[FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!

[orangemoore]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Are you calling me mad?

I think he was referring to registration madness.

[Kevin Pardus]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Are you calling me mad?

No

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

Nope, I think he was calling you Awesome.

The work you do Mark is fantastic and is a great benefit to the FIRST & CD community. In quick snapshots, you capture the pulse of the action taking place during registration from start to finish.

Originally Posted by orangemoore

I think he was referring to registration madness.

Basically for 48 hours after Noon ET on Sep 25th and again for several hours after Noon on Oct 23rd; the number of teams all vying to secure their desired event is amazing. But at the same time it is a form of madness when compared to the pace registration takes place at during the remaining hours and days of the registration period.

[Mark McLeod]

Too bad, I was practicing my insane laugh...more of a cackle really.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Too bad, I was practicing my insane laugh...more of a cackle really.

Your CD monogrammed straight jacket is in the mail.

[jwfoss]

Originally Posted by Steven Donow

MAR schedule was announced on their website:

Week 1: Feb. 27-March 1 – Hatboro-Horsham, Horsham, PA
Week 2: March 6-8 – Mount Olive, Flanders, NJ
Week 3: March 12-14 – Springside-Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, PA
Week 4: March 20-22 – Seneca-Lenape, Tabernacle, NJ
Week 5: March 27-29 – Bridgewater-Raritan, Bridgewater, NJ
Week 5: March 27-29 – Upper Darby, Upper Darby, PA
Week 6: April 2-4 – North Brunswick, North Brunswick, NJ
Week 7: April 8-11 – MAR Championship, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA

It's nce to see a Pennsylvania event later in the season.


Also fun fact: This is the fourth different name the district at Seneca High School has gone by.

It's nice to see MAR has locked down their schedule, I can only hope the NE is close behind.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by jwfoss

It's nice to see MAR has locked down their schedule, I can only hope the NE is close behind.

It's also nice that it looks like MAR took in a lot of... critical feedback from its member teams last year to make improvements for the upcoming season. It's a shame the Sun National Bank Center (or whatever it's called) apparently costs a king's ransom because that would be a great venue for the RCMP.

[treffk]

Originally Posted by Kevin Pardus

Less than five weeks remain until Registration begins for the 2015 season. By this time on the 25th of Sept, Mark McLeod will have posted numerous times giving us all a breakdown of how the first day has gone; which events are full and how many teams have registered. Just can't wait for the madness to begin one more time!

Spots may not go as quickly as years past thinking realistically with the new system. FIRST has been highly publicizing that the Coach and Alternate Contact have to both have passed the YPP screening before being able to register. I'm curious to see initial 1st event registrations right when it opens compared to previous years since I know there will be teams that just happened to overlook that change.

[scca229]

Originally Posted by Link07

On top of these two, we got a few more:

Pheonix East Arizona - Week 4

So the long-running Arizona Regional at Hamilton High in Chandler, now called Phoenix East it looks like, is still week 4, but nothing about the date for what I now presume will be called Phoenix West at Grand Canyon University. It is going to be interesting to see where that is slotted in with regards to other Regionals in the general area that many Arizona teams go to:

Inland Empire [normally week 1]
San Diego [normally week 2]
Long Beach [confirmed week 3, was week 4 this year]
Las Vegas [normally week 6])

I would hope the Phoenix West Regional is not week 3 or 5 since East is 4 and the volunteer pool is very likely to be similar.

[Kevin Pardus]

Originally Posted by treffk

Spots may not go as quickly as years past thinking realistically with the new system. FIRST has been highly publicizing that the Coach and Alternate Contact have to both have passed the YPP screening before being able to register. I'm curious to see initial 1st event registrations right when it opens compared to previous years since I know there will be teams that just happened to overlook that change.

There may be a slight reduction in the number of teams being able to register on 25 Sep due to hiccups caused by a team’s leadership not being validated within the Youth Protection Program (YPP). But the number of teams registering who realize that there are fewer slots (initial Open Capacity) for Regional events this upcoming season will significantly off-set any YPP-related reduction.

The initial Open Capacity numbers for Regional events this season seem to show a very distinct pattern, they are 5 teams less than those of the past several years for the same events. In previous seasons, the difference between the initial Open Capacity number and the number of teams finally allowed to attend an event was approximately 10 teams. This allowed the Regional event committees flexibility to add Rookie and local teams prior to Veteran wait-listed teams who were not quick at registering early. This upcoming season, the initial Open Capacity numbers for Regional events compared to the numbers for the same events in previous seasons, seem to be approximately 15 teams less than the historical attendance levels for those same events. So, basically there will be 5 teams less being able to lock-in their first event registration (25 Sep-23 Oct) per Regional event this season or 5 more teams on the wait-list for each event then in past seasons.

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

It's also nice that it looks like MAR took in a lot of... critical feedback from its member teams last year to make improvements for the upcoming season.

Agreed. Very glad to see that the MAR Board is listening to its constituents.

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

It's a shame the Sun National Bank Center (or whatever it's called) apparently costs a king's ransom because that would be a great venue for the RCMP.

Unfortunately, that's true. It was a great venue for the old New Jersey Regional, but it is extremely expensive. However, MAR is actively searching out alternative venues for the 2016 DCMP.

[Koko Ed]

Arkansas Rock City Regional- week 3

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

Arkansas Rock City Regional- week 3

Ed you scared me. Arkansas is Week 2, Mar 4th-7th.

[Koko Ed]

All the MAR and PNW district events are now listed!

[Link07]

So PNW Champ is now Week 6, which is also coincidentally Easter weekend.

[Kpchem]

Originally Posted by Link07

So PNW Champ is now Week 6, which is also coincidentally Easter weekend.

And it's also no longer in Portland, but instead out at Eastern Washington University. Makes for a lot of travel for Oregon teams...