Registration 2014

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Mr V

I'm sorry but you just don't know the effort required to transition to the district system. If you did you would know why there is resistance. One main factor is finding the volunteers required for all those events. Sure we have some great volunteers but we have to be very careful to prevent burn out if we try to have the existing base cover 6 or 7 weekends of events rather than 1 or 2. Certainly there are those among the base that are going to be happy to have the chance to volunteer at many more events but for others we run the risk of pushing them away if we ask too much of them.

Then there is the need to find the locations for all those district events. People from WA FIRST robotics visited around 100 sites to pick the locations for the 7 district events to be held in our state. You must consider many factors in determining if a venue is suitable and you have fit within the availability of the multiple facilities.

Finally there is just the logistics of the fields ect. WA FIRST Robotics has rented a large warehouse to be able to deal with the fields that we have had to purchase. A team of 6 of use spent most of Tue evening just painting the wood to construct the road cases to transport our fields. Even more people spent about 10 hours on building those cases yesterday and we don't even have a single case completely finished. We expect our team of 10 to put in another 10-12 hour day today and probably spend most of Sun before we get the basic cases built.

The amount of labor and capital to get a district system is enormous. I hope that when your area goes to the district system you put your hammer where your mouth is, step up to the plate and be one of the many people who will be needed to make it happen. For example there is a group from Oregon who have traveled about 6 hours to come and make the road case build project happen. They left Oregon at O'dark:30 to be at the field house by about noon yesterday and they will probably not be home until midnight Sun.

I am very well aware of the development of the competition in my area as I have friends, former mentors, and sponsors who all serve in some capacity with VirginiaFIRST and I believe this has been in development for for years. I know there have been impact studies that will require around 5 times as many volunteer slots to be filled, I have offered to help with anything they need, and I am trying to work out a schedule as best as someone can a year in advance while still in college, trying to transfer schools, and holding down a job, to manage a volunteering schedule and train for specific key volunteering roles that make the events "go".

In my area, most teams and powers-that-be are ready to make the jump, but the biggest hindrance in starting the system, at least in the meetings I've been to, are mentors who have difficulty understanding that despite all of the challenges that comes with the system, it is a long-term benefit to each team and as a result, the whole region. There are some odd growing pains that some will run into (there is one team in Maryland and another in Virginia that are closer to other regionals than any NCR district site). I am acutely aware of the difficulties in establishing the system and everyone but Michigan is having issues with it right now of various size and scope, but I personally am both able and willing to do the work to improve my commonwealth.