From what I can tell the Indiana districts are two day events (3 if you count field assembly day).
However, VIMS registration seemed to indicate otherwise, as it listed the TWO days before the competition day as “available days?”. In the past (Indiana regionals) only a single day before the first day was shown.
The reason I ask is in the case of the two that are F/Sa events, I’m only able to make Thursday, not Wednesday (I have a work commitment with Purdue that I probably couldn’t get out of).
Likewise, after a huge success in the role at CAGE match, I applied to be the scorekeeper/field power, which requires being present for field assembly (according to the role description from FIRST).
So, if I were to be Scorekeeper (or any other role with such requirement), what days for said events would I actually need to be present on? Is this an error in VIMS, or did I miss something somewhere?
I think it is a standard thing in VIMS to put days available in advance to an FRC event. I honestly think it is the same as normal regionals where just a day in advanced. I can’t be certain as I haven’t used it but I am sure the community can either back me up or say otherwise.
While I am not in any way involved in the Indiana district, I can speak to how we generally do things in MAR. As the days of the week vary, I will use the generalized terms with examples assuming a Friday/Saturday competition event.
Day 0 - Thursday (Team Load In during evening)
Day 1 - Friday (Qualification Matches)
Day 2 - Saturday (Qualification Matches, Finals Matches, Awards)
Depending on the venue, field build and event setup will start in the afternoon/evening prior to Day 0. This is completely venue dependent and will depend on completion of the school day and other activities using the event space if hosted in a school. Non-school venues likely will not have such restrictions. Generally, at least in MAR, we like to have the mechanical field assembly completed before going home for the night.
Day 0 will start in the morning for field build volunteers completing mechanical assembly if necessary and performing all field wiring. Typically we’ll have the field ready to go around 4pm (depending on volunteer experience) so that teams can access the field for practice/connection tests later in the evening.
Day 1 - run the event and have fun!
Day 2 - event completion. Field teardown starts immediately after the awards finish. We typically are all packed up by 8 or 9pm.
Again, I’m not involved with Indiana but it seems most districts follow a similar schedule. Scorekeepers are not necessarily required for pre-Day 0 setup, but help is always welcomed! My suggestion would be to contact the volunteer coordinator for your event and they should be able to get you more information. They may not have info available on exact schedule until a few weeks before the event so please be patient with them.
^For the SA/SU event I can make pre-day 0… but in the past I wasn’t able to get a day off to make an IEEE section meeting, so two weeks ain’t gonna fly (my job is letting students in the building later in the evening and closing the building up at 9).
… not like class, where one of my professors will vouch for me an d my motives as he’s a mentor on a local team (ironically I’m the one who brought him to FIRST in the first place).
But in this case, since the shift is over at 9:15 pm, clearly I couldn’t make pre-zero.
This is an event specific question, as set-up schedules will be different for each event. I recommend people emailing their VCs for similar questions, or in your personal case, email me (InF Volunteer Chair), and I can direct you to finding the right answer.
Shoot me an email: carolyngraceb at gmail dot com. I’ll get to it Monday.
Members of teams can volunteer at any event whether or not the team is there. Certain roles may be restricted based on age/ potential conflicts of interest.
Volunteers have to be at least 13 years of age. Any lead roles (lead queuer, LRI), judges, and some others (sorry I don’t know all the specifics) need to be adults. Something like field reset, safety glasses monitor, or spare parts table can be manned by students.
Some roles require some level of maturity. For example, there’s a reason that very few refs are high-school age; most are at least college-age. Same for inspectors and judges (at least where I’ve volunteered). There are a large number of reasons unrelated to technical ability, more social engineering than anything else.
However, a large number of roles (Spare Parts, Field Reset, Safety Glasses Attendant, and Awards Assistant come to mind readily) don’t have those restrictions, primarily because all you really need is someone in a volunteer shirt who has some idea of what they’re doing.
I’ve volunteered as Field Reset and Spare Parts (and Field Setup/Teardown) at events my team competed at while I was in high school.
I do actually have a good amount of technical experience, and can be mature when the situation calls for it. I work pretty well with computers and stuff, and I learn quickly. I was thinking about doing something like scorekeeping; do you think that would work out?
It’s not the technical ability in this case, it’s the (assumed*) age. Scorekeeping is a very high-stress job, very great responsibility. The scorekeeper has the “field control panel” that tells the robots that the match is starting, somebody is getting bypassed, the foghorn needs to sound… AND they have to take input from the head ref about fouls/cards, the FTA on bypassing, etc. I want to say that’s one of the positions that has to go to HQ for training; otherwise, the FTA or FTAA would be training you. For some reason, I can’t pull up the description in VIMS, but the other half of that job title is “Field Power”.
That said… If I was you, I’d volunteer for field setup, and specifically tell the FTA and Field Supervisor that you’d like to help on the electrical side whenever they start doing that, with the goal of eventually becoming a scorekeeper. They’ll be able to help guide you a bit better. (I’m a ref and inspector, at two different events–but when I was in high school and college I tended to end up on setup/teardown.)
*Given that the question about volunteering at an event with/without the team, I’m assuming you’re still in high school. I could be wrong.
Thanks. You’re right, I am in high school right now (I’m a junior).
I just was curious, particularly because I was not intending to do something physically intensive (my aversion to physical activity being what it is) like setting up the field, but I still wanted to volunteer.
I also was not aware of some of these things, so thank you for telling me.
These aren’t questions we can necessarily answer for you. You have been told that this role is usually filled by people who are older than you and have spent more time being trained in how to do this job.
That being said, talk to your VC. Carolyn is fantastic and will do what she can do help you. But ultimately, that’s at her discretion, not ours.
That’s good advice, but Carolyn is VC for Indiana. The person who posted this is from NJ.
Who’s the VC for MAR? I’m guessing it’s Jess Boucher but I’m probably wrong.
Jess is a New Englander - Tom Wexler is our VC lead for the Mid-Atlantic, and there is one individual VC assigned to each district. Major role decisions (head ref, LRI, etc) are passed down to us - the rest are made between the individual VC and our region’s lead.
