pic: Lone Star Winners

[Kris Verdeyen]

Thanks for your responses, Paul and Nelson. That sheds some light on the subject. I knew that 1108 wasn't shopping around for weak Chairman's competition at regionals, and if they were, they were doing a bad job - LSR has some excellent teams in this area - especially and most recently 922 from Laredo which won in 2006 and 2007, and was recognized for their efforts at the Championship with a Judge's award.

It also counters what I would consider the biggest immediate benefit in having a "home" regional and competing there for chairmans, which is the ability of family and friends of the team to make it out to see your team win the highest award in FIRST.

My greater question, I guess, is this:

Is there any long-term benefit to having a "home" regional? Does the term even mean anything? And if there is a benefit, how do we maximize it?

I know that personally, after having gone to the LSR for 8 years now, I know people on most of the veteran teams, and it feels a little bit like a family reunion every year. What do you all think? Is there more to a home regional than this feeling or not?