After alliances were selected in Galileo, I was discussing with a few others how impressive it was that 7 of the 8 Michigan teams in our division were moving on to the elimination rounds. We thought that this accomplishment showed just how strong the Michigan FRC teams really are. I began to wonder how teams coming from FiM fared overall…
Out of the 36 MI teams that competed at CMP, 23 moved on to the elimination rounds, 8 of which were alliance captains. It’s unfortunate that only 1 Michigan team moved on to Einstein, but accounting for nearly 1/4 of the teams in elims is pretty good in my book
The next highest density of teams in the elimination rounds came from California. There were 42 Californian teams at CMP, but only 10 moved on to the elims with 2 being alliance captains.
Next time Dave Verbrugge tells you that Michigan is the toughest place to compete, believe him.
What hurt was in Galileo, 1 vs 8 had four Michigan teams just there… And that 4th alliance (16, 25 & 180) took out 5. The all Michigan alliance (1718, 1918 & 2337) and 573/2054.
Team 830 suffered from severe shooter accuracy problems for the entire competition. We would, however, have made elims as a alliance captain if either of our two final co-op attempts did not fail. We ended up as the number 17 seed and out of the elim matches. Overall, we were disappointed with our on-field performance at CMPs.
I believe 107 spent most of the weekend in the top 8 on Newton field, but fell out at the end with a 7-2 record. Unfortunately, they weren’t picked - only 4 QP’s out of the #8 seed.
What was cool for me was how all of the Michigan teams/volunteers were cheering for each other. The district system has really helped foster a lot of friendships. We were keeping each other updated via text and running back and forth between divisions to watch matches as our roles allowed us. The district system truly allows teams to embody the Spirit of FIRST and Coopertition, and I can’t wait to see if/how other areas of the country embrace this as they move into districts as well.
Was there a feeling of unity among the MAR teams as well? Is that developing?
I think that with alittle more time that may develop among the MAR teams. 4 years of FIM has brought all the Michigan teams closer, plus with all the offseason events we have (IGVIC, MARC, Kettering and the one on the west side), we have so many chances over the course of a season to see each other. But from the Webcasts chatroom, it seemed that MAR teams were rooting for each other. As the Michigan teams were.
MAR teams definitely have a closer relationship with each other than before. Our team was rooting for 25, 222, 341, 365, 1218, 1403, 2016, 2180, 2590 and 11 (I wonder why), as well as 75 for Chairman’s and 3142 for Engineering Inspiration.
I REALLY like the District model for a number of reasons, team-to-team intimacy being one of them, and believe other states/areas would benefit from trying out the format. Of course, I can’t be certain because every region/state has it’s own quirks and problems to overcome, but it has worked twice so far.
The one problem I see coming from a total district plan is losing the interstate travel and competition (seeing new teams & new places), but an easy quick fix to that would be to continue a handful of regional events scattered across the globe run as independent events (similar to off-season events) with Championship qualifications. Those who qualify via regional would just be passed over in the state rankings similarly to how they already do for teams who buy their way to St. Louis (I think they do this already? so there wouldn’t be a problem).
There is nothing saying that if FIRST goes to a full district model, that teams would not be able to still travel. If a Michigan team goes out to CA, then they get the points that earn at that event.