Lessons Learned - The Negative

[ShortBang]

Until the Michigan System is imposed nationwide, I think FIRST should involve some sort of at-large bids for teams that do not qualify from regionals.

After pairing with 40 for eliminations in Chesapeake, and losing by three points in the Third match of the finals, not only were we disappointed that we did not qualify for nationals, but that 40 did not. 40 had the best autonomous scoring that I had seen this year, and reached the finals in both of their regionals. Luckily they made it to Atlanta off the waitlist, and Captained an alliance in Divisional Eliminations. I think there are five or six more teams that didn't qualify that had the potential to do the same thing in Atlanta.

From what I can tell, 40 is the only team that made it in off the waitlist, while there were many other teams I can think of that would've greatly added to the overall competitive level in Atlanta. In watching webcasts of Atlanta, I saw teams that preregistered for Atlanta that barely ran and functioned. I understand some teams decide to preregister for Atlanta instead of competing at a second Regional, but Atlanta is supposed to be The World Championships of FIRST. If FIRST is to be considered a sport, I think something needs to be changed about this. I think preregistration should be for Hall of Fame teams, Previous World Champions, and Division Champions. After that, and filling Atlanta with the qualifiers, FIRST should have some sort of system similar to the Michigan Points to fill up the divisions, until the whole country is on that system.