North Bay Regional (2016)

[BAB the Builder]

Originally Posted by BrennanB

85% sure they do actually rotate refs every x matches, I haven't actually specifically looked at it this year, however in years past they have absolutely rotated refs. I mean the refs are tested pretty hard, and I can understand a head ref not wanting to swap his refs around from the pattern they are used to because a team asked them to. I don't imagine a swap could have done much, but then again I wasn't at the event.

I can't really comment on anything else there.

For the most part, it was the same refs for almost all of the matches. They were rotated more between Thursday and Friday, rather the between matches.

[BrennanB]

Originally Posted by BAB the Builder

For the most part, it was the same refs for almost all of the matches. They were rotated more between Thursday and Friday, rather the between matches.

I meant that they rotated positions, not refs per say. Fully rotating refs is pretty unrealistic, there just aren't enough refs out there. Normally they have an extra ref that rotated around for "breaks". I believe they were specifically commenting on the fact that the one side of the field was calling fouls harder than the other.

[gp2013]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Hey Gary,

There's a lot that can be said about FRC reffing (it's well known that I've said a lot over the years), but despite that I don't think anyone can reasonably claim that FIRST prefers to allow unfair play to happen. There's definitely a concerted effort from GDC all the way down to the local referees to make things as fair as possible. Yes, there are still mistakes and the process can be improved, but I think it's a little disingenuous to suggest that FIRST is knowingly allowing unfair play.

I'm glad your team is already looking ahead to get past this and working on coming up with concrete suggestions on how to improve things for all participants in the future. I'm sure if you share some of these suggestions here, the community will gladly help and provide some of their own. Hopefully we can all come up with some ideas to help minimize the chances that a team walks away from an event feeling the way you did.

Thanks Kartik. I have responded by email rather than continue to hijack this post with frustrations. I really want to reiterate that team 2013 had a fabulous time in North Bay otherwise. I can't encourage teams enough to attend this regional. The city is 100% behind the program. After the red card issue we were showing the Mayors grandkids pictures of 781's robot because they love hockey so much. They were thrilled to see hockey sticks used on a bot. Chatting with the mayor and his family was a sample of some of the great experiences we had there.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Just wanted to write a post about 229's experience at North Bay.

We had an amazing time joining our Canadian friends at North Bay. Being the first US team to compete there brought us some attention, but we felt like we were just another team at home there. All of the volunteers were amazing, the venue was great, the hotel was very close, and the food surrounding the venue and in the venue was excellent.

As for the competition we were very excited by our dramatic improvement from TVR last week, as we were putting up as much as 5 high goal cycles in a match. We know we can improve even more by the time World Champs comes around at the end of April.

Thank you to teams 4907 and 4069 for working with us in the elimination rounds. We loved playing with both of you. It's a shame we couldn't get out of quarterfinals.

Major congrats to 1241 for bringing home the win and the Chairmans award. You were my favorite team to work with both on the field and off. Such a deserving team.

Thank you to everyone else who made North Bay awesome this year!

Edit: any idea when match videos will be up on WatchFIRSTNow?

[b.arci]

Originally Posted by gp2013

… The city is 100% behind the program. After the red card issue we were showing the Mayors grandkids pictures of 781's robot because they love hockey so much. They were thrilled to see hockey sticks used on a bot. Chatting with the mayor and his family was a sample of some of the great experiences we had there.

Really? That's awesome. I'm glad someone other than us loves the hockey sticks on our robot! This was this season's robot you were showing them?

On a side note, I'm sure our team will support you again in these issues you have faced. When I was watching the match via the livefeed, it sure didn't look like your drive team had meant to do any tipping—they backed off right away. Good luck in Western Canada. We hope to see you in St Louis at the end of next month!

[gp2013]

Originally Posted by b.arci

Really? That's awesome. I'm glad someone other than us loves the hockey sticks on our robot! This was this season's robot you were showing them?

On a side note, I'm sure our team will support you again in these issues you have faced. When I was watching the match via the livefeed, it sure didn't look like your drive team had meant to do any tipping—they backed off right away. Good luck in Western Canada. We hope to see you in St Louis at the end of next month!

This year's. We took a picture of it at Buckeye. THAT was exciting robotics! Way to go guys and thanks for your continued support!

[gp2013]

Originally Posted by Karthik

I think it's a little disingenuous to suggest that FIRST is knowingly allowing unfair play.

Fair enough. I apologize for that. But I still maintain they could step up and do a lot more.

[philso]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Jason,
I'd like to see the data on this because after watching several webcasts over the course of competition season, this is the only week where such a correlation could be made just by looking at the results.

On a side note, there is one call I've seen done incorrectly, and that is calling a pinning on a robot that is completely in the middle of the courtyard. Pinning against a field element is clear, but NOT pinning in the middle of an open field. Seeing refs do a pin count just had me shaking my head. Pinning against air is not pinning.

I was reviewing the matches we played at Bayou and in one instance when our robot was pushing against another robot in the Neutral Zone, I could see the Head Ref counting with his arm for a pin. He continued with two more waves of his arm after the robot being pushed escaped. It is not clear what they were being pinned against. Maybe the robot that had been disabled for an infraction before the match started? It seemed that we were not alone in experiencing anomalous reffing, especially in the first few rounds of matches. I would not call this unfair since other teams seemed to have similar experiences and the calls went both for and against the teams concerned. I can only hope that the GDC thinks through the games more thoroughly so that the Ref's are not so overwhelmed.

[Anthony Koziol]

When FIRST Canada came to Team 1305 four years ago asking if we would like to help hold a regional, we were totally gob smacked from what we thought was an impossible dream actually coming true.

It has now come true three times. Being given the opportunity by FIRST Canada to host such a fantastic experience both within FIRST and within our region, on behalf of the North Bay Regional Planning Committee I cannot possibly express what joy and satisfaction we always get from the FIRST community coming to our city either as competitors or volunteers and making Nipissing University’s Robert Surtees Centre resonate with all that FIRST enthusiasm.

This year was particularly special as we had teams from Quebec and the USA join us to show our community how broad the reach of FIRST is.

The event was once again successful from what we have heard, thanks to the ongoing commitment of generous sponsors, support from all three levels of the political classes, our community from hotels saying welcome, to retail stores advertising the event, and our friends in the media and of course FIRST Canada.

What else can be said about all our fantastic volunteers; we ran out of regular event TShirts with all the late additions!! And our alumni, how you came out to support us.

Congratulations to all the winning teams and those that came. Without all of you making that trek a bit further north to us, it wouldn’t have been as special as it was.

See you next year!!!

Anthony Koziol
Logistics & Site Manager

[GreyingJay]

Thanks to all of you who put so much effort into the planning and execution of the North Bay regional! You guys are great - from the strong presence on social media to tasty team social to the overall high quality of production, capped by a Patrick Gilbert video no less - you guys run a great regional.

Thanks also for whoever rescued my jacket from the coat racks after I drove home without it

[Jay O'Donnell]

Any word on when match videos will be up?

[AJCaliciuri]

I have been checking watchfirstnow.com periodically over the past week, and they haven't been posted yet.

They should be up in the next week or so. I'll be sure to post here with a link where they're up.

[AJCaliciuri]

The amazing Wrap video produced by Patrick Gilbert has now been posted!

Check it out here: North Bay Regional 2016 Wrap Video

Match videos have yet to be posted on WatchFIRSTNow. I've sent them a message asking when they'll be up.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by AJCaliciuri

The amazing Wrap video produced by Patrick Gilbert has now been posted!

Check it out here: North Bay Regional 2016 Wrap Video

Match videos have yet to be posted on WatchFIRSTNow. I've sent them a message asking when they'll be up.

Have you heard anything back yet? 229 would love to have videos of our matches to watch before champs. It really helps to watch yourself play.

[AJCaliciuri]

Originally Posted by Jay O'Donnell

Have you heard anything back yet? 229 would love to have videos of our matches to watch before champs. It really helps to watch yourself play.

I completely understand. But unfortunately, no, I haven't heard anything back.

Its weird. GTR-Central (Before North Bay), GTR-East (Before North Bay), and Windsor-Essex (After North Bay) have been posted, but North Bay, Waterloo, and Montreal (Both After North Bay) haven't.

If I were to guess, at this point, I doubt that the videos will be posted before Championships, since there are only 3 business days between now and then. I have found a few match videos on YouTube (searched North Bay Regional) posted by some of the teams in attendance, but selection is pretty sparse.

Sorry about this! Livestreaming the Regional and archiving match videos is completely out of the hands of Volunteers like myself.