pic: Districts in Minnesota Flyer

[Mr V]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

The people who need to buy into implementing the district system are the people who will be implementing it. Artificially pumping up demand for it will not increase the speed at which it can be adopted.

If you want to make districts happen in an area you aren't actually helping to run, it doesn't seem productive to just start cheerleading without coordinating your message with the existing efforts and without taking into account what is actually possible given current and potential levels of support.

I strongly disagree. Getting those that benefit from the switch to realize the benefits and create the demand will help speed things along.

One of the things that people keep bringing up as the reason why it can't happen in MN now is the lack of volunteers, and I've been hearing that excuse for at least 3 years now. So educating the teams and letting them know that if they want it they need to step up and volunteer can go a long way to putting that excuse out to pasture.

Another excuse that is given is that they need to find the proper venues. The bulk of the venues should and will most likely be the schools that have teams currently. So again letting the teams know the benefits and the need for the locations can get teams to explore if their facility is suitable. IF the leadership would say we need X,Y,Z in a location do you have that? Then I'm certain if the teams knew the benefits a number of them would get out their tape measures, talk to their administration and see if they are a place that the MN leadership should consider.

Fact is that FIRST has almost certainly been putting pressure on MN to make the switch. I know that they approached what became the PNW district way back in 2012 with hopes of us making the switch for the 2013 season. We did say we needed more time, since there was less info on making the switch with less preexisting areas, and nothing had been done to start the process of qualifying locations as suitable and a whole host of other ways that we felt unprepared to make the switch that quickly.

So assuming FIRST has been pushing things that way already, top down hasn't got too far. So might as well start putting pressure on from the bottom as well as making sure that the bottom is prepared to be part of the solution.

Fact is that FIRST sees the District system as the future and that is where they are going. So those that keep resisting need to ask themselves am I going to be a part of the future of FIRST?