Districts in Texas proposal sent to FIRST

[asid61]

On one hand, I love district events and I think Texas moving to them is great.
On the other hand, no Texas teams in CA anymore. D:

[Link07]

Originally Posted by FIRST

We have met with our friends in other states and regions who have already adopted the District Model (Michigan, New England, Pacific Northwest, Chesapeake, Indiana, South Carolina, and Georgia) to learn from their experience so that we can make the best decisions for our state.

Guess nobody called Mid-Atlantic.

Feelsbadman

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by Link07

Guess nobody called Mid-Atlantic.

Glad I wasn't the only one to notice that.

[ahartnet]

Originally Posted by Link07

Guess nobody called Mid-Atlantic.

Feelsbadman

Maybe we can have a revised email that goes "Our friends in other states and regions...and our acquaintances in MAR".

[Brian Maher]

I am happy to hear that more teams will be able to benefit from the district system. It is really great for teams, especially struggling ones. It is the next step forward for making FIRST sustainable in regions that can support a district. It'll be interesting to see how well the system works in an area as large as Texas.

Originally Posted by asid61

On the other hand, no Texas teams in CA anymore. D:

I wouldn't say no Texas teams in CA quite yet. District teams can still attend regionals, and a decent number do to travel, play with different teams, get some out-of-district practice, or qualify for CMP. Off the top of my head I know that in MAR 11, 87, 303, 1676, 2016, 2234, 2590, 3314, and 4575 competed at various regionals this year.

[ahartnet]

Originally Posted by BMSOTM

I am happy to hear that more teams will be able to benefit from the district system. It is really great for teams, especially struggling ones. It is the next step forward for making FIRST sustainable in regions that can support a district. It'll be interesting to see how well the system works in an area as large as Texas.

Like you stated, the thing that will be interesting to me about Texas districts is there's a significant # of teams that don't have more than 1 event (currently) within 300 miles of them, and some of those don't have any event within 300 miles. If the normal district rules apply, forcing those teams to do two competitions in Texas could place a significant burden on them, or force something like Lubbock to host 2 district events back to back with many of the teams competing in both against a roster of teams that is mostly the same, or some other solution I have not heard of/thought of. There's a LOT of Texas that is not within a couple hours drive of San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, or Houston.

[BSV]

As a team in Oklahoma looking at going to multiple regionals next year, that's going to kill most of our options. Arkansas and Kansas City are the only other nearby regionals (6 hours or less) besides OKC (2 minute drive). And KC and OKC were the same weekend last year. Texas is the entire landmass to our west and south.

I think that we'll need to attend the Hawaii Regional to make up for the loss of local Regionals.

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by BSV

As a team in Oklahoma looking at going to multiple regionals next year, that's going to kill most of our options. Arkansas and Kansas City are the only other nearby regionals (6 hours or less) besides OKC (2 minute drive). And KC and OKC were the same weekend last year. Texas is the entire landmass to our west and south.

I think that we'll need to attend the Hawaii Regional to make up for the loss of local Regionals.

Come on over to the other Missouri regional, we'd love to have you (assuming St. Louis isn't on the same week as Arkansas and KC this year.)

[lpickett]

There is always Denver. Shouldn't be too bad to get to from OKC. We always enjoy out-of-town teams to Kansas City.

[BSV]

Originally Posted by Ryan Dognaux

Come on over to the other Missouri regional, we'd love to have you (assuming St. Louis isn't on the same week as Arkansas and KC this year.)

Originally Posted by lpickett

There is always Denver. Shouldn't be too bad to get to from OKC. We always enjoy out-of-town teams to Kansas City.

Thanks for the offer. We've had three robot trips to MO so far this year for FTC (KC, Rolla, and St. Louis), so we're happy with the place. We get a lot of MO teams at the OKC Regional, too.

Denver is a great city, too. 10 hour drive of wind farms, though. St. Louis is about 8.

It would be nice if there was some way to not shut out nearby teams for districts. I don't think we're going to districts any time soon, so if MO goes to districts we will be in trouble. The Texas thing definitely limits the options because we looked at Dallas, Houston, and Alamo before ending up at Hub City this year. But I hope it works out for the best in Texas.

[Michael Blake]

Originally Posted by ahartnet

Like you stated, the thing that will be interesting to me about Texas districts is there's a significant # of teams that don't have more than 1 event (currently) within 300 miles of them, and some of those don't have any event within 300 miles. If the normal district rules apply, forcing those teams to do two competitions in Texas could place a significant burden on them, or force something like Lubbock to host 2 district events back to back with many of the teams competing in both against a roster of teams that is mostly the same, or some other solution I have not heard of/thought of. There's a LOT of Texas that is not within a couple hours drive of San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, or Houston.

A normalizing travel stipend would do it. They'd (FIRST in Texas) just have to redirect funds to support and/or raise additional funds towards that.

I know easier said then done on the raising of the additonal funds but my experience is it's very doable in Texas.

--Michael Blake

[nobrakes8]

Originally Posted by Michael Blake

A normalizing travel stipend would do it. They'd (FIRST in Texas) just have to redirect funds to support and/or raise additional funds towards that.

I know easier said then done on the raising of the additonal funds but my experience is it's very doable in Texas.

--Michael Blake

I don't think the only issue is money. The process of getting mentors to travel, volunteers (if teams are forced to send X many volunteers), putting students up in hotels for multiple weekends, etc.. I feel is as much of a burden as the cost of travel.

Granted, many of the teams in Texas already travel least once every season as it is and I'm sure the committee has taken into account the population density of the teams.

Originally Posted by asid61

On one hand, I love district events and I think Texas moving to them is great.
On the other hand, no Texas teams in CA anymore. D:

I think I know of at least one Texas team that will travel out of state regardless of districts

[macman828]

Originally Posted by ahartnet

Like you stated, the thing that will be interesting to me about Texas districts is there's a significant # of teams that don't have more than 1 event (currently) within 300 miles of them, and some of those don't have any event within 300 miles. If the normal district rules apply, forcing those teams to do two competitions in Texas could place a significant burden on them, or force something like Lubbock to host 2 district events back to back with many of the teams competing in both against a roster of teams that is mostly the same, or some other solution I have not heard of/thought of. There's a LOT of Texas that is not within a couple hours drive of San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, or Houston.

http://www.freemaptools.com/radius-a...=0 0FF00&mt=r

So 300 miles radius around Midland covers lots of ground.

a couple of 300 miles circles in Texas.
http://maps.google.com/maps/api/stat..." border="0"/>

[FrankJ]

Do keep in mind for competitive teams, districts means 3 events before 1/2 worlds. The 3rd being district championships which will require significant travel for some teams. But then 1/2 worlds will be a local event if you are a mid-east Texas team.

[EricLeifermann]

There is no requirement that a team actually compete at both district events that their entrance fee allows them to. Those teams who choose not to are still getting a better deal robot time per dollar compared to those in a regional.

I understand that those same 1 and done teams lost the ability to qualify for the super regionals in Houston/St Louis/Detroit but generally(giant assumption but not too far off) 1 and done teams don't qualify for those events anyways.