2014 10,000 Lakes Regional

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by CLandrum3081

With 525 and 3018 unable to attend 10K due to the event being full, it does raise the question of when MN will have five regionals. From what I understand, this is due to a lack of available volunteers. I'll have to change that after I graduate.

I'm tempted to bet we'll be going to Districts before we get a fifth regional, and the Districts will be in MN in 2016 or 2017 (I haven't heard nearly enough buzz for it to happen next year).

[nfhammes]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

I'm tempted to bet we'll be going to Districts before we get a fifth regional, and the Districts will be in MN in 2016 or 2017 (I haven't heard nearly enough buzz for it to happen next year).

Yeah, Districts in MN isn't happening next year. 2016 or 2017 would be well within reason, but I would bet we get a fifth Minnesota regional first. We may be almost at the state's current carrying capacity for teams, but we're going to get a lot of additional pressure as states around us go to districts before us, both from their teams looking for out-of-state play, and from Michigan teams having fewer nearby options.

Unless we see an Iowa regional in the very near future. But I honestly don't know how likely that is. The FRC community in the state is certainly growing close to the number of required teams.

[SteveB2977]

Originally Posted by nfhammes

Yeah, Districts in MN isn't happening next year. 2016 or 2017 would be well within reason, but I would bet we get a fifth Minnesota regional first. We may be almost at the state's current carrying capacity for teams, but we're going to get a lot of additional pressure as states around us go to districts before us, both from their teams looking for out-of-state play, and from Michigan teams having fewer nearby options.

Unless we see an Iowa regional in the very near future. But I honestly don't know how likely that is. The FRC community in the state is certainly growing close to the number of required teams.

How about a regional right on the MN / WI border - close enough that it's an easy trip for Iowa teams - and in an area that is both growing in FRC teams, yet ripe for explosive growth? Hmmmm. Wherever could that be.


Just a thought

[Caleb Sykes]

Team 4536 will be ready for some exciting matches at 10K Lakes this weekend. We are hoping that our double-sided intake will be worth the effort. Since we only have 2 minor things to do on Thursday morning, our plan is to be out practicing all day Thursday.

I challenge anyone try to score more low goals than us in a 1v1 practice match. I hope 2052* comes out so that we can crush them, since our intake is at least twice as good as theirs.

I am also very interested to see who will win Chairman's and EI. Minnesota is still young, but there are many great up and coming teams that will finally be recognized through these awards.

(*my old team)

[pntbll1313]

Originally Posted by inkling16

I challenge anyone try to score more low goals than us in a 1v1 practice match. I hope 2052* comes out so that we can crush them, since our intake is at least twice as good as theirs.
(*my old team)

We're in the process of making quite a few improvements so we hope to use all day Thursday to get everything up and running at full strength. I'm not positive we'll have time but I really would love a little 1v1 exhibition match against you guys. I have heard quite a few good things about your bot

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

I'm tempted to bet we'll be going to Districts before we get a fifth regional, and the Districts will be in MN in 2016 or 2017 (I haven't heard nearly enough buzz for it to happen next year).

Seeing as we had some real trouble fielding enough volunteers for our 4 regionals this year (it's really been a headache for some reason), I doubt we'll be looking to try to fill out 12 district events (we've done the math - that's how many we would need) any time soon!

[CLandrum3081]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

Seeing as we had some real trouble fielding enough volunteers for our 4 regionals this year (it's really been a headache for some reason), I doubt we'll be looking to try to fill out 12 district events (we've done the math - that's how many we would need) any time soon!

Agreed. I think we'd see a fifth regional before districts. Plus, who wants to leave 525 out (again)?

While I'd like to see districts (more matches, more events), I don't think it's feasible. One thing areas with districts have over us is they've had area-wide participation in FRC for a while (I at least know this is true for Michigan and out East - not 100% certain on PNW). As far as I know, the oldest still-active team in MN is eight years old. Anyone care to fact-check me?

Point is, they've had years of students who've graduated, gone off to college, and come back to volunteer. Minnesota doesn't really have that. Our biggest assets as a region have been growth and sustainability - I haven't seen (looking at usfirst.org) many MN teams fold, and growth was huge in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Hopefully, as more kids graduate and come back to volunteer, we'll have enough volunteers to make more regionals or districts work.

Ideally, I'd like to see a district that includes several Midwest states (the Dakotas, Iowa, Wisconsin, for instance), even if it's temporary - just to allow for and encourage growth in the Dakotas and Iowa. I don't think we should be making districts that exclude these areas until they have their own regional, at the very least.

My $0.03 (since that was longer than intended).

Anyway, very excited for this regional. My birthday is actually tomorrow, and this regional is going to be enough celebration for me.

[toddhans]

Originally Posted by CLandrum3081

With 525 and 3018 unable to attend 10K due to the event being full, it does raise the question of when MN will have five regionals. From what I understand, this is due to a lack of available volunteers. I'll have to change that after I graduate.

I think the best place for this 5th Minnesota Regional would logically be Mankato. There are a bunch of FRC teams in southern Minnesota who have to go up to either Minneapolis, Duluth or out of state, spend money on lodging and travel there, and have no real alternatives in the area. Mankato is centrally located and has the Verizon Wireless Center downtown with a large hockey rink area. It is much like Mariucci with just a little less seating in its crowd set-up. It also has ballrooms connected to it if pits could not just be behind the hockey floor space. Plus, up the hill, Minnesota State University has a beautiful basketball arena with a lot of space near it, including Minnesota's largest indoor field house connected to it just down the hall. MSU has been doing well in their winter sports lately, so scheduling before mid to late March in either location may be an issue if they continue the trend. However, if you are really looking to do something in Minnesota, those are my suggestions. Thanks, and good luck!

[toddhans]

Congrats to our old partner in Duluth, 2052, and our final's opponent there, 3313, along with 2227! It was a fun finals to watch, as soon as I figured out where to find it on-line. I know 3313 had not ever made it to St. Louis as a team before, so 3018 looks forward to seeing you there for your first appearance. Maybe they'll put all us Minnesota teams in one of the four divisions - that would be pretty fun. Great job!

[Caleb Sykes]

Wow. That's all I've got to say (not completely true). Great refs, great volunteers, great game. 4536 went out and did great, and I am so proud of all of them. We decided to forgo any kind of shooter on day 2 of build, and instead build an awesome picker-upper/passer/assister/catcher/low goal scorer, and we succeeded at this. We ended up tying 2052 for total ASSIST points (400).

We had a spectacular alliance that realistically could have beaten out the 2-seed had 3202 not broken down. Still though, it was a blast. 2705 was an absolutely amazing high goal scorer. I think I only saw them miss one ball the entire eliminations, and that was because someone hit them right as they were shooting. I was pleasantly surprised that they were still around for the 4th pick, and again surprised when they actually accepted our invitation. 2705 has come so close to winning so many times now, I really hope they get the recognition they deserve in the near future. 3202 was an awesome second pick. They consistently caught the ball in their net, and pushed it out without issue every time. In the downtime, they played great D in our near zone.

My biggest surprise of the entire event was finding out that 2502 was picked 14th overall. 14th! Seriously, they were one of the top 5 shooters without a doubt, and their drive train blew everyone's mind. We didn't even put 2502 on our list because we were so sure that someone would pick them. Lesson learned there (since we could have had them as the 12th pick).

We are currently scrambling to see if we can afford to go to champs, since we qualified from 2052's wildcard. I hope we can go. Either way, we should be able to go to the state championship (assuming we qualify), which will be a ton of fun.

Shout out to Logan Mildenberger, one of the Dean's List Finalists. Logan is absolutely the best, and he has helped 2052 to continue to succeed even after they had major brain-drain last year.

That's all for now, but I might post another whole page later.

[mildew999]

Originally Posted by inkling16

Wow. That's all I've got to say (not completely true). Great refs, great volunteers, great game. 4536 went out and did great, and I am so proud of all of them. We decided to forgo any kind of shooter on day 2 of build, and instead build an awesome picker-upper/passer/assister/catcher/low goal scorer, and we succeeded at this. We ended up tying 2052 for total ASSIST points (400).

We had a spectacular alliance that realistically could have beaten out the 2-seed had 3202 not broken down. Still though, it was a blast. 2705 was an absolutely amazing high goal scorer. I think I only saw them miss one ball the entire eliminations, and that was because someone hit them right as they were shooting. I was pleasantly surprised that they were still around for the 4th pick, and again surprised when they actually accepted our invitation. 2705 has come so close to winning so many times now, I really hope they get the recognition they deserve in the near future. 3202 was an awesome second pick. They consistently caught the ball in their net, and pushed it out without issue every time. In the downtime, they played great D in our near zone.

My biggest surprise of the entire event was finding out that 2502 was picked 14th overall. 14th! Seriously, they were one of the top 5 shooters without a doubt, and their drive train blew everyone's mind. We didn't even put 2502 on our list because we were so sure that someone would pick them. Lesson learned there (since we could have had them as the 12th pick).

We are currently scrambling to see if we can afford to go to champs, since we qualified from 2052's wildcard. I hope we can go. Either way, we should be able to go to the state championship (assuming we qualify), which will be a ton of fun.

Shout out to Logan Mildenberger, one of the Dean's List Finalists. Logan is absolutely the best, and he has helped 2052 to continue to succeed even after they had major brain-drain last year.

That's all for now, but I might post another whole page later.

inkling16, yes the MinuteBots along with your whole alliance was very good and gave the 2nd seed alliance some tough competition. I too am impressed with 2705's bot this year. WE Robot is consistently very good, I'm quite certain they are on the threshold of taking the next step.

[MrRoboSteve]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

You mean 3 teams from East Minnesota, right

If you can walk to MN from the town, it's hardly Wisconsin.

Looking forward to seeing everyone -- look for me in the pit in the floppy orange hat, reminding you to update your software and fasten down wires.

[CLandrum3081]

Originally Posted by MrRoboSteve

If you can walk to MN from the town, it's hardly Wisconsin.

It's just Minnesota without access to PSEO, and with public finance laws that Tax Increment Finance coordinators complain to their children about.

We love you, Wisconsin/East Minnesota teams.

[davidfv]

After missing last year because my California Team was competing, I am so happy to be back as your Game Announcer. As everyone knows, defense IS an integral part of the game and will make scoring tough. One thing I would like to suggest is that teams avoid playing hard defense during practice matches on Thursday. Thursday is meant as a day for teams to practice, perfect strategies, scoring, fine tune their robots and some teams just learning how to drive their robot. We don't do game announcing on Thursdays because it seems to add a competitive feel to the practices.

So as you set your robots on the field, talk with the opposing alliance and think about no defense Thursdays to help teams with the basics. Just a thought.

Looking forward to seeing all the teams.

[toddhans]

Yep, 3018 tried to get into a Minneapolis regional, but they were completely filled up after we registered for Duluth that day. Since we wanted to give our robot a better chance at nationals (we were very fortunate to beat a great alliance headed by 3313 in Duluth), we signed up for Milwaukee once we found out we had very little chance of getting into either 10,000 Lakes or North Star. We took the last spot in Milwaukee, but only half of our team actually made it due to saving cash up for St. Louis. We ended up with a runner-up finish there, so hopefully that bodes well for us in Championships. Good luck to all the MN teams up at both Mariucci and Williams! Hope to see you in St. Louis in April and Minneapolis in May!

Originally Posted by MrBydlon

I was just thinking about doing a post like this Evan! Thanks for starting it!

That "all MN teams" stat is pretty crazy!

My biggest advice? Bring spare parts.

Other random notes:

No 525 Swartdogs is a pretty big change. They're dominated competition at 10K for quite a few years in a row. I mean, they've made the finals every year the event has been around and won the Regional the past 3 years. Last year, they also won Chairman's.

Another big absence will be 3018 Nordic Storm. They won Engineering Inspiration last year and kicked butt at Duluth already this year (we would know, haha).

It'll be interesting to see how teams who have been to a competition already this season will adjust to the hard hitting battles (2052, 2470, 2502, 2750, 3081, 3184, 3313, any others?). We definitely learned a lot at Duluth and by watching more Regionals the past couple weeks.

My biggest concern is consistent foul calls throughout qualifying and elimination rounds. Watching Wisconsin and how the refs really focused on calling "high speed ramming" fouls only in Elims has me a little worried. But I hope with a week to let the new rule stew, the calls are made consistently. It is what it is; I just want to go into each match with a general idea of what is allowed and what is not.

But yeah! We are super excited! I've been to 10K for 4 years now and it's so awesome to get to know so many of the teams throughout the years.

Cannot wait to see everyone and play Aerial Assault... I mean Aerial Assist!

Is it Thursday yet?