2011 FRC Season dates

[Nawaid Ladak]

looking at the academic schedules for universities where regional events are held, this is what we come up with

Week 1 (3/3/11-3/5/11)
+Finger Lakes Regional

Week 2 (3/10/11-3/12/11)
+Florida Regional
+WPI Regional

Week 3 (3/17/11-3/19/11)
+Boilermaker Regional
+Las Vegas Regional

Week 4 (3/24/11-3/26/11)
+Autodesk Oregon Regional
+Palmetto Regional
+Philadelphia Regional
+VCU Regional

Week 5 (3/31/11-4/2/11)
+Silicone Valley Regional

UC Davis has a break from 3/19-3/24 so they might do a Tuesday/Wednesday thing again, possibly on 3/22-3/23. The University of Minnesota does not host their regional events during their spring break therefore they are excluded from this list. If anyone has any extra events to add to this list, please let me know and i'll make the changes ASAP

[TKM.368]

3/24-26/2011 for Hawaii. Already being advertised as such.

[JesseK]

What's wrong with a 45-day build season? It's long enough, and the teams who are extremely successful keep the engineering process going after that 45 days as it is.

[JOClarke]

Has anybody heard about any new regionals, usually Dean gives some sort of hint at the end of champs. What about the North Carolina Regional - this was a great regional.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Nawaid Ladak

looking at the academic schedules for universities where regional events are held, this is what we come up with

Week 1 (3/3/11-3/5/11)
+Finger Lakes Regional

Week 2 (3/10/11-3/12/11)
+Florida Regional
+WPI Regional

Week 3 (3/17/11-3/19/11)
+Boilermaker Regional
+Las Vegas Regional

Week 4 (3/24/11-3/26/11)
+Autodesk Oregon Regional
+Palmetto Regional
+Philadelphia Regional
+VCU Regional

Week 5 (3/31/11-4/2/11)
+Silicone Valley Regional

UC Davis has a break from 3/19-3/24 so they might do a Tuesday/Wednesday thing again, possibly on 3/22-3/23. The University of Minnesota does not host their regional events during their spring break therefore they are excluded from this list. If anyone has any extra events to add to this list, please let me know and i'll make the changes ASAP

SVR and Oregon are wrong, barring dramatic changes. SVR is almost always week 3 and Oregon week 1/2.

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by Cory

I'm not so sure about that. FIRST asked the Hall of Fame teams if we would prefer a 7 week build season. I believe other research was being done to evaluate a 7 week build season as well.

I hope it's 6.

Seconded.
6 weeks burns most teams out enough. Any lengthening of the true build season will add to the mentor burnout factor, and mentor retention being a top priority of FIRST makes me think they would want to avaoid this.

[Foster]

Add me to the following lists:

- 6 week build cycle: I'm pretty burned out by Tuesday 2AM when the box is sealed shut. Another week and I think I'd be falling over. I'm not sure that the 7th week would be a bonus, I'm thinking it would be just another seven 20 hour days of panic at the end.

- people that love FLR: We went last year and had a blast, our roboteers want to go back for Ruckus in the fall.

- people that go "ugh" over FLR being Week 1. We had a good time, but wow were we burned out at the end. Maybe if it's week 2.

Originally Posted by Paul Copioli

See you guys say, "Ugh" and I say "Awesome" because it means that Finger Lakes is the likely place the ThunderChickens will compete since it may be week 1. I really like FLR.

My HERO! I'd love to play against the ThunderChickens, but not at the expense of the soul crushing that is Week One. How about coming to Philly and I'll treat to famous Philly Cheese-steaks to make up for the longer drive?

Hey FIRST, how about a 6 week build, a two week gap and 6 weeks of events?

[dag0620]

Originally Posted by Foster

Hey FIRST, how about a 6 week build, a two week gap and 6 weeks of events?

Now thats actually a good idea.

Plus events like Suffield etc. Could be held during that time, instead of Build season.

[hg273]

Originally Posted by Cory

SVR and Oregon are wrong, barring dramatic changes. SVR is almost always week 3 and Oregon week 1/2.

Oregon is going to be a week 4 regional event this year. It was the only week that the Memorial Coliseum could be secured.

[Peter Matteson]

Originally Posted by dag0620

Now thats actually a good idea.

Plus events like Suffield etc. Could be held during that time, instead of Build season.

No, they couldn't. We wouldn't have robots unless the shipping/bagging rules were changed.

Although a 2 week break before week one regionals would make competing then more pallatable I think the extra week will be between the final regionals week and championship like in the past when for scheduling reasons the Championship was later.

[Jared Russell]

My "dream scenario" (which ignores the fact that many regionals would need to find new venues if week 1 is changed dramatically as suggested below):

-6 week build

-Only one week 1 event (that rotates around the country). It would effectively be an official post-ship scrimmage. Teams who opt to attend get to uncrate/unbag their robots early and maybe get a reduced registration fee in return for having to deal with the normal week 1 issues. This lets all of FIRST keep a close eye on the competition to ensure smooth sailing for the rest of the season.

-5 or 6 weeks of regular districts/regionals (depending on the calendar configuration in a given year)

[rwood359]

Originally Posted by Foster

Add me to the following lists:

- 6 week build cycle: I'm pretty burned out by Tuesday 2AM when the box is sealed shut. Another week and I think I'd be falling over. I'm not sure that the 7th week would be a bonus, I'm thinking it would be just another seven 20 hour days of panic at the end.

Hey FIRST, how about a 6 week build, a two week gap and 6 weeks of events?

I like this idea. It is probably most attractive teams that are going to week 1 events.
Last year we went to week 1 and 2 events. We don't go home between events, so we are on the road for almost two weeks.
Six weeks of build, one week to catch up after putting personal life off for six weeks, get house and yard ready to be gone two weeks, and almost two weeks of travel and competition. That's a significant part of a year for both the students and mentors. I'm retired, so I have part of my days free. I have tremendous respect for the mentors that work and spend most of their free time during FRC season with their teams. An extra week would be a lot to ask of both the mentors and students.
We're probably doing week 1 and 2 again this year. I'd love to have a week of breathing room before the first competition.

[Nawaid Ladak]

Originally Posted by hg273

Autodesk Oregon is March 24th-26th. This was confirmed by our FIRST regional contact. We're also pretty sure that it's a week 4 regional this year, although this was not confirmed.
This is a departure, as historically, Oregon has been a week 1 or 2 event.

Originally Posted by Cory

SVR and Oregon are wrong, barring dramatic changes. SVR is almost always week 3 and Oregon week 1/2.

after further review, your right on SVR, it doesn't coincide with SJSU's spring break, and it hasn't for the past two years.

please see the above post for the information about the Autodesk Oregon Regional (i wonder if this means the Seattle Regionals/Superregional will be early in the event season)

Originally Posted by Nawaid Ladak

looking at the academic schedules for universities where regional events are held, this is what we come up with

Week 1 (3/3/11-3/5/11)
+Finger Lakes Regional

Week 2 (3/10/11-3/12/11)
+Florida Regional
+WPI Regional

Week 3 (3/17/11-3/19/11)
+Boilermaker Regional
+Las Vegas Regional

Week 4 (3/24/11-3/26/11)
+Autodesk Oregon Regional
+Hawaii Regional
+Palmetto Regional
+Philadelphia Regional
+VCU Regional

Week 5 (3/31/11-4/2/11)


UC Davis has a break from 3/19-3/24 so they might do a Tuesday/Wednesday thing again, possibly on 3/22-3/23. The University of Minnesota does not host their regional events during their spring break therefore they are excluded from this list. If anyone has any extra events to add to this list, please let me know and i'll make the changes ASAP

[Heretic121]

dunno how this hasnt been posted but week 1 = BAE... for the past 7 seasons since its true inception in 2003

[Chris is me]

From the US Cellular Arena website:

March 2011
FIRST Robotics 2011 Wisconsin Regional Competition
US Cellular Arena
March 10, 2011 - March 12, 2011

Wisconsin's the same week as WPI again. :/