Are 8 play regional reasonable?

[dradel]

The part that I haven't seen anyone bring up yet is the fact that you get 2 events in the district model. So really you are getting in the area of 20-24 plays for the $5k. But then must pay more $$ to go to district champs, then more $$ if moving on to worlds

[maxnz]

Originally Posted by dradel

The part that I haven't seen anyone bring up yet is the fact that you get 2 events in the district model. So really you are getting in the area of 20-24 plays for the $5k. But then must pay more $$ to go to district champs, then more $$ if moving on to worlds

But the fact that you have more matches to fine-tune your robot before champs makes the price of the district events, DCMP and CMP (5K+4K+5K) much more worth it than paying for two regionals and CMP (5K+4K+5K).

[dradel]

No one says you have to do two regionals. I mean if you win at a regional your in for champs. If you win say Chairmans at a regional you are in as well. Our first year we won rookie all star at the one regional we went to, and then went on to worlds.

[dradel]

Everyone needs to take a breath!!

[novamx3]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

I can say that both venues this weekend had key volunteers pushing for 9 matches but the people who determine how many matches vetoed it. Also for some reason it was determined that both events had to have the same number of matches. North star was running ahead of schedule and had to routinely slow their pace, we easily could have had 9 maybe even 10 matches but since 10K didnt think they could with 3 more teams North Star got shafted.

These 2 events were just that 2 DIFFERENT events and should be run that way.

Ok... Everyone sign up for North Star next year, you'll get to play more matches!

[dradel]

I will say this for districts... It does give teams that may not have the experience, tech resources, or $$ to be competitive. From my one year in regional experience which was our rookie year the regionals were overly dominated by teams that way outclassed most of the other teams. Districts still has the top notch teams from the area but it seems to be a bit more level of a playing field.
As a mentor there is not much that is more disheartening to see the defeated look in your students eyes before they even play their first match. Again districts makes it so the lower tier teams can be picked for elims or maybe even captain an alliance which both can be very inspiring!
One thing that concerns me regardless of regional or district model is sustainability. At some point costs to register are going to jump up, and when you figure in the current budget shortfalls most states are facing programs are going to be cut, and I fear for the teams that are super dependent on their school system for funding.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by dradel

I will say this for districts... It does give teams that may not have the experience, tech resources, or $$ to be competitive. From my one year in regional experience which was our rookie year the regionals were overly dominated by teams that way outclassed most of the other teams. Districts still has the top notch teams from the area but it seems to be a bit more level of a playing field.
As a mentor there is not much that is more disheartening to see the defeated look in your students eyes before they even play their first match. Again districts makes it so the lower tier teams can be picked for elims or maybe even captain an alliance which both can be very inspiring!
One thing that concerns me regardless of regional or district model is sustainability. At some point costs to register are going to jump up, and when you figure in the current budget shortfalls most states are facing programs are going to be cut, and I fear for the teams that are super dependent on their school system for funding.

This is very true and can be evidenced by certain states. Ones that have taken advantage of the FTC competition structure to improve team quality have seen improvements in merit qualifications to world champs. Meanwhile, those same states that stay in the regional systems send a lower percentage of FRC teams to worlds.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

This is very true and can be evidenced by certain states. Ones that have taken advantage of the FTC competition structure to improve team quality have seen improvements in merit qualifications to world champs. Meanwhile, those same states that stay in the regional systems send a lower percentage of FRC teams to worlds.

The difference in qualifications to Champs is that regionals get a specific number of teams per regional, while districts get a % of spots at Champs. The result is that district areas have a pretty equivalent ratio representation at champs, while some regional areas are worse. It's not a question of competitiveness. From what I saw posted on here, the new Iowa regional was highly competitive, with high scores, higher % of breaches and captures... but they still only sent the same number of teams as every other regional.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

The difference in qualifications to Champs is that regionals get a specific number of teams per regional, while districts get a % of spots at Champs. The result is that district areas have a pretty equivalent ratio representation at champs, while some regional areas are worse. It's not a question of competitiveness. From what I saw posted on here, the new Iowa regional was highly competitive, with high scores, higher % of breaches and captures... but they still only sent the same number of teams as every other regional.

As a team who earned their first robot-merit spot in 14 years yesterday, I am acutely aware of this fact.