Divisions at nationals based on Regions?

[Dan Richardson]

With all this debate fuming about who has the strongest region why don't we approach FIRST in breaking up the divisions at nationals wrather than the traditional 1,2,3,4 method, but by Region.

Break up the Country into 4 Divisions, North East, South, MidWest, and West and assign them each a division at nationals. Teams would compete amongst themselves and then the finals would be the finalists from each region.

This would bring a tremendous amount more pride to regions ( As if there isn't enough already ) It would encourage every team to build up their region as much as possible and would IMO increase outreach 10 fold. Teams would concentrate on strengthening not only their own team, but the teams around them. You would have teams more closely working with rookies and underprivledged teams in order to try to build a better and winning region. And other teams that have usually just taken the stance of trying to compete and win and not outreach, would be forced to outreach inorder to win. It would also settle the dispute every year " What region is the best? "

I think it would also make nationals more exciting, teams might have more relation to teams in the finals. Wrather than it being all from one area ( ie this year midwest ) Everyone would be able to feel more of an alliance, or a nearly a regionalism to one alliance. All the teams would have someone to cheer for, if its not them, someone from their division.

It would deff. bring a new dimension to nationals, and in my oppinion make the competition even more exciting. ( if thats possible )

[nerdcool64]

I have thought about this before, and it has its good points. However, one of my favorite things about nationals is seeing all of the other robots from other regions and even better competing with them. If they did anyhting to how divisions are set up, I would have them rank teams by their regional qualification averages and them distribute them evenly.

[Marc P.]

Sounds like a great idea, very sportsish... imagine filling out a FIRST bracket ala NCAA college basketball bracket, based on region!

However, I do believe there would be a great imbalance in what a region is. I think the spread of teams is still not yet at the point where you can clearly define regions with equal number of teams. For instance, the northeast has a larger team count than the southwest. Something would have to be done to correct the imbalance, which may throw off the concept of geographically regionalizing to the point where you'd end up with 3 northeast divisions to match up with 1 southwest division.

It's definitely something cool to think about for the future though! Northeast teams unite!

[kjohnson]

If its broken down into regions, you will end up playing teams that you have played before. I think that most teams would like to play against new teams, from other regions. Splitting the divisiosn up is still a good idea.

[Cory]

Sorry, but that would suck. You wouldnt get the nationals experience at all, except for the 3 division winning teams. Three things attract me to nationals. Competing with and meeting teams from across the nation (heck, around the world now!), and seeing friends I am with once a year.

Cory

[Kevin Sevcik]

The other problem you'd have is the spread of regionals, number of regionals per teams in the area, etc, etc. I don't think FIRST is enough like the NCAA to make this practical, ever. The NCAA has teams going all over the place competing with other teams. FIRST has a large number of teams all going to one place to compete. The NCAA doesn't have to worry about teams in a region only having a specific number of contests to go to, etc. The only sport I can think of that has the same kind "big competition that anyone's invited to" is racing. I don't think you can easily draw a parallel between FIRST and the NCAA. FIRST would have to grow regionals based on exact numbers of teams in a region and all sorts of other difficulties. Not to mention a yearly census and redefinition of regions. I think it'd just complicate things too much.

[Dan Richardson]

The Imbalance maybe a problem that might have to be addressed, and careful designation to regions would have to be considered but I don't believe any of the national experience would be taken away.

You would still be able to walk around the pits see all the robots and in the finals compete against other robots. However if this is not enough, we can do what major league baseball does and have inter-division play for say 2 or 3 matches.

That way everyone plays their 7 or 8 matches and gets 2 or 3 matches against other regions. I remember 3 years ago at epcot that teams would play occasionaly on other fields, well, why not play on those fields with other divisions.

The interregion play would still enable you to have your regional division finalists and still compete against those new faces you long for.

[Elyse Holguin]

Personally, I like the idea of playing against teams we hadn't played in regionals at nationals, but a little midwest rivalry is always good fun. I also feel that there might be an inbalance of power depending on which region/regional you are in or attend.. However, these views are my own, and I'm not speaking for Team Hammond.

[JeffO]

I think that would be fun. I love working with and competeing against teams from my region. You wouldn't miss out on the national's experience that much, you could still walk around and meet all the other teams.

On the other hand it may not be that great. There are alot of powerhouse teams in the Midwest and the smaller midwest teams may have less of a chance.

[Greg Ross]

Seems the divisional play at the championships would just be a rehash of the regionals. I vote no.

[Matt D]

I enjoy playing with and against teams from other areas of the country becasuse they inspire me with different ideas than the ones I saw at the regionals in my area I go to. I am inspried by the teams in my area as well. I want to see new ideas and watch them in action (I didn't watch very many matches on other fields.)

I vote no.

[shyra1353]

I dont like this idea because you would be playing the same teams as you did at your regional. especially if you are a canadian team as the canadian regional this year had only around 10 american teams. I would rather go to nationals and play teams that I havent already played. Plus, it would be cool for an international alliance to win the nationals ....

[Steve W]

I also voted no. I enjoy the challenge of figuring out unseen bots. Scouting different robots also gives you new outlooks for different ideas. Besides some regionals only have 32 teams where others have up to 75 or so. Personally I just like to meet new people and see new ideas. The best way to do both is while playing with other teams.

[Bharat Nain]

I thought over this for a long time, and came up with the best way to divide teams at nationals is to diverse them as much as possible. For e.g. If there is a majority of a region in a division, then most likely a good team from another region may not get picked when alliance picking (This nationals proved that).

Also, I find it fun to play teams you've never played before. Again, this is just my opinion.

[headphred]

This was the first time our team had been to the nationals. It was great! It was fun! It has inspired the team to reach higher! I vote no on the divisions by regionals. It is great to be next pit to other teams from other regionals and to compete with them. It there is any adjustment, I would agree with the earlier post on distributing the power teams.