Confirmed New Districts for 2015?

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Everyone keeps saying that Cali/Texas are too large to run districts, but I don't understand this claim.

The whole reason why districts work better is because (besides giving teams double the guaranteed playing time for the same cost) they make the competitions more local. (In the case of MI) Instead of having 4-5 regional locations to choose from in the state (era 2008), now we have 15 district! More events = less drive distance. For my team specifically, our drive distances were 15 minutes away and 1.25 hours away. Not bad at all.

Yes, the State Championship could possibly pose the travel problem. So just locate it in the center of the state?? Like Oregon/Washington did. Plus, nobody's forcing you to go to the State Championship if you specifically can't afford it. If your team budget allows for one event, well now you get two for the same price.

I guess I can understand the whole lack-of-volunteers problem; not every region is blessed with enough volunteer peeps to cover the need.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Zebra_Fact_Man

I guess I can understand the whole lack-of-volunteers problem; not every region is blessed with enough volunteer peeps to cover the need.

Of course, you can require teams to provide X volunteers.

[notmattlythgoe]

VA, DC, and MD will not be going to the district model next year. Hopefully 2016 though.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

VA, DC, and MD will not be going to the district model next year. Hopefully 2016 though.

There's a saying that every time you bring up switching systems in Virginia it gets pushed back a year.

[Oblarg]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

There's a saying that every time you bring up switching systems in Virginia it gets pushed back a year.

Honestly, the MD area isn't ready at all for the switch (well, outside of Baltimore, at least - I've got no idea how ready the teams over there are). We need a lot more networking between the teams here if we're going to handle the logistics of going to districts cleanly. I think even 2016 is a bit optimistic, tbh.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Oblarg

Honestly, the MD area isn't ready at all for the switch (well, outside of Baltimore, at least - I've got no idea how ready the teams over there are). We need a lot more networking between the teams here if we're going to handle the logistics of going to districts cleanly. I think even 2016 is a bit optimistic, tbh.

Don't worry; between all of the mentions in this thread I think we've pushed it back to 2019.

[scooty199]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

VA, DC, and MD will not be going to the district model next year. Hopefully 2016 though.

What was proposed for the VA, DC, and MD district lines?

I was talking with my former coach and thought VA is sort of a pain to draw district lines for.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by scooty199

What was proposed for the VA, DC, and MD district lines?

I was talking with my former coach and thought VA is sort of a pain to draw district lines for.

How do you figure? The DMV area has 5 very well defined population centers of teams and an operative 6th geographic center of Roanoke in the western part of the Commonwealth.

[Phyrxes]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

How do you figure? The DMV area has 5 very well defined population centers of teams and an operative 6th geographic center of Roanoke in the western part of the Commonwealth.

From what I've heard the issue isn't necessarily DMV but what is going to happen to NC if SC goes into a district with parts (or most?) GA (as I suspect will happen).

[VioletElizabeth]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Of course, you can require teams to provide X volunteers.

Can students be volunteers? Just as a general question--I remember doing field reset somewhere (it may have been offseason) as an unofficial job, because they were short on people.

[JYang]

Originally Posted by VioletElizabeth

Can students be volunteers? Just as a general question--I remember doing field reset somewhere (it may have been offseason) as an unofficial job, because they were short on people.

There are positions students can do, such as field reset, safety glasses handing out etc. However, positions like MC, GA, Judging, Ref, Inspectors, they cannot.

California regionals already suffer from not having enough volunteers. I am extremely worried about even more burn out if California goes districts.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by JYang

There are positions students can do, such as field reset, safety glasses handing out etc. However, positions like MC, GA, Judging, Ref, Inspectors, they cannot.

Under none of those positions can I find an age requirement.

http://www.usfirst.org/community/vol...es-%28emcee%29

http://www.usfirst.org/community/vol...game-announcer

http://www.usfirst.org/community/volunteers/judge

http://www.usfirst.org/community/volunteers/referee

http://www.usfirst.org/community/vol...obot-inspector

Now in practice most of these roles are filled by adults, but that's not always the case*.


*source, I'm a referee.

[JYang]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Under none of those positions can I find an age requirement.

http://www.usfirst.org/community/vol...es-%28emcee%29

http://www.usfirst.org/community/vol...game-announcer

http://www.usfirst.org/community/volunteers/judge

http://www.usfirst.org/community/volunteers/referee

http://www.usfirst.org/community/vol...obot-inspector

Now in practice most of these roles are filled by adults, but that's not always the case*.


*source, I'm a referee.

Oh huhhh.... there was a page/document a while ago that said MC's are not allowed to be students (graduate students included).... now I have no clue where that page went ><

My bad then!

Originally Posted by JYang

Oh huhhh.... there was a page/document a while ago that said MC's are not allowed to be students (graduate students included).... now I have no clue where that page went ><

My bad then!

You sure? I was offered a position as MC a state where I was considering going to college because I knew the people out there (exact place will not be named publicly since I've decided not to go there).

[Libby K]

Originally Posted by JYang

Oh huhhh.... there was a page/document a while ago that said MC's are not allowed to be students (graduate students included).... now I have no clue where that page went

I know at one point that was a rule, but it is no longer. In Mid-Atlantic, for example, both Katie and Kelsey Stevens (MC & GA respectively) are college students. Zach Orr in Michigan. James Spencer, out in Canada, is a graduate student. I'm sure you can find other examples all over the world, but those are just the few I have in my head right now.

No person under 13 years of age may volunteer (at all.) I believe if you're under 16 you're generally assigned with your parent in a role where both people can work together.

As a volunteer coordinator, I make sure to put minors and younger students in 'flexible' roles (field reset, safety glass, pit admin support, etc) since these are not event-critical and can be swapped in for other people.

For bigger roles (MC/GA/Ref/Inspector), it's greatly advised that these people be adults, and beyond that I go by maturity level. If you're 19 and can handle yourself in the role, then you've got it. If you're 45 and can't treat a student with respect - sorry, you're out. It's not about your status as a student, but about how you can handle the role.

In the words of Jess: VC'd!

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

With regards to volunteers, having teams commit volunteers helps with a lot of positions (field reset, queue, etc), but it's the judges and trained positions that usually present the shortages. Avoiding overworking the finite supply of qualified FTAs, scorekeepers (yes, that's already an existing position), field supervisors, etc. is diffult during the first couple years of a district system. You often see the same field crew at many MAR districts, even if their positions have been shuffled around a bit.

This is a big challenge in MAR (the only district I have experience with, so that's where I'm speaking from). The nice thing is, MAR has 8 (9?) offseasons now where people interested in new volunteer roles they may not have tried out before can get involved. I know at MidKnight Mayhem, we're training new FTAAs, Field Supervisors, Scorekeepers, and Refs. Can't speak for any other events, but our hope is to get people with experience in those roles so that by the time the season comes around they'll be another person to throw into those rotations.

Originally Posted by Steven Donow

I find that the "smaller atmosphere factor" while isn't necessarily harmful, is something that often gets overestimated when discussing districts;I personally don't mind it/don't see much of a difference, but I've heard just as much of the opposite.

My advice to new districts: Don't lose the energy, the flash or the 'show' of a big regional. The quote from Zondag's paper clearly rings true in MI, just from seeing their events on a webcast. In my head, I think it's really important to put effort forth to maintain that atmosphere, because if there's not an active move towards maintaining the excitement (and don't forget, the FIRST branding!), the district events just end up looking like off-seasons. And why would I pay $2500 + travel for an offseason?

Other advice: Make sure your events are evenly spread out. In MAR, the team I work with is set pretty closely to the population center of teams, and yet we have to drive an hour or more to any of our district events (2+ hours for DCMP). I can't speak for our neighboring teams, but this is a pretty stressful thing on our budget. In fact, since going to districts 1923 has spent about as much money on hotels/buses/other transport in one season than we did from 2006-2010. Part of that is from team growth (30 > 100+ students), and part of that is because we need a bus and a hotel for each of our events now rather than -maybe- once per year. It's tough on us.

Oops. I'd intended for this to be a quick post. Turned into a brain dump. Sorry all!