Registration 2015

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by Ricksta

Kickoff in early October.
Robots built by Thanksgiving.
Districts/Regionals January through early March.
WCMP in late March/Early April.

Then you run into FTC and FLL season. Won't work.

[MrForbes]

...and teams playing with their practice robots all through holiday break.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

There's a third alternative. Expand the size of max capacity of district events.

That's possible but could eliminate current venues as 40 teams is the max some venues can facilitate between the pit space and space in the stands. If FIM districts increased capacity by five slots and assuming it has 18 districts with three per weekend it would allow for 45 new teams and 90 new spots.

With how fast Michigan has been growing that solution most likely won't get them through 2016. I'm sure FIM is looking at viable options they can implement.

[Kevin Pardus]

Originally Posted by Christopher149

Wow Michigan, wow. And in case anyone didn't notice, FIM has penciled in an 18th event for week 1, location TBD.

PNW added their 10th District Event: Shorewood 20-22 Mar / week 4

[dag0620]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

There's a third alternative. Expand the size of max capacity of district events.

Just to play devil's advocate, the other issue that this could bring up is the length of the event. As it is, it's incredible that we fit in 12 matches a team for 40 teams in the time we do. If the 12 match guarantee was to continue, the more teams an event has, the longer the event will end up running.

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by dag0620

Just to play devil's advocate, the other issue that this could bring up is the length of the event. As it is, it's incredible that we fit in 12 matches a team for 40 teams in the time we do. If the 12 match guarantee was to continue, the more teams an event has, the longer the event will end up running.

Every team adds 2 matches to the event if each team has 12 matches (6 spots per match x 2). Crossroads Regional had 45 teams last year and ran 90 matches, or 12 per team. It's definitely doable.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

Every team adds 2 matches to the event if each team has 12 matches (6 spots per match x 2). Crossroads Regional had 45 teams last year and ran 90 matches, or 12 per team. It's definitely doable.

Keep in mind the 2-day vs 3-day scheduling differences. A 2-day events, you lose a morning of qualification match time to practice matches.

[RockerRobot]

Team 3021 The Agency has a locked in spot at San Jose, but we were wondering if anyone is willing to trade for a San Diego, Ventura, or Rancho Mirage spot, it would save us a lot of money and time if we could stay local. PM me if your team is interested in a trade.

[Mark McLeod]

Originally Posted by RockerRobot

Team 3021 The Agency has a locked in spot at San Jose, but we were wondering if anyone is willing to trade for a San Diego, Ventura, or Rancho Mirage spot, it would save us a lot of money and time if we could stay local. PM me if your team is interested in a trade.

I don't think starting a black market in trading event slots is going to work out.
They aren't swappable.

If you drop an event it's the RD who chooses the next team from the waitlist as a replacement.
I suggest that you talk your idea over with them before you do anything rash, like drop an event you won't be able to get back in to.

[The_ShamWOW88]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Keep in mind the 2-day vs 3-day scheduling differences. A 2-day events, you lose a morning of qualification match time to practice matches.

What they could do is run practice matches later on load-in night and start Quals morning of Day 1...

Just a thought...

Originally Posted by RockerRobot

Team 3021 The Agency has a locked in spot at San Jose, but we were wondering if anyone is willing to trade for a San Diego, Ventura, or Rancho Mirage spot, it would save us a lot of money and time if we could stay local. PM me if your team is interested in a trade.

Yeah I would reach out to your RD and explain the situation, they might be able to talk with another competition director and work out something. But like Mark said, don't just drop out of your current regional in hopes to get into another "Full" one.

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Keep in mind the 2-day vs 3-day scheduling differences. A 2-day events, you lose a morning of qualification match time to practice matches.

Originally Posted by The_ShamWOW88

What they could do is run practice matches later on load-in night and start Quals morning of Day 1...

Just a thought...

Not having done a district event before this upcoming season, I thought that's how it ran, with practice matches on load-in/inspection night.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

Not having done a district event before this upcoming season, I thought that's how it ran, with practice matches on load-in/inspection night.

They try to do practice on load in night but it depends if the field is setup. I know there were no practice matches at the Granite State and UNH districts but we had some at Northeastern near the end of the night. I heard other events had load in night practice but not sure which ones. Depending on when an event can get access to facilities, which for districts can be late in the afternoon on load in day, it can be close to impossible to get the field ready to run for load in practice.

The focus of load in night needs to be on the inspections. For early events where teams are going through the process for the first time of the year you'll be lucky if you get half of the teams inspected by the end of the night. At GSD and UNH a majority of the teams were inspected the following morning. Add in practice matches and the backlog of teams will increase.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

Not having done a district event before this upcoming season, I thought that's how it ran, with practice matches on load-in/inspection night.

No, in fact, many venues are just setting the field up on practice night or are installing and testing electronics.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by The_ShamWOW88

What they could do is run practice matches later on load-in night and start Quals morning of Day 1...

Good discussion on practice match hours here. Submitted for Frank Answers Fridays but never answered.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by MechEng83

Not having done a district event before this upcoming season, I thought that's how it ran, with practice matches on load-in/inspection night.

MAR events do allow for some practice matches on the evening of day 0. But those are usually open (no practice schedule) and more focused on getting teams connected to the field for the first time. The teams who pass inspection early can take advantage of this time better than those who don't. Teams are usually encouraged to bring a much smaller crew on day 0, as well. The scheduled practice matches run the morning of day 1.

YMMV by district.