Now that there is some discussion/feedback on the Michigan tournament structure - thanks for bringing it to the people AND asking for input Dave! - what are we gonna do about it?
A lot of legitimate, and potentially serious, issues have been raised and will likely continue in Dave’s thread. Hopefully the people “defending” the new structure take it for what it is: constructive discussion. But now that we are going to be required to do this, we could also get some discussion going on solutions and ideas for improvements. I for one am thankful that competing in FRC has prepared us teams for collaboratively working together to make things better.
So please post your ideas and proposals for solutions. Identify the problem, but focus on the solution. Unlike the Michigan tournament schedule, this thread is open to all teams worldwide :).
**Problem: Some inconsistency in how district --> regional --> world awards judging occurs. Not allowing some Chairman’s Award contenders to compete at Michigan State Championship, but requiring them to compete at World Championship.
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Idea for solution: Let the CA teams compete with their robot if they are competing for CA. Then the judging, in the pits with the team there competing, is the same at all venues. Having the robotless CA teams off in some other area of the building takes them away from what they are usually really good at: helping other teams, cooperating on scouting, presenting pit awards, being friendly and cooperative, etc. Plus at the world championship they will be competing. A less desirable fallback position from this could be to not allow them to compete with robot, but DO allow them to set up their pit just like they were competing. Allows a nice consistent “playing field” for team activities, student participation, and CA judging.
Ken
