Five weeks instead of six??

[Jon Jack]

Just because kick-off is being moved back a week doesn't mean we're losing a week. The whole season is being shift back. Kick-off is a week later, ship day is a week later. There is nothing to worry about.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by Jon Jack

Just because kick-off is being moved back a week doesn't mean we're losing a week. The whole season is being shift back. Kick-off is a week later, ship day is a week later. There is nothing to worry about.

Exactly! You have to remember, FIRST has been around for about twenty years. Since days shift every year, this has to have happened before. As a matter of fact, it has, most recently in 2004. So Kickoff has moved up a day every year since 2004, and this year it will be taking one giant leap back. Only to gradually advance for about the next seven years and leap back again. We definitely got a 6 week build period in 2004.

The best/worst part is, you could potentially get all of February break for robot building/testing and ship the following Tuesday! Of course, your technical mentors will be working for the most part (unless they get federal holidays off), but teachers/self employed mentors might be willing to lend a hand. The bad part is, you may find yourself locked out of your workshop for a week (if your school shuts down for the week), which would be a very bad thing indeed.

[Kyle Love]

Wait until the regional dates come out. That will be a good thing to judge if there will be a change to the build season length. I would not foresee any change to the build length.

[Elgin Clock]

Originally Posted by Jon Jack

Just because kick-off is being moved back a week doesn't mean we're losing a week. The whole season is being shift back. Kick-off is a week later, ship day is a week later. There is nothing to worry about.

<gives thumbs up!>

Originally Posted by Kyle Love

Wait until the regional dates come out. That will be a good thing to judge if there will be a change to the build season length. I would not foresee any change to the build length.

<gives thumbs up!>

I predict these are the most accurate posts here.

And I'll add, that if anything were to shift, I predict the break between the end of build & start of regional events would be shortened to fit the "ideal" situation you speak of with the start of build being "pushed back" in 2010.

[smurfgirl]

Somehow, I don't think that we're only going to have a five week build season next year. Like Elgin said, the timing for the rest of the season will most likely be adapted to fit with the slightly later Kickoff. And if it is shorter for some reason... that's just one more challenge everyone will adapt to!