2014 Lessons Learned: The Negative

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Libby K

At that point, why not just go back to having a traditional practice day like we used to at regionals? We're already there for 7+ hours. It was shifted WAY too late, and my students were exhausted by the end of the night. Falling asleep in the pit exhausted. At another district event where I was volunteer coordinator, the volunteers weren't able to leave until almost 11, and then they were expected to be back at 7. It was great to have practice time, but at the cost of sleep for volunteers and teams? Maybe time to seek alternative solutions.

Each district (at least in MAR) was a bit different with this, some would run full 'practice matches' while others would just allow teams to connect to the field (which normally involved the robot sitting on a cart next to the field).

Personally, I think that practice matches load-in night are a good idea, but only if they're being done as an 'open' sort of thing, with additional (regularly scheduled) practice matches in the morning for those who were unable to practice on load in night, for a plethora of reasons. To lessen the load on volunteers, each team involved in the open practice could/should help reset the field, especially in games like Aerial Assist (and to a lesser extent rebound rumble) where two or three drive teams can handle the field reset in a minute or two...