Alliances in touble?

[archiver]

Posted by Nate Smith.

Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.

Posted on 4/14/2000 2:27 PM MST


In Reply to: Alliances in touble? posted by Chris on 4/12/2000 7:05 AM MST:



: Any thoughts? Does anyone have any ideas as to how to improve the system? Does the system need any improving? Please share your thoughts.

Thinking back to when alliances came into being last year, along with the fact that not everyone would advance to the elimination rounds, I remember a few of the different things that came up. The majority of the comments below this one seem to be pointed towards the fact that the 'new' game structure isn't good because such-and-such a team didn't make it, despite their performance. While I was on one of those teams that, deep down, thought that we had put on a good enough showing to make it into the finals as a chosen ally(our 23-6 solo win on Friday comes to mind), we have to look at how much the competition has grown in the past few years. As Dean said at closing ceremonies, this is growing at a rate of 50% a year...which means that, eventually, it will simply not be possible to accomodate all the teams at nationals, and the regionals will act as qualifiers for the national competition. I believe(and a few other people did too, if I remember the discussions last year correctly), that the fact that not everybody advances was put into place by FIRST to prepare teams for the year that, for the first time, you DO have to qualify for nationals.

People have made comments about how not making it to the 'big show' detracts from the goal of inspiring the students. However, on years when a sports team doesn't make it to the state finals, you don't see half the team dropping out. Instead, they plan for how they can do better next year. Also(speaking from personal experience now), for the past two years, I was with a team that, while we thought we had a good machine, never quite pulled off making it into the finals. However, after 2 yrs, I'm still here, and more involved with FIRST than I ever was. So, rather than saying that a loss causes a loss of interest, I believe that it causes MORE interest, as the students who came so close in years past push even harder to get to the top of the heap.

Just my thoughts...

Nate