New England District Events 2016

[Michael Sperber]

Ideally, we'd like to have a balance of Friday-Saturday and Saturday-Sunday events (with maybe a Thursday-Friday tossed in there).
We also try to have a weekend off between the last District Event and the District Championship, and weekend off between the District Championship and the World Championship.

Our staff work six months to a year or more in advance to get the schedule lined up right. Sometimes it works out. Sometimes it doesn't.

Remember, the "perfect schedule" for one team is an "impossible schedule" for another team.


"You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes well you might find you get what you need." - Rolling Stones

[Chris is me]

District Champs is just a ten minute walk from where I work! I never thought I'd be that close to an event. The XL center should be an amazing venue for DCMP (even if I'm a bit nostalgic for the old CT Regional at the Convention Center.

Also glad to see that both CT events are Fri-Sun, which really helps avoid missing school / work. I really prefer that schedule to the traditional Thurs-Sat. I understand the religious concerns with Sunday, but I think providing a few Thurs-Sat options is the best that can be done in that regard.

As for those that need a day to recover after competition - take Monday off work then. In the old system, you would have had to have taken Friday off work anyway, so it's the same amount of vacation time. I realize students (and some adults) don't have that option, though.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

As for those that need a day to recover after competition - take Monday off work then. In the old system, you would have had to have taken Friday off work anyway, so it's the same amount of vacation time. I realize students (and some adults) don't have that option, though.

However, in the 'old system' your team wasn't necessarily slated for 2 competitions within a ~5-6 week span (in a best case scenario)- not to mention if your team qualifies for DCMP, bumping that up to 3 competitions in a 7 week span.

Additionally - even with a Fri/Sat/Sun competition - Friday starts at 5pm. I know for our team, depending on the location of the competition, that means a half day of work for myself and half day of school for some of our students. It takes time to get the truck, load the truck, drive (in Fri afternoon traffic out of Boston) and unload. With already taking a half day on Friday, taking Monday off would be a luxury I couldn't afford.

Obviously we are not a team who is all too concerned with too much competition, just spelling out the direct comparison to regional model from district model is a bit more deep than that.

Brando

[gafftron]

The First website just updated and it looks like Umass Dartmouth has been moved to Saturday/Sunday the 19th and 20th of March. Brings us down to just 3 Friday/Saturday events. 2 Week 4 and 1 Week 6.

[Rosiebotboss]

Originally Posted by gafftron

The First website just updated and it looks like Umass Dartmouth has been moved to Saturday/Sunday the 19th and 20th of March. Brings us down to just 3 Friday/Saturday events. 2 Week 4 and 1 Week 6.

True statement..here is the email that teams just received. Main and alternate contacts--this is in your Inbox.


Good Afternoon Teams,

Please note the following change to the 2016 UMass Dartmouth District Event date:

Friday, March 18 - Sunday, March 20

The event will still be held at the Tripp Athletic Center in North Dartmouth, MA.

[Ken Streeter]

Originally Posted by Rosiebotboss

True statement..here is the email that teams just received. Main and alternate contacts--this is in your Inbox.


Good Afternoon Teams,

Please note the following change to the 2016 UMass Dartmouth District Event date:

Friday, March 18 - Sunday, March 20

The event will still be held at the Tripp Athletic Center in North Dartmouth, MA.

Ouch. This is very difficult news for us on 1519. As mentioned earlier in this thread, our team hasn't competed in any Sunday events due to religious beliefs of many of our members. Our team doesn't meet on Sundays during the build season for this reason.

Ever since the switch to districts, we've definitely been disappointed that all the CT events have been Sat/Sun events so we haven't been able to play at district events with our friends in CT, and we have been disappointed that WPI's BattleCry has switched to a Sat/Sun format. However, this year's district event schedule is even more disappointing/frustrating for us.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, there were only 4 NE district events (on three weekends) that had an option other than a Sat/Sun tournament. We had been planning to register for the one Week 3 Fri/Sat event (UMass Dartmouth) and the one Week 6 Fri/Sat event (Pine Tree), as the Week 4 Fri/Sat events are on the weekend of Easter Sunday. Even though the Week 4 events don't take place on Easter Sunday, there are religious services for some of our members on the Thursday of Easter weekend (Maundy Thursday) and Friday of Easter weekend (Good Friday), so competing that weekend will impede our ability to have all of our team members participate. Thus, even though there are two events that weekend that are Fri/Sat, they really don't help us much.

Now, since the UMass Dartmouth Week 3 event has switched to Sat/Sun, we're instead left with only one weekend with an event which doesn't pose a conflict with the religious beliefs of some of our members, and that's Week 6. If we still want to compete in FIRST, we'll have to go with a subset of our team to a Week 4 event.

I really don't see any other options for us. Inter-district play doesn't really help us yet, since you can't get points out of district (although we'd love to be able to go to an FiM event and have it count for points -- all the Michigan events are Fri/Sat!) I wonder if FIRST and NEFIRST would allow us to opt out of the district entirely and attend only regional events instead? There's enough regional events within driving distance that it would be a possibility: NY Tech Valley in Week 3, Finger Lakes in Week 4, Long Island in Week 5.

We can't even ask to be in the MAR district, as they have switched ALL of their events over to the Sat/Sun format...

I must admit I really didn't anticipate that the switch to districts would be a switch to Sat/Sun events from the traditional Thurs/Fri/Sat regional event format.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Ken Streeter

I must admit I really didn't anticipate that the switch to districts would be a switch to Sat/Sun events from the traditional Thurs/Fri/Sat regional event format.

I think a big tipping point for this is the amount of venues shared by facilities that have normal operations (ie a school day) happening simultaneously with the competition. Parking, noise, sheer human capacity can all be issues here.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Ken Streeter

If we still want to compete in FIRST, we'll have to go with a subset of our team to a Week 4 event.

I really don't see any other options for us.

G32 (from the 2015 rules)--use the 2016 equivalent. Send the subset, but if you (somehow) end up with fewer students showing up than needed to drive, make sure to invoke the blue box. And make sure to point out that the reason is because of the scheduling of the districts. And of course make your concerns known to NEFIRST and FRC HQ ahead of time.


There is also an option--though it isn't often used, it has happened--for a district team to only play one district event. Unfortunately that doesn't result in a refund of part of the entry fee...

[Trying to Help]

Originally Posted by Ken Streeter

Ouch. This is very difficult news for us on 1519. As mentioned earlier in this thread, our team hasn't competed in any Sunday events due to religious beliefs of many of our members. Our team doesn't meet on Sundays during the build season for this reason.

I've been following this thread with interest and I really feel for 1519's team. It *is* a really difficult situation.

While we can't change this, I want to point out another side effect.

We draw most of our students from a pretty conservative area. So when we look to draw new students into our team (our host school district has a total of 400 students so there's not a huge pool), saying that we'll be competing on a Sunday can be a downside. For a couple years, we didn't have team meetings on Wednesday evenings either for the same reason: too many students wouldn't be there.

[page2067]

1519 - great New England Team, a great role model. And Nathan has been an ardent advocate for districts - this is tough - like to hear if any other event could possibly open up to a Fri Sat event after the Dartmouth switch? Can we get them what they need?

[KathieK]

NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) is holding the following meetings in New England for mentors:

* Waterbury District Event on Saturday, March 5, 2016 from 11:30 am - 12:30 pm. Room location TBA (check with pit admin).

* Hartford District Event, Saturday, April 2, 2016, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm, Room location TBA (check with pit admin).

* NE District Championships, Friday, April 15, time and location TBD.

As always, the meetings are open to college-age and adult mentors and you can come and go as your schedule allows. Join us and share your concerns, suggestions, and network with other mentors!

[crazyrobochick]

Thank you Kathie for running these meetings. You really don't know how valuable they are to teams in the area. I can't attend myself this year and all our parents are on deck for the concessions but I will try to send someone over to learn and possibly share some knowledge.

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by crazyrobochick

Thank you Kathie for running these meetings. You really don't know how valuable they are to teams in the area. I can't attend myself this year and all our parents are on deck for the concessions but I will try to send someone over to learn and possibly share some knowledge.

I'd love to get more NEMO meetings at the District Events but I can only afford to do it at the events I'm already volunteering at. If anyone is interested in facilitating a meeting at the other DE's, contact me! kathiek@firstnemo.org

[Hitchhiker 42]

Glad to see that District Champs are in Hartford. It will certainly make travel & hotels easier for us (we are from CT). If we make. We certainly will try.

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by KathieK

NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) is holding the following meetings in New England for mentors:

* NE District Championships, Friday, April 15, time and location TBD.

The meeting will be held from 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in the Mentor Lounge in the XL Center. Mentors do not need to have a team competing at any event in order to attend the NEMO meetings.