Frank Answers Fridays: Expanded Championship Qualification

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

From looking at last year's calendar I see 5 regionals on the Friday-Sunday schedule.

How have the Friday-Sunday regionals worked out so far? Opinions? I know I'd like this because it means less time I have to take off work each year.

Something teams should consider under the regional model is do you have to be there on Thursday? For teams who are traveling a distance to compete the answer is most likely yes. However if it is an event that your team will commute daily to or the drive is around 3-4 hours is completely doable to have a majority of your team in school for part of the day or work a full day before traveling to the event and being there for Friday/Sat of competition. I know this doesn't sound appealing however if your team is trying to do multiple regional plus Championships its something to consider at one of your events to reduce the number of days out of school/work. I know of many mentors/adults who do not come to regionals on the first day because it isn't worth the time out of work (for team leads its impossible).

As the seasons get longer its not easy to adapt and our team felt it this year. In 2013 we went to two regionals plus the Championship which took our team members out of school for two days (Week 1 events fall under winter vacation and the Championship has fallen during spring vacation for New Hampshire schools). Looking at 2014 we were concerned because in order to compete at the Championship it would require 8-9 days out of school! We competed during week 2 this year at a Thurs/Fri event because we wanted to avoid week 1 so that added two days. Our second district was a Fri/Sat and the district Championship was Thurs/Fri/Sat. Championships could either be 3-4 days out of school depending on our travel plans of which we it became 3.5 as we left halfway through the day on Tuesday.

It wasn't an easy season but we set aside time during long meetings for school/homework (about 5 hours a week) plus we decided not to meet on Wednesday or Sunday until weeks 5 & 6 giving everyone a break. This year we will most likely keep the same schedule but cut our meeting times nearly in half by meeting from 6-9 instead of from 2-8/9. Our plan from the start was that if students were struggling to keep up with their classes we would look into having some of the team forgo the first day at the district championship (which is half practice and half competition roughly 2-3 matches) and also examine their eligibility to travel to part or all of a two day district event. Overall the kids kept up with their homework/classes.

Its not easy but it can be done. Work harder not smarter and know where to draw the line.