2015 Minnesota State Championship

[ehochstein]

Originally Posted by northstardon

According to this event schedule, Michigan's championships had the opening ceremony and 7 hours of qualification matches on Thursday. Qualification matches for regionals like Duluth or Mpls don't start until Friday morning, right? That gives many teams the option of sending a skeleton crew Wed after school or early Thurs (missing 2 days of school), and sending the rest a day later, so that they only miss one day.

You are correct, but that skeleton crew will still miss more school. Additionally, if you're not part of a skeleton crew, you'll still miss two days of school by attending two Regionals, which is the same amount as the Michigan district championship.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by northstardon

As a parent/mentor, I completely agree that limiting the number of missed school days is important. It helps that most teams are located within a relatively short drive of either Mpls or Duluth. Teams can also send skeleton crews to do load-in/inspection/pit set-up during regional events, right?

On a related note, would the number of missed school days be different if/when Minnesota adopts the district model? Looks like the Michigan FRC State Championship is a Wed-Saturday event.

NE Districts Example

125 Attended 3 Districts, a regional, DCMP, and WCMP (all told, 6 official events)

One district was Sat/Sun, One district was during school vacation, WCMP was during another school vacation.

So, we missed 2 days for districts, 2 for DCMP, and 2 for the regional. All told not too bad. And we compete more than almost any other team.

[Chris Fultz]

Indiana districts were 2 day events - Friday / Saturday or Saturday / Sunday.
Load in was 5 PM the night before, so students missed at most 1 day of school.

The Indiana CHP was also a 2 day event, with 32 of the top teams, based on points. It was run just like a District event. Michigan, due to the number of teams, has a larger CHP event.

In a District system, the State CHP is also before the FIRST CHP because that is how you qualify for the FIRST CHP.

We did 3 district events and the IND CHP and the students only missed 2 days of school. One district was Sat-Sun, one was during Spring Break. We did miss 2-1/2 more days for the FIRST CHP.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by northstardon

According to this event schedule, Michigan's championships had the opening ceremony and 7 hours of qualification matches on Thursday. Qualification matches for regionals like Duluth or Mpls don't start until Friday morning, right? That gives many teams the option of sending a skeleton crew Wed after school or early Thurs (missing 2 days of school), and sending the rest a day later, so that they only miss one day.

That's the beauty of the system in that you can have several events within a district all with different schedules to help meet your teams needs.

In 2014 we attended a Thurs/Fri district event (2 days), Fri/Sat district event (1 day), the District Championship Thurs/Fri/Sat (2 days), and the World Championship Tues/Wed/Thurs/Fri/Sat (3.5 days since the team left part way through Tuesday).

In total it was 8.5 days out of school. Only at one of our first events of the year were we advised some of the students needed to stay back on school days.

This year we looked for more of the Saturday and Sunday events so we could keep the kids in school longer and went to two events that were Saturday & Sunday and repeated our 2014 run of DCMP & WCMP but with worlds the team left Monday afternoon so it worked out to 6 missed days of school.

Keep in mind though depending on how far you need to travel you may need to have your load in crew leave early to get to the event when doors open. I believe there are some teams up in Maine with 3+ hour rides to get to some district events so they leave mid day.

Overall for the number of matches you play in addition to the decreased cost per play the travel time doesn't jump up as bad if you plan your events to use no or only 1 school day for the event.

[Mastonevich]

In another thread it was mentioned that only 2 teams will have competed at the MN state championship all 4 years. That is a very interesting statistic.

[Caleb Sykes]

Originally Posted by Mastonevich

In another thread it was mentioned that only 2 teams will have competed at the MN state championship all 4 years. That is a very interesting statistic.

I would largely chalk that up to the relative youth of MN compared to other regions. In other regions, the old teams are the triple digit teams. Here, our "old" teams have numbers in the 2000s.

Incidentally, the two teams that have qualified all 4 years, 1816 and 2052, are the two lowest active numbered teams in the state.

[Mr.Paulson]

There are a few teams that have made it to state for all of their active years. We have been active for 3 years and have advanced to state all three years.

[Mastonevich]

While one could hijack this thread with discussion about the parity, I think the parity is what makes MN FRC so awesome. I hope you continue to have the expansion you have enjoyed and that all of those teams make the MN state championship soon.

Congrats and enjoy the tournament.

[Shrub]

The brochure has been posted here!
Good luck to all competing tommorow!

[nerdrock101]

Excited to see Minnesota's robots again! Good luck to everyone.

[Chief Hedgehog]

Good Luck to all teams tomorrow!

CIS will be cheering on our Central Minnesota Robotics Hub member #3276 The Tool Cats!

Also a great nod to #2530 Inconceivable - do what we did not accomplish in last year's final - WIN IT ALL!

[Tyler Olds]

Is there a webcast link available?

[Ginger Power]

Prep45.com it's on the main page under current events I believe. The fee is $5 since it is being done through the MSHSL.

[JohnChristensen]

Frustrating that we can attend in-person for free yet have to pay to watch it online. I get it, there are costs to film and host the event, but this is not the same as hockey. There are no paid tickets for robotics.

[Ginger Power]

Originally Posted by JohnChristensen

Frustrating that we can attend in-person for free yet have to pay to watch it online. I get it, there are costs to film and host the event, but this is not the same as hockey. There are no paid tickets for robotics.

It could be free. The producers want it to be free. However because of the partnership with the MN State High School League, the fee is mandatory. Given the status Robotics has by being a part of the MSHSL I would say it's worth having to pay for the livestream to maintain the partnership. Hopefully they can work out a deal in the future that allows it to be free.