Registration 2014

[mrmummert]

I'm with 1610, one of the teams that will be affected by the change to the district system in 2015.
From what i've heard over the past two years, First originally wanted to start the district system for
the Virginia, DC and Maryland area for 2014, but between resistance to it and the logistics involved delayed
it until 2015, but its coming. I'll miss the regionals (we could still go to NC or
Palmetto i guess if its possible. Team 11 which is in a district also went to Palmetto this year)

One thing going for the district that is coming is that we have a large group of people we can draw from
to handle it. Some of the VCU crew has worked at DC before and some of the Maryland crew has worked at DC and vice versa.
Next season (2014) we plan on attending the Chesapeake regional and will
get to know some of the teams and volunteers there which can be helpful in the future. Some of the Virginia teams have already gone to the DC and Chesapeake regionals before (and vice versa) so we are already heading in the direction of a district system.

I can see maybe two or three district events in virginia, (maybe Norfolk, Richmond and Northern Va.) maybe one in Maryland and one in DC (which MD teams most likely would attend. I'm guessing the district Championship would be at either Richmond or DC. The RD for both Virginia and DC is Patty Cook so she already covers a large area and shes listed already as one of the RD's for Maryland ( William Duncan being the other) Patty has a large staff here in Va. and between them and the Maryland folks i think the'll be able to pull off the change to the district system.

Some of the volunteers here in Virginia also do FTC. The change to the district system
will put a strain on the volunteers the first couple of years i think, but after things settle down it should end up being like anywhere else
that has gone to the district system. Of course some volunteers will have to decide on doing just FRC or just FTC, but there will be
some who will do both. You'll notice the venue changes for both the DC and Chesapeake regionals this year. I'm not sure, but i have a feeling this might be a early attempt to see what venues could be used for the district system.