasons to get the FRC team formed and established.

3. The Texas RD's should provide a base-line financial commitment of a minimum of $10,000.00/year to ALL school district sanctioned teams during their first 4 years. This money could come from donations/corporate/government and filtered directly to the teams through the FIRST district's coffers _ONLY_ if these teams take the extra step and establish their own checking account. < $12,000.00/year would probably be better >

***You can't give $$ directly to a school/school district entity's checking account because it mostly becomes a black-hole of access to those funds for team use due to bureaucracy and the _dreaded_ team-killing Purchase Order process***


The Texas RD's should prioritize available funds to help these "golden-spike" school district sanctioned teams _first_... before moving to support financially the rookie teams that percolate up around Texas because of some EASY initial money available.


--Michael Blake

This could definitely work. Given there are around 1,300 school districts in Texas. But possibly increasing the number of teams in Houston, DFW, San Antonio, and Austin could work due to the large potential for corporate sponsorship. (Something our team has a problem with in Central Louisiana)