Regionals vs Off Season - Budget Constraint Edition

[smurfgirl]

I think a certain balance has to be achieved between the number of regionals and off-seasons you go to. One of your options includes 14 off-seasons- this strikes me as very draining! Competitions are a lot of fun and a great learning experience, but they take a lot of energy for preparation and at the events themselves. Students and mentors and parents all need some time to rest and recover after competitions before preparing for the next, and I don't know if that's really possible with 14 off-season events. Everyone needs a bit of a break after the high-stress build season! Regionals also tend to draw crowds from more diverse locations, rather than just a local scale, so they allow the opportunity to interact with other teams. They also have a huge level of energy and excitement. On the other hand, if you attend a lot of off-seasons, lower team attendance will probably occur at each competition, which means more team members will have the opportunity to try out different roles on the team. I think you should opt for somewhere in the middle - maybe do two official competitions (either a regional and the Championship or two regionals), and a handful of off-seasons. This way there is a balance between the competition types and their different atmospheres, but no one burns out.