17 matches per team @ AZ?

[Kevin Sevcik]

I'm fairly sure limiting to 12 or so matches per team is a mercy rule. As stated above, if you were running 17 per team, then teams would be turning around incredibly quickly. I realize that vets can mostly handle this, but rookies and 2nd year teams will be swamped and will have no time between matches for repair. Thus, I think it's more to keep from utterly demoralizing a team by forcing them to choose between fixing a robot or missing 2 matches.

[jpsaul7usa]

But with 17 matches, missing two isn't nearly as bad as when there's 8. I think if there's time for 17 matches a team, there should be 17. If there's an opportunity for teams to play more, I hope FIRST grants it.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Missing matches is still bad. Teams still won't want to do it.

Plus, it'll still put rookies at a disadvantage to vets with robust robots. Think about it. Most regionals will see 8-9 matches per team. You're asking teams to play two regionals worth of quals and almost definitely some elim matches in the timeframe of a single regional. Playing one regional is typically hard enough on a bot, and then you have time to do maintenance and fix things. By the time you're done with your first regional's worth of quals at AZ, it's a little after lunch on friday and you've got no time tighten those nuts and do the various other little things cause, hey, it's time for yet another match.

Again, I think 17 matches per team would just wear out teams and robots unnecessarily.