MI is the best?

[Hot_Copper_Frog]

Originally Posted by JackN

I do think that increasing the number of districts has hurt some of the upper level teams in terms of competitiveness on the world level. I thought the biggest event ever season was always the Troy district because it would pit five or six of the best teams in the state against each other and you would see the first glimpses of the highest levels of a game being played. But the explosive growth in Districts has built a very robust second and third tier of teams that did not exist even three years ago.

I think that people are assuming that having a small but incredibly elite cohort of teams is what makes Michigan successful, but I have to disagree. The district system may have "watered down" competitions in the sense that the most competitive teams are no longer playing together at every event, but it allows a large number of teams to play with and learn from them.

Is it more effective to have the top 10 teams at one district, or to have each of those teams at a different district? If you spread them out, younger and more inexperienced teams have the opportunity to interact with powerhouse teams and learn from them. While it might be more exciting to witness a bunch of them gathered at one competition, it's really not helping teams improve.

Rising tides lift all boats. If we work together to support our low resource and newer teams, we will create a stronger FIRST community as a whole.