ChampionSplit: A Historical Perspective

[Alex2614]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Not true at all. My FLL team has never made it to the World Festival, but they've been close a few times. St. Louis has been a stated goal for them every year. They've not been less inspired when they didn't have a chance. They didn't try less hard when Ontario wasn't even given a qualifying spot at all for the World Festival. Competitive FLL teams don't compete to win the World Festival, they compete to do the best they can, and it's fun.

Making generalizations to try and prove your point weakens your argument.

First of all, I meant to say that many teams I'VE personally talked to and heard from. Not just your team. I didn't say al teams. I apologize for that omission. But comparing the behavior of all teams based solely on your team's example is a generalization, isn't it? Plus, it is possible to be inspired by these teams that make it to champs every year, AND be discouraged at the same time.

But you just proved my point anyway. Competitive teams don't compete to win the world championship. They compete to do the best they can, and it's fun. Therefore, how many teams get to go to the championship shouldn't matter in that aspect, should it? Would it water down the competition if suddenly they invited more teams to the world festival? Or have several national events? Oh wait, they do actually have several national "open national championships" in FLL. And it's no less inspiring. In fact, it's MORE inspiring, because more teams can have these "national event" experiences.