Keep FIRST in Michigan (FiM) from killing FIRST Lego League

[Gregor]

I'm saving a longer post for later, but anyone who thinks that 13 and 14 year olds are beyond FLL at this point are not approaching FLL from a competative angle. There are so many things still to learn, and every year I'm floored with the new stuff the kids on my team come up with. I'm even more floored when I dare to go on Youtube and see what some of the top teams have done.

Remember that 14 is only the age cap in North America due to the prevalence of FTC and FRC teams, it's 16 globally. If I had the choice I would have absolutely continued with FLL for another two years (in addition to FRC mind you), and I like to think of myself as a fairly competent mechanical student.

I'd be interested in seeing some of the FLL student and alumni testimonials FiM gathered before approaching this new model.

Originally Posted by dtengineering

If they are holding FIRST events, however, they have to follow FIRST's rules. If FIRST doesn't enforce their rules in Michigan, then they lose the moral authority (if not the legal authority) to enforce those rules in other areas.

FLL events are very much run by how their organizers want, unlike FRC.

In the Toronto region, there are 3 events only open to Toronto District School Board teams. Community teams ect. have to go to other events, even though they payed to be a team and follow all the same rules as the TDSB teams.