Frank Answers Fridays: Expanded Championship Qualification

[dag0620]

Originally Posted by Alex2614

Have you ever been on a team that has won Rookie All-Star? I have the (granted, we won the regional too, but by chance. Beside the point). We worked very very hard to make it to champs, and the biggest thing that kept us going was being on the same field as the powerhouses. Even though we got our butts kicked, the most inspiring thing about the whole year was being on the same field with the "big kids." And from there, the next year, we were inspired to build a machine that could beat those teams.

Putting all Rookie All-Star winners on their own field is kind of like saying "aw, that's cute, but you're not really worthy of playing with us real FRC teams." There was already enough of the "aw, you're a rookie team, you must need tons of help, and let's overcrowd you with advice and help that you don't need" our rookie year, but being put on our own field would have just been a slap in the face to us. It would have felt like FIRST didn't really want us there, but they had to. There's a reason that Rookie All-Star, Chairman's, and EI winners are invited to champs in the first place, and there's a reason they were never segregated.

Just my $0.02 coming from when I was a founding member of a rookie team.

I totally agree with this! Putting Rookie All-Star winners off by themselves is basically saying "Well you're invited to be at the Championship event, but you really didn't actually make the Championship". Keeping RAS, RCA, REI, etc. evenly mixed in with field competitive teams is important.

So many people out there want championship to be about the best robots on the field. I understand where they are coming from, but at the end of the day that will not further the ultimate goals of FIRST, which is to create culture shift. Having a championship event where we have the best teams on every front, will help impact the general public, and having Rookie teams at the event with the "big boys" will allow them to be inspired to one day reach those same heights.