[FRC Blog] District Teams attending Regionals

[Hallry]

Posted on the FRC Blog, 8/22/16: http://www.firstinspires.org/robotic...ding-regionalshttp://www.firstinspires.org/robotic...ding-regionals

District Teams attending Regionals.

Posted by Frank Merrick.

As the number of Districts continues to grow, and Regional areas feel increasingly hemmed in, there is growing concern about the fairness and effect of District teams being able to attend Regionals and getting access to all the benefits of a Regional, while Regional teams are prevented from attending District events at all. This concern, as well as being voiced by teams, is also a concern among Regional Directors from Regional areas and District Leadership. The RD’s feel non-District teams are getting shorted when a team from a District attends a Regional and earns one of the limited number of Championship slots available at that event. At the same time, District teams earning a Championship slot at a Regional often bypass their own District Championship, as there is significantly less incentive to attend, and some in District Leadership feel this is detrimental to the District model. These are fair concerns.

Several solutions to this issue have been proposed, and all have advantages and disadvantages. In an attempt to better understand our options, we surveyed the District teams that traveled to Regionals in 2016, along with Ontario teams that attended more than one Regional in 2016, to ask a few questions about why they traveled to those events. 50 teams total were sent the survey, and 24 responded. The number one reason reported for this travel was to provide students the opportunity to travel, see new places, and potentially visit colleges. The number two reason was the opportunity to earn a slot to Championship. When asked if they would still travel if they were not allowed to win the Chairman’s, Engineering Inspiration, or Rookie All Star awards (but could still earn a slot to Championship by being on the winning alliance or through the Wild Card system), about 62% said they would, about 19% said they were unsure, and the balance said they would not.

For 2017, in an attempt to make this less unfair, while still retaining some of the advantages of this cross-model team travel, we will be making a change to the rules. District teams traveling to Regionals will no longer be eligible for the Chairman’s, Engineering Inspiration, or Rookie All Star awards at those events. Those awards will be preserved exclusively for non-District teams at the event. This parallels somewhat the rules for inter-District play, in which District teams traveling to another District are likewise not eligible for those particular awards. However, District teams still may be members of the winning alliance, earning their way to Championship that way, and may still earn a wild card slot as a member of the finalist alliance. We anticipate no other changes related to this.

I recognize this will be perceived as a partial measure by some, and I agree with that assessment. However, in a year already filled with very significant change, I have real concerns about adding yet another. We will see what real effect this smaller-than-it-could-have-been change has in 2017, and if additional change is needed for the 2018 season, we will make those changes then.



Frank

[MechEng83]

As a current district and former regional team, I support this.

[Taylor]

Agreed. This is a very good stepping-stone decision, and I hope it will relieve some inter-team and geographic strife.

[Mr V]

As usual Frank shows how blessed we are to have him at the helm of FRC!!

Just one in another long line showing his responsiveness to concerns and that thoughtful consideration is truly given before making changes.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Frank

However, in a year already filled with very significant change, I have real concerns about adding yet another.

Frank, you seem stressed.

[Brian Maher]

As someone with both district and regional experience, I think this is a reasonable solution.

Also, welcome back, Ryan.

[jajabinx124]

I like the solution. Definitely makes it more fair to Regional teams without banning district teams from going to regional events.

[jwfoss]

Correct me if I am wrong but it is still okay for a District team to submit their awards for Woodie Flowers or Dean's List at a Regional? I ask because the pool seems smaller, and would appear to provide better odds.

[Link07]

Seems like a good change. Should stop teams with weak Chairman's programs deliberately presenting outside the district to snag a qualification to champs as in the past few years.

[Knufire]

Also, this is already the case for district teams attending out-of-district competitions. I definitely like the added consistency across the board as well; district teams now know that they're only eligible for these awards inside their district, period.

[ASD20]

Originally Posted by Link07

Seems like a good change. Should stop teams with weak Chairman's programs deliberately presenting outside the district to snag a qualification to champs as in the past few years.

I disagree that a team that wins Chairman's, regardless of where, has a weak Chairman's program.

[Michael Corsetto]

Originally Posted by Knufire

Also, this is already the case for district teams attending out-of-district competitions. I definitely like the added consistency across the board as well; district teams now know that they're only eligible for these awards inside their district, period.

Great point, hadn't thought of it that way before. Makes total sense from that perspective.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by ASD20

I disagree that a team that wins Chairman's, regardless of where, has a weak Chairman's program.

I agree, you can have a weak Chairman's and still win. It happens all the time independent of location.

[GeeTwo]

Did anyone else notice that 19% of 24 responding teams is 4.56 teams? 4 teams is 17% (16.7%) and 5 teams is 21% (20.8%).

I suspect that 26 teams responded, making the responses 16, 5, and 5.

[SpaceBiz]

Originally Posted by Link07

Seems like a good change. Should stop teams with weak Chairman's programs deliberately presenting outside the district to snag a qualification to champs as in the past few years.

Although I agree with the change, I would argue the team that leaves their district to get a chairman's spot at another event is still better deserving of it than the team they would otherwise beat if they did, in fact, beat them for the award.

The reason I agree with the change is it prevents any district from getting more than that district's allocated number of awards spots for each award.