What percentage of FRC teams should attend championships?

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by mrnoble

I don't at all get what people are talking about when they say that kids would do well to go and not compete.

It looks like AngelBotics has never been to the FIRST Championship. Have you ever been there yourself? It's hard to imagine someone helping to run a team in FRC who wouldn't understand how just being there can be extremely inspiring after having experienced it.

[mrnoble]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

It looks like AngelBotics has never been to the FIRST Championship. Have you ever been there yourself? It's hard to imagine someone helping to run a team in FRC who wouldn't understand how just being there can be extremely inspiring after having experienced it.

Fair enough. No, I've never been. We qualified once, in 2008 I think, but didn't go, and like I said, we turned down our wait list position this year. I have talked to mentors and students who have been plenty of times, and to be honest, I haven't heard stories of the experience that convince me that taking a team to CMP is life changing. Am I missing something? We love the FRC experience (I've been coaching the team since we started in 2004, why would I stick around this long otherwise?), but two regionals is exhausting and both a financial and academic drain. We have been more competitive since 2013, and this year reached our goals, which included captaining an alliance. Next year our goal is to win a regional. Who knows? If we win, we will go to CMP. Otherwise, we will take our mandatory tests and get our grades up.

[Taylor]

Question to those who are more knowledgeable than I:
In order to gain the Championship Experience, must a team/member be there for the entire Wednesday-Saturday time?

I've never personally attended CMP as a competitor, but this week will be my fourth as a spectator. Last year I was there Thursday-Saturday (my school administrators let me go early because I was in the running for WFA*); we've also been there Friday-Saturday, and this year we'll be there Saturday only.
Our out-of-pocket costs will be well under $1k. Will we get the full experience? No. Will we see #friendswithrobots and be inspired, moreso than watching on thebluealliance? Yes.

As with others, I firmly believe that students - at least once in their time on the team - should experience a high-level competition as a competitor. Right now, that high-level competition is The World Championship. In the future, it will be One Of The World Championships. Possibly further down the line, it will be A SuperRegional or SuperDistrict Championship. For my team this year, it was INCMP.

*a laughable premise but I'll take what I can get

[Sunshine]

Well, I may not be more knowledgable but I'll take a stab at it. It's an affirmative "it depends". The World Championship is a combination of many things IMHO. It's part Super Bowl, convention, show case, family gathering, inservice and annual reconfirmation. It's one or all of the above.

For me, just knowing that thousands of educators, students and FIRSTers are all gathered for one common goal is exciting. I always learn a great deal. Whether it's from competing, rubbing elbows, attending workshops, talking with HOF folks or just watching the best bots in the world in awe.

As a team, we explain to students that there are jobs to do. They are our ambassadors, drivers, scouts and pit crew. But they are also expected to take in the great opportunities offered. Students always get empowered by more knowledge and inspiration.

We have been fortunate to attend 5 times in our 9 year history. (As far as our district is concerned we need to "qualify" to attend). The list of "take aways" is endless and well worth the expense and time away from the classroom.