New England District Events 2016

[Brandon Holley]

Thanks everyone for the kind words about the NU District.

Basically, we couldn't get the dates to work this year- the schedule is super constrained with the VERY late kickoff and Easter falling smack dab in the middle of the season. Week 6 is also generally an area we'd like to avoid as it gives teams very little time to prepare for a trip to DCMP.

BU and Agganis will be a great venue- which is the bar that was set by the NU District. I would be very shocked to NOT see us back at NU in the near future.

In the meantime- we have one heck of a venue to play in!

-Brando
Northeastern/Boston District Event Chair

[Nathan Streeter]

I'm really disappointed that the three events that are easiest to get to for 1519 are all Saturday-Sunday events. I guess our travel budget will be going up this year, particularly with DCMP also being in Hartford...

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Nathan Streeter

I'm really disappointed that the three events that are easiest to get to for 1519 are all Saturday-Sunday events. I guess our travel budget will be going up this year, particularly with DCMP also being in Hartford...

That's unfortunate with the adjusted scheduling of FRC this year but the schools are still on the same schedule so Week 1 no longer falls during NH school vacation so the high school venues for GSD can't run a Fri/Sat event.

At least there are still some Friday/Saturday events this year.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Nathan Streeter

I'm really disappointed that the three events that are easiest to get to for 1519 are all Saturday-Sunday events. I guess our travel budget will be going up this year, particularly with DCMP also being in Hartford...

Definitely understand the sentiment. The scheduling constraints this year were very tough (as I sort of outlined above). Late kickoff, Easter on Week 4, and trying to avoid Week 6 to give teams time to plan for DCMP - something had to give, and that lead to more Sat/Sun events.

Brando

[Mr_I]

Originally Posted by Nathan Streeter

I'm really disappointed that the three events that are easiest to get to for 1519 are all Saturday-Sunday events. I guess our travel budget will be going up this year, particularly with DCMP also being in Hartford...

I won't say I'm disappointed with the Saturday-Sunday events (other than it makes it all but impossible to attend Mass), but I will agree that transportation costs are obviously going up ... especially since we (probably) won' t know we're in the NECMP until a few days beforehand (thus making hotel reservations very expensive).
Ditto for St. Louis, although we could book our charter bus before we know we're going, and cancel if we're not. Hotels ... not much we can do here.

[Alan Anderson]

Why do people seem to be expressing discontent with Saturday-Sunday competitions? I saw complaints earlier that going to more events is a problem because it means more time out of school, and not having Friday as a competition day addresses that. I, for one, am quite happy that two of the four Indiana events in 2016 won't be requiring me to take vacation time.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Why do people seem to be expressing discontent with Saturday-Sunday competitions? I saw complaints earlier that going to more events is a problem because it means more time out of school, and not having Friday as a competition day addresses that. I, for one, am quite happy that two of the four Indiana events in 2016 won't be requiring me to take vacation time.

1519 won't compete on Sundays due to their religious background.

[Jacob Bendicksen]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Why do people seem to be expressing discontent with Saturday-Sunday competitions? I saw complaints earlier that going to more events is a problem because it means more time out of school, and not having Friday as a competition day addresses that. I, for one, am quite happy that two of the four Indiana events in 2016 won't be requiring me to take vacation time.

I think it's because, as others have mentioned, it gets in the way of attending Mass.

[Nathan Streeter]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

Why do people seem to be expressing discontent with Saturday-Sunday competitions? I saw complaints earlier that going to more events is a problem because it means more time out of school, and not having Friday as a competition day addresses that. I, for one, am quite happy that two of the four Indiana events in 2016 won't be requiring me to take vacation time.

Originally Posted by Jay O'Donnell

1519 won't compete on Sundays due to their religious background.

As Jay said, 1519 doesn't attend Saturday-Sunday events because of our religious beliefs. Teams based out of a Christian school or with a Christian background range from being fine with competing on Sundays to being prohibited from competing on Sundays by their school.

I've talked with some people involved in FIRST who'd prefer not to compete on Sundays - not for religious reasons, but for pragmatic reasons... for example, so that they have a day to 'recover' or travel before going back to work/school.

[Jessica Boucher]

Originally Posted by Jacob Bendicksen

I think it's because, as others have mentioned, it gets in the way of attending Mass.

There's two reasons: one is religious-based (faith-based events on Sundays), and some people prefer to take Sunday to unwind after an event. We do our best to get a nice mix of events, but for all the reasons above, it's a tough year in general for scheduling.

The good news is it's not a permanent problem every year.

[jwfoss]

Based purely on retaining as much vacation time as possible for non-robot related activities I am always happy when our local events are Saturday-Sunday. That being said I understand the religious desires to not have Sunday competitions. As much as I choose not to look behind the curtain of what the planning committee does, I commend them on their efforts to do the complex scheduling. Since deciding to focus only on team support, it's true... ignorance can be bliss.

[Nathan Streeter]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

Definitely understand the sentiment. The scheduling constraints this year were very tough (as I sort of outlined above). Late kickoff, Easter on Week 4, and trying to avoid Week 6 to give teams time to plan for DCMP - something had to give, and that lead to more Sat/Sun events.

Brando

Originally Posted by Jessica Boucher

There's two reasons: one is religious-based (faith-based events on Sundays), and some people prefer to take Sunday to unwind after an event. We do our best to get a nice mix of events, but for all the reasons above, it's a tough year in general for scheduling.

The good news is it's not a permanent problem every year.

It's good to know that it's not the intention to make Friday-Saturday events rare (or 'phase them out')...

It seems like it'd be ideal for everyone if there was a nice split of Friday-Saturday and Saturday-Sunday events so that teams could pretty much pick their preference (or if they don't care, they can pick events based solely off week, location, or some other factor). I understand that even if absolutely everyone thought that setup was ideal, working it out in reality would still be a different story!

This year though, it's unfortunate that there are fewer Friday-Saturday events (4), they're located further towards the edges of the region, and only one of them isn't on weeks 3 or 4... it's kind of the 'perfect storm' for us.

Anyway, I'm not trying to sound annoying about all the scheduling, just making sure there's a voice advocating for the Friday-Saturday events... :-) I really appreciate the great efforts that dozens of people put into coordinating when and where the events are held!

[smurfgirl]

I'm excited to see the District Championship in Hartford! I'll be heading home for it, and possibly other events depending on how many affordable plane tickets I find.

[MooreteP]

Originally Posted by Jay O'Donnell

1519 won't compete on Sundays due to their religious background.

Imagine if you were Jewish. Saturday is their sabbath. The only competition that acknowledges this conflict is the Israel Regional.

This has led to interesting events at the CMP where some Israeli teams had their Robots being driven by other teams on Saturday.

[crazyrobochick]

Very excited to have a district event back in Waterbury this year. Hoping for no snow this year so we don't have to pack in early!