New FIRST competition structure in Michigan

[dlavery]

Read the announcement here.

FIRST, an organization founded by noted inventor Dean Kamen to inspire young people's interest and participation in science and technology, today announced that, in cooperation with the volunteer leadership of FIRST in the state of Michigan, a new pilot district event model will be launched to provide increased robotics competitions statewide. The new model, which will offer a high-quality FIRST experience for all students, will subdivide the state into 16 districts to leverage local action plans for growth and make robotics events accessible and closer to home.

The district event model, piloted in the FIRST Robotics Competition 2009 playing season from January to April, will include seven district events and one state championship event. During the pilot year, only Michigan teams can compete with the state. Those same teams can register to compete at other traditional FRC Regional events outside of the state and also qualify for the FIRST Championship to be held in Atlanta, Georgia, in April 2009.

What do you think?

-dave



.

[jessjank.]

Also, an FAQ page is available. Direct link to the announcement on the FIRST homepage here.

[Karibou]

...and make robotics events accessible and closer to home.

Good.
We have to cut down on some spending over the next few seasons, and one of those things is the amount of regionals that we can attend, keeping distance in mind. With events closer to home, we wouldn't have to worry about hotel fees and other costs associated with traveling to distant regionals.

[EricH]

This could be interesting... It's more like traditional sports. At the same time, you can have other events ("open" events, if the new Regional system works out) that any team can attend (the ones outside Michigan), kind of like how the National League plays the American League and NL West plays NL East or NL Central on a regular basis, to keep things interesting.

I think FIRST might have something there! Now if it works...

It's also going to make Fantasy FIRST extra fun.

[IndySam]

I guess we won't be going to West Michigan this year like we thought.

[R.C.]

Fantasy First would be cool, no more fantasy baseball.

[Herodotus]

I like the idea as it will hopefully allow for teams to attend more events, and as long as there are also at least some traditional regionals teams will still be able to travel around to meet teams from other regions of the country.

[JackN]

I would like to know the 7 competition sites. Kettering University, home of the rookie regional, will probably be a site. What is going to be the championship event, will it be housed in Eastern Michigan, where GLR takes place, or Grand Valley where WMR takes place? What will become of the other two regionals? I would love to hear what sites these are going to be held at. It is weird that these competitions will be for only Michigan teams, look at all of the teams that would not have been able to compete at Michigan regionals this year: 71, 2171, 888, 63, 291, and others. I am not completely sold on it yet, but we will see as more info comes out.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by rc_cola1323

Fantasy First would be cool, no more fantasy baseball.

The Season Long league is taking signups now. See the appropriate thread.

FAQ, Jack, FAQ. Detroit and WMR are district; GLR is the State Championship for this year. Kettering will be a district event. (Points 14 and 15 in the FAQ document linked to farther up the page.)

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by dlavery

...What do you think?

-dave



.

I think this is a good move for FIRST in Michigan.

Also, Michigan FIRSTers are undertaking an important and potentially difficult experiment, from which the whole FIRST community is likely to benefit in years beyond 2009.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by JackN

I would like to know the 7 competition sites. Kettering University, home of the rookie regional, will probably be a site. What is going to be the championship event, will it be housed in Eastern Michigan, where GLR takes place, or Grand Valley where WMR takes place? What will become of the other two regionals?

FAQ said West and Detroit would be district events and Great Lakes the State Championships.

[Madison]

Why are there sixteen districts if there will be only seven competitions?

Edited: ...or is it that of the sixteen district events, seven are limited only to teams from Michigan? It reads, "the state will be divided into 16 districts that lead to an April 2009 Michigan State Championship. The Michigan pilot will also include seven district evens in which on Michigan teams can compete within the state." This is written poorly.

[Alex Golec]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

Why are there sixteen districts if there will be only seven competitions?

The sixteen districts are geographic divisions to aid in planning team growth within the state.

[IndySam]

From what I read they get to play in two events for one fee and only have to pay extra for the State Championship and whatever outside regionals they choose. Is this correct?

[Alex Golec]

Originally Posted by IndySam

From what I read they get to play in two events for one fee and only have to pay extra for the State Championship and whatever outside regionals they choose. Is this correct?

That is correct.