2014 Greater Kansas City Regional

Alpha_Beta · October 18, 2013, 5:18pm

The Greater Kansas City Regional filled its initial 50 slots yesterday, and has already pulled one team off of the wait-list to go to 51.

7 rookies are currently on the list and a couple more may still join the event. It’s great to see the area growing.

There are 4 veteran teams who have made KC their home for years which have yet to register for the 2014 season. (1802, 1737, 1984, and 2167)

Current Team List

CalTran · October 18, 2013, 6:13pm

What, no history or trivia of the KC regional like last year?

treffk · October 21, 2013, 12:41pm

1802 has registered now!

Woolly · October 22, 2013, 12:01pm

Well, looking at last year’s thread:

All the trivia in the “a lot of parity in the field” was broken by team 1986 captaining the winning alliance while 1806 won it’s 3rd Greater Kansas City Regional.

As far as a deep top end goes:
2013:
1 Divisional Finalist at Worlds
2 Teams that made Eliminations in their respective divisions at worlds
2 FRC Top 25 Robots (Ranked 3 and 22)
6 Regional Winner Trophies were brought back to the Kansas City Area (967 makes 7, but they are neither from Kansas City nor registered for this year)
8 World Championship Qualifying Teams (By My Count) (Would be 9 with 1710)

5 states are represented: Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma

Maybe the statistics aren’t as impressive, but KC and STL got divided last year by being events on the same week, and team 16 opted not to return to Kansas City. With that in perspective, along with the fact that many teams went to the Razorback Regional where they were beat by an alliance captained by eventual FRC World Champions, team 1477, it’s quite understandable that we don’t have 9 regional winning teams from 2013.

runneals · October 23, 2013, 11:32pm

2167 just got registered and is on the wait list for KC.

Alpha_Beta · October 24, 2013, 10:26am

Excellent. I think getting on the wait list before 2nd registration opens up this afternoon is important.

There should still be a few spots left open for teams wanting to come in for 2nd registrations this afternoon as well. We’re in a new arena this year, and organizers are indicating a 60 team target size.

And now officialy in as KC’s 53rd team.

Wondering what other teams might be lurking on the waitlist.

Alpha_Beta · October 26, 2013, 6:39pm

And now officially listed on the roster for the KC Regional.

Want to get a sneak peek at the KC Regional? 35 of the 54 registered teams (including 1 of the 8 rookies) will be competing at the Cow Town ThrowDown this coming weekend.

0935, 0937, 0938, 1730, 1764, 1775, 1777,
1785, 1802, 1806, 1810, 1825, 1847, 1939,
1982, 1986, 1987, 1994, 1997, 2001, 2335,
2345, 2346, 2353, 2410, 2874, 3172, 3485,
3528, 3612, 3784, 4455, 4522, [strike]4646[/strike], 5013.

Edit: 1769 replacing 4646 in the 48 team Cow Town ThrowDown

Alpha_Beta · October 29, 2013, 11:28am

How many teams coming to KC are attending more than 1 regional?

Of the 46 veteran teams registered (8/54 are rookies) 21 of them will be attending a 2nd regional.

Teams Playing Before KC (Perhaps bringing a Wild-Card)
0935 (Arkansas)
1764 (Central Illinois)
1806 (Central Illinois)
1810 (Arkansas)
1939 (Arkansas)
1986 (Central Illinois)
2164 (Central Illinois)
3784 (Arkansas)
4522 (Arkansas)

Teams Playing After KC
0932 (Oklahoma)
0938 (Wisconsin)
1723 (Oklahoma)
1730 (Bayou)
1775 (Oklahoma)
1785 (Oklahoma)
1982 (Colorado)
1987 (Colorado)
2410 (Oklahoma)
3528 (Oklahoma)
3612 (Bayou)
4646 (Wisconsin)

Alpha_Beta · November 1, 2013, 11:16am

News from the KC Regional Director:

As of this morning, we now have 57 teams that have been pulled in to our Regional Tournament and one on the wait list. Olathe South, make sure you get your spot!

All veteran teams from last year are now registered for a 2014 tournament, and when Olathe South registers we will have 10 !!! rookies coming to KC.

I’m wondering… whose the one team left on the waitlist?

Additional news

You Are Invited to FIRST LOOK 2014!
As I hope you have heard by now, you are invited to meet, in person, the new President of US FIRST, Don Bossi, at our FIRST LOOK Party. This party is for your entire team, mentors, parents, teachers, and volunteers. Come out and see our new KC Regional Tournament venue. Doors open at 4:00 on Friday, November 8th. We will have food, tours, workshops, and last but not least, pit selection. Take part in a bingo-style drawing to select your pit for the Regional Tournament. You will want to bring the whole team to make the selection or at a minimum, a team representative. Out-of-town teams, please reply and we will make accommodations for your pit selection that best suits your needs. Please RSVP with the number attending.

Doors open at 4:00 Friday, Nov. 8th for tours and light refreshments
Program 5:15 – 7:00
MCC-Business & Technology
1775 Universal Avenue
Kansas City, MO
RSVP

Alpha_Beta · November 12, 2013, 5:22pm

Had a great time at the “FIRST LOOK” for our new regional venue.

Numbers were drawn at random and teams were then given the oppotunity to select their pit location.
A map of the pits can be found here.

I had to leave the event early, and wasn’t there for the pit selection, but I did notice one team on the Pit-Map that isn’t on the official registration list yet. Must be that one team on the waitlist still.

PS. Olathe South is now registered, taking us to 9 rookies. 5041 from Iowa is no longer registered for KC. They are now the only rookie registered for Central Illinois.

Abhishek_R · November 12, 2013, 7:03pm

Gonna take a wild guess at that team, 118?

SharonO · November 12, 2013, 8:19pm

I “think” that might be a typo for 1108.

holygrail · November 12, 2013, 8:21pm

118 sure seems to have a spot in the pits. When I checked the FIRST website earlier in the day, they still weren’t listed though. That would be a lot of fun. KC can be pretty competitive.

jspatz1 · November 12, 2013, 8:26pm

It isn’t.

CalTran · November 12, 2013, 11:47pm

ZOMFG if Robonauts are actually coming then my volunteer duties may or may not end up being neglected…

system · November 13, 2013, 12:17am

So to those that went, how does the seating situation look? It’s been a while since I’ve been to BTC, but I can’t imagine there being much room for seating. That’s been a major concern of mine since day one.

Abhishek_R · November 13, 2013, 12:18am

Is that going to be a full-size practice field?

Alpha_Beta · November 13, 2013, 12:28am

Last I heard the bleachers were going to hold about 950 per side (1900 total) which is almost 1000 seats less than Hale, but still more than 30 seats per team. From what I hear ShowReady loves the venue and doesn’t think seating will be a problem. There will be substantially more seating than there was in the pit-fields at the 2011 championship.

Yes. The 3 Lee’s Summit teams cooperate together to build a full size wooden practice field, invite teams to use it on the pre-bag weekend, and set it up for the local regional.

Really helps when tuning up those autonomous routines.

There are still two empty pits on the diagram, so… Even after 118 comes off the waitlist there would be two openings for any team out there looking for a fun and competative week 3 regional. Would love to have the number of teams divisible by 6 and avoid surrogate matches. Call up the regional director and see if you can join us today.

jspatz1 · November 13, 2013, 12:47am

Seating: The venue is very large and organizers are bringing in bleachers to hold 1900. For comparison, the portable bleachers that were set up for Champs in 2011 held approx 900. Hale Arena had a capacity of 2800, but we all know much of that was empty. The seating will be closer to the field than was possible at Hale.

Practice Field: The venue layout shows a full size practice field area. We in the Lee’s Summit Alliance will strive to provide a full field.

For those that have not seen the venue it is easy to wonder if it will be large enough, but it is quite enormous. There is room for a very spacious pit layout, machine shop, practice field, field area, and a large, separated area for FLL, demos, dining, etc. The lighting is much better than Hale, and there are several advantages such as ample free parking, more concession options, BYO food, better judging rooms, pits closer to the fileld, etc. Compared to some of the basketball arenas we have all competed in, it will be very spacious.

system · November 13, 2013, 12:57am

That’s great news! I’m disappointed I couldn’t attend, but it sounds like the venue will work out really well for the regional! Now just counting down the days until kickoff! (Is it weird that I’m counting those down but not to graduation? haha)