Confirmed New Districts for 2015?

[Knufire]

Originally Posted by Brandon_L

Michigan's CMP is free for teams I hear, but it could be wrong.

Originally Posted by DampRobot

The story I heard is that the MSC people wanted to make it free, as it would be supported by sponsors, etc, but FIRST makes them charge the registration fee.

Originally Posted by Zebra_Fact_Man

Word on the street is that the MSC could have been free (and FiM wanted it to be free), but Headquarters in NH required the the additional event fee to participate at the State Championship. FiM also wanted outside teams to be able to participate in disctrict events, but again Headquarters said no.

There's some paper posted here on CD about how districts came into fruition and why they work the way they do, but I'm much too lazy to go looking for it.

Here's the whitepaper: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/2804

You might be getting confused with the grant provided by the state government this year that started this year. More information about that can be read in this document.

Originally Posted by MI FRC Grant

4. State, National, and World Competition Grants
The MDE will provide funding for reasonable expenses for qualifying teams to
participate in State, National, or World FIRST Robotics Competitions.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Originally Posted by bam-bam

I've heard rumblings that an Indiana-Illinois district system was confirmed, which was why so many Indiana teams flew out to distant regionals this year. I'm about 80% certain of this, but could someone with more knowledge confirm?

Originally Posted by orangemoore

I haven't heard anything about them but I'm ready for them.

As far as I know, this has been pushed back to 2016. I'd still wait for an announcement from IndianaFIRST to be sure though.

[Brandon Ha]

MC's can definitely be graduate students, just very active and energetic ones. Ask Zach from the Enginerds 2009-2013. He was a old student then graduated, went to a local engineering college and comes back every now and then and MC's at some events. He is one of the better ones along with his cohorts.

[cjrazdar15]

I was speaking to the FIRST Regional Director of Indiana at CMP who said he was in the middle of talks to make Indiana a district system for 2015. I do believe he said it was looking bleak for this upcoming season, but he would push for it in years to come nonetheless.

[Brandon_L]

Originally Posted by Knufire

...

Thanks for clearing that up

[Jessica Boucher]

The volunteer age requirement is 13 for regionals / district events, 16 for Championship. Regionals and DEs can choose to raise this age if they want.

VC'd!

[mklinker]

Originally Posted by cjrazdar15

I was speaking to the FIRST Regional Director of Indiana at CMP who said he was in the middle of talks to make Indiana a district system for 2015. I do believe he said it was looking bleak for this upcoming season, but he would push for it in years to come nonetheless.

This is disappointing news if true......

[Chris Fultz]

Originally Posted by mklinker

This is disappointing news if true......

Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

[Drivencrazy]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

Don't believe everything you read on the internet.

Do you know something us common folks do not???

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Drivencrazy

Do you know something us common folks do not???

Of course he does.

What Chris knows about IRI, he can tell us (or not) any time he wants.

What he knows about Indiana FIRST, may have to wait a little longer. Indiana has some of the best volunteers and planners in the FRC community. Whatever they are cooking up will be served when it is ready.

[Coach Norm]

Originally Posted by Zebra_Fact_Man

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.

Travel distance in Texas will always be an issue. Districts will provide more events that are probably closer when more events are added but we have teams from all over the state and many will always have to travel a great distance to get to at least one event.

I live in Central Texas (Austin) and it is a 3 hour drive to two of the current locations (Houston and Dallas and 5 hours (Lubbock) for another. Teams in far West Texas will have at least 5-6 hours to get to the closest location that could be a district tournament. I know that more locations will be holding tournaments but teams in the Lubbock, El Paso and the Valley areas will have large distances to travel for second events.

[itsjustmrb]

I know I am not the norm, I live in South West Texas, 150 miles from any other FRC team. We are 150 miles from San Antonio, 180 from Laredo, 230 from Austin, 350 from Houston, 350 from Lubbock and 430 from Dallas. The actual registration cost of the regional is not at large as the travel and hotel costs. I appreciate the grants we have receive, as they cover almost all of our registration fees. If Texas goes to the district model, maybe they will consider travel costs for those teams that travel longer distances, which require hotel, meals, etc. that local teams do not have.

Mr. B

[Lil' Lavery]

There was a couple year period in which students were not allowed as MCs. This rule has since been lifted.

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.

[Knufire]

Looks like IndianaFIRST teams just got this email:

To Indiana FIRST Teams -

For the past few years, IndianaFIRST has been working to move Indiana into a "District" model for competition and away from the existing Regional model. We have looked closely at partnering with another state or states to do this. We have had several meetings with teams and team leaders around the state and have found broad support for this change in structure.

We want to give you an update on where we are with this initiative.

During the FIRST CHP event in St. Louis, we met with FIRST to discuss the option of an "Indiana" District as a stand alone area. This was our second detailed discussion with FIRST about this possibility. There are several reasons for the drive to "go alone", including control of our events, control of the financial responsibilities and the knowledge that our team base and volunteer base is strong enough to support this model as "Indiana". As a state, we currently host 2 regionals, 3 off-season events, plus we have held the Indiana CHP event at two other locations.

We are continuing to work with FIRST and are working to a final decision in the next few months. We will continue to keep you informed of the progress and status.

In general, we are proposing to have 3-4 District events spread around the state, and a state CHP. These district events and the state CHP would all be "in-season" events and be the qualifiers to continue on to the FIRST CHP event. We would have a designated number of "slots" for the FIRST CHP based on the number of teams in the state, the total number of teams in FIRST, and the total number of teams at the FIRST CHP. (If we had been a district in 2014 we would have likely had 12 spots at the CHP). Unless something changes with FIRST overall, teams would still have the option to travel out of Indiana for additional Regional competitions.

If you have questions about this model or or progress, please talk with the team that is leading the effort with FIRST. This core team is Jason Zielke, Chelsea Bowen, Andy Baker and Chris Fultz.

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by itsjustmrb

I know I am not the norm, I live in South West Texas, 150 miles from any other FRC team. We are 150 miles from San Antonio, 180 from Laredo, 230 from Austin, 350 from Houston, 350 from Lubbock and 430 from Dallas. The actual registration cost of the regional is not at large as the travel and hotel costs. I appreciate the grants we have receive, as they cover almost all of our registration fees. If Texas goes to the district model, maybe they will consider travel costs for those teams that travel longer distances, which require hotel, meals, etc. that local teams do not have.

Mr. B

Through the OSPI grants (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) Washington FIRST Robotics was able to add travel stipends to the usual grant funds for those teams that would need to travel more than about an hour or so to one or both of the nearest district events. Hopefully your state can do something similar.

[XaulZan11]

Originally Posted by Knufire

Looks like IndianaFIRST teams just got this email:

That is better news (for us) than the rumored Indiana-Illinois district. Hopefully 71 will still attend Midwest, though.