Refunded Championship registration??

[753]

Hi,

Our team usually attends 2 regionals and then tries to go to the Championship if we qualify. This leads to a mad dash for money and a lot of missed school/work time attending 3 events. Since I have such a strong team this year, and I stress teamwork over scoring, I told them we could sign up for 1 regional and Atlanta. Then the economic market collapsed.

We've paid for our regional and need to pay for the Championship by Dec 5th. We might be able to swing going with a lot of scrimping and begging. My concern is should we wait to qualify and then try for Atlanta or if we pay the registration, what are our chances of getting our money refunded. By mid-January we should have a better idea of our ability to pay. Does the Championship always sell-out, thus enabling you to get your money back or is that a huge gamble?

PS. Another concern is we'll have to cover a fair number of kid's travel expenses. If we win Chairmans, or some other qualifying award, the school district will cover the airplane costs for the students. That's a big if? Does anyone have luck getting help with travel costs for students even if you don't "qualify". We haven't attending Atlanta in 3 years and no one on the team has been there. I feel that should be justification enough for the school district.

Coach

[ttldomination]

Traveling costs really depends on the sponsor. Considering that your team hasn't been there in 3 years, I think that you guys have a front runner spot in getting into championships.

I'm sorry to say that we don't have much experience carrying a large crew around, our main sponsor, Motorola, pays for a skeleton crew, like 9 kids, to attend a competition out of state, but everything else is close by. We're lucky enough to have world about at about half an hour drive.

About world's being sold out, in the past, World has been packed, but considering the latest economic down turn, I am not sure if the volume of teams will be as high as in the past years. But I'm not sure if you know, the experience is amazing and the competition environment is like no other.

[JB987]

Payment for Championship from Veteran teams isn't due until January 16th at noon EST...

[Bob Steele]

Hi!!

I just wanted to let you know that we will be on the field with you at the Oregon Regional. We have been lucky enough to go the CMP the last two years. (We actually double qualified both years..) You may remember us as we were next door neighbors in the pits 2 years ago.

We know what you are feeling. You guys went in 2006 I think...Taking a bunch of kids all the way from the PNW to Atlanta is pretty pricey... Tickets have been somewhere greater than $500 from Seattle and I would expect you would have something like that flying out of Portland.

Our team has made a decision to go to Atlanta. We are working on the fundraising now... and have been all year. I think that you just have to make the decision to go. You need to make that a priority and set up fundraisers and see how much money you can raise to get the students there.

I think it has to be a mindset for the team... and the parents.
I think it is dangerous to not make the decision.

I remember our rookie year (two years ago) I had NO idea that our team would qualify for CMP the first year and then we went to the Las Vega regional and Rookie All Star and were Regional Champions (due to teams 1425 and 254). We had 10 days to make it happen.

Our parents banded together and we came up with the money.
It was pretty nerve-wracking though...it certainly would not have happened without the parents, NASA and the school helping out.

I am just suggesting that you make the decision to go... no matter what.
That way EVERYONE can work from this point on and make the fundraising another WIN for your team.

We will be in Portland too... if there is anything we can do at that event to help you in your quest for a qualifier... please let us know what we can do.

Good luck !!! We will see you in Atlanta!!!

See you in the Rose Garden!! (Coliseum)

[keenanmolner]

Thanks! Our team is looking forward to the Oregon Regional and I can't wait to connect with your team there! Yesterday, we budgeted out the year and we have very little to spend. That estimate contained some fundraisers that we would do but there is little room for change. We estimated the robot to cost no more than it did last year (which means that we have to get a lot of the materials donated) and we would have the students pay a little more for travel. If it works correctly, we should have enough money to go but I don't want to say that quite yet.

With the economy the way it is, I also don't see us getting very much money out of our sponsors. Bend Research, our main sponsor, would probably give us another 1000 and the school board might pay for the students airfare. That is about it for the money so you can see how it important for us to know if the registration fee for the Championship Event is refundable. If it fills up (can it?), could we drop out and get our money back or did we just throw away $5000? That is a scary thought for us and we really need to know before we commit to the event.

I would really like to go but if it doesn't work out, then we will still have a great time at the Oregon Regional and be ready for next year! Hope to see you soon!

[JB987]

Your concern regarding refundability is a good one and relevant for some other teams too...this kind of important question is best answered straight from the horses mouth...go to the FIRST website and there is contact information that will help you find the answer to your question