Team Update 2/28/12

[Steven Donow]

GAME
General Announcements

2012 Foul Process

Congratulations on surviving build season! Just a few things we wanted to remind you about before you head off to your first competition…

Your Head Referee and their Referee staff are here to work with you and ensure that we have consistent, fair play in all matches. If you have any concerns about what happens on the Court, a student player can go to either the red or blue question box at either end of the scoring table. As soon as the Head Ref has a moment, they will talk to them there. One big change this year though, normal Fouls are not up for discussion – Technical-Fouls, cards and general concerns are all open for discussion – just not normal Fouls. We don’t enter or record any details about them, other than their occurrence. This approach is very similar to other sports where basic calls aren’t challengeable.

Recall that this year Fouls will be called and updated in real time. When a Referee sees a Foul committed, they will first raise their flag, point to the offending Robot, and, they will also issue a hand signal (if the Foul is one of the six that we predicted to be the most likely). Those hand signals are how Teams learn what Foul has been called – more details on them can be found under Section 3 - The Game on the Competition Manual section of the FIRST Website. The Referee will then enter the Foul into the scoring system, which will credit the other alliance with points – kind of like a free-throw in basketball or a penalty kick in soccer – only the points are guaranteed in our case – and credited immediately.

All of that means that about fifteen seconds after the buzzer in any Match, the score you see on the screen will be the final score – no more waiting for adjustments. (Issuing of a Yellow or Red Card may take another minute or so to make sure we get the details right, but cards don’t affect the score in the current Match during the Qualification portion of the Tournament.)

Lastly – Rule [G44] says that you cannot be penalized for something your Robot does that was directly caused by the actions of your opponent. It does have an exception though – it doesn’t affect Rule [G28]. Any time an opponent contacts a Robot that touching its Key, Alley or Bridge – it’s a Foul on the opponent – no matter who caused it to happen. So be careful – and provide plenty of breathing room in those areas.

Cutting the Nets

In the tradition of customary Basketball, there will be an opportunity for the winning Alliance and the Chairman’s Award winning team to each cut down one net as a souvenir of the competition and of their success. As the final event during the Awards Ceremony, the drive teams from the winning Alliance will be invited to come onto the Court and join the Chairman’s Award winning team to cut down one net per team. The ceremonies will conclude and the audience will be dismissed as the drive teams make their way to the Court.

One member from each team will be provided with cutters and may cut down one net, one at a time, safely and expeditiously. A ladder may not be used; however those cutting the nets may stand on the Fender.

The net from the Top Basket will be reserved for the Regional Chairman’s Award winning team.
GAME
The Robot
The 2012 FRC Inspection Checklist has been updated to Rev C and is now available under Section 4 - The Robot on the Competition Manual section of the FIRST Website.

I, for one, am incredibly excited that they're letting us cut the nets!

[Cory]

Hm, I guess it won't take up an hour of event staff time after all?

[dodar]

If they are going with basketball traditions, does the winning alliance get to give their drive coaches a gatorade shower? Also, just an FYI towards IRI, since it is considered the "all-star" regional in FIRST I think they should have certain events like the real NBA All-Star game does.

[BX MARK]

Originally Posted by dodar

If they are going with basketball traditions, does the winning alliance get to give their drive coaches a gatorade shower? Also, just an FYI towards IRI, since it is considered the "all-star" regional in FIRST I think they should have certain events like the real NBA All-Star game does.

The gatorade shower is football

[dodar]

Originally Posted by BX MARK

The gatorade shower is football

Its every sport.

[flippy147852]

Will this also apply to FiM and MAR District events or will this only apply to their respective Championship events?

[George A.]

Originally Posted by flippy147852

Will this also apply to FiM and MAR District events or will this only apply to their respective Championship events?

Well the MAR Districts each have a Winning Alliance and Chairman's...although the MAR championship has 2 Chairman's....so I don't know how that'll work.

[Francis-134]

Originally Posted by George A.

Well the MAR Districts each have a Winning Alliance and Chairman's...although the MAR championship has 2 Chairman's....so I don't know how that'll work.

There are two top nets; one blue, one red.

[Justin Montois]

Originally Posted by Francis-134

There are two top nets; one blue, one red.

You just blew my mind!

I'm guessing they will only allow one set to be cut down.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Justin Montois

You just blew my mind!

I'm guessing they will only allow one set to be cut down.

Or they are having 2 chairmans winners!!!

[P.J.]

Originally Posted by Francis-134

There are two top nets; one blue, one red.

The FiM Championship has three Chairman's winners. But I'm sure one of the teams will graciously give up their right to top net. They are a Chairman's winner after all

[Tyler Olds]

Originally Posted by flippy147852

Will this also apply to FiM and MAR District events or will this only apply to their respective Championship events?

Per an email that I received about this earlier today: "In an attempt to add “flare” to the end of the FRC events (not Districts), the GDC has decided to borrow a long-standing basketball tournament tradition and allow the Winning Alliance and the CA winner to cut the nets from the baskets at the conclusion of the event."

I am going to assume that the FiM and MAR Championship events will allow you to but not at districts.

[bduddy]

Originally Posted by Tyler Olds

Per an email that I received about this earlier today: "In an attempt to add “flare” to the end of the FRC events (not Districts), the GDC has decided to borrow a long-standing basketball tournament tradition and allow the Winning Alliance and the CA winner to cut the nets from the baskets at the conclusion of the event."

I am going to assume that the FiM and MAR Championship events will allow you to but not at districts.

I hope the email didn't actually say "flare"... Well, nice to see FIRST actually implementing something cool in response to feedback.

As for the other part of the update, it will be nice to see hand signals during the match... I just hope they're explained well to the teams and the audience. And I hope that there is some kind of review process so that all of the volunteer refs with a couple of days' training can be told if they're doing something wrong...

[alectronic]

Originally Posted by bduddy

And I hope that there is some kind of review process so that all of the volunteer refs with a couple of days' training can be told if they're doing something wrong...

All key volunteers go through training, and in the case of ref's, they specifically take a test. So you should safely be able to count on consistency and accuracy! (at least in my opinion) I guess we will be able to tell after week 1

[bduddy]

Originally Posted by alectronic

All key volunteers go through training, and in the case of ref's, they specifically take a test. So you should safely be able to count on consistency and accuracy! (at least in my opinion) I guess we will be able to tell after week 1

Of course, but having refereed intramural sports at my college, things can definitely be different in high-pressure scenarios, and I'm just a little worried that some people might be thrown off by the change in procedure or that new referees might make some mistakes without being noticed.