District/Regional Format

[artdutra04]

There are aspects of the Michigan system which are good, but I really don't think the Michigan system is a magic bullet that will fix FIRST everywhere if only it can be imposed on them. While anything to help reduce costs to teams will certainly help everyone in the long run, I don't think the Michigan system is the only way to attain high team sustainability and competitiveness.

In fact, there's a competing system in place, which has been around for the greater part of the last decade, that does many of the same goals as the Michigan System. This competing system involves a very large number of very-low-cost competitions in a relatively small geographic area that extends the FRC season into a year-round program. This system wasn't imposed on anyone, but organically grew from passionate grassroots efforts on behalf of teams and mentors. This system is what some might call the New England system (possible even the Northeast system to include NY and NJ area).

Since the 1990s, New England (which is about the same size and population as Michigan) has been slowly building up a very robust off-season competition circuit. Each of these off-season events are hosted by a team, and many of them act as fundraiser opportunities to fund their own team's program. Despite this, up to a dozen off-season competitions can be attended for the same price as one FiM District Event. As a result, it's not uncommon for a team to attend three, four, five off-season competitions each year.

Due to the deep history of not only off-season events, but also FIRST in general in New England, the mindset of FIRSTers here is different than other parts of the country. It's really hard to put how it's different into words, but it's unique. Due to fact that many teams and mentors involved in FIRST here were also involved in FRC back in the defense-dominated games of the 1990s, defense is also pretty big here.

We also take to off-season events here like a duck to water. Since these competitions are "just for fun", teams often let any and all students drive their robots. These students, who wouldn't normally get to drive the robot at official events have a blast at these competitions. We often tweak the rules of the game at these events, to make the game more fun or challenging. Mentors like these events because they are relatively stress-free, especially when compared to official events. Overall, they are cheap, fun and popular.

Many of the teams, mentors, and volunteers who plan these events are also the movers and shakers of FIRST in New England. They would be the ones responsible for establishing a District System here. But from talking to many of these individuals, there's not much of a desire to impose a District System here, as it would overstretch these volunteers as they run their own teams and manage their off-season events. And for the reasons listed above, they doubt the need for a District system here.

Instead, there have been strong efforts here to create a sort of Regionals 2.0. Better, stronger, faster, cheaper. The WPI Regional is a prime example of this: a small 30-40 team event allows a high number of matches, has travel grants to reduce the costs for all attending teams, has Regional-specific scholarships to reward students, and by doing everything "in-house" on a college campus, they can host a full-quality Regional for a fraction of the price. I foresee these trends to continue, as the NU CT Regional also awarded travel grants this year, and at least for a few days this past season was slated to be hosted at a college campus.

What this New England system allows, is for a $10k/year team to attend one high-quality Regional event and up to a half dozen off-season events scattered throughout the year. Since these off-season events are mostly single-day events, travel costs are essentially null. By spreading the competitions out over the year, it reduces burn-out and keeps students engaged throughout the year. And the "just for fun" nature of the off-season events allows all the students to be inspired behind the glass, driving the robots.

Please don't take this as an attack on FiM. If the teams in Michigan appreciate and enjoy the District format, congratulations for finding a solution to fit your regions needs! But please don't make the mistake of thinking that the entire country has the same attitude about FIRST and try to impose the District System on everyone. Some parts of the country have already found our own successful niche solutions, and while we may not always brag about them, we like them and we want to continue doing them.