pic: Week 1 Hatboro-Horsham

CD-Media: Photos
21

An event ending early is very very different than an outright cancellation, pardon my brusqueness.

22

That’s correct. There are several cases where an event has adjusted their overall schedule. There are NONE where an event has cancelled ALL matches.

23

Events I’ve been involved with have come close, and we’ve discussed the scenario a little, but thankfully it’s never come to it.

I’m really interested to see how this plays out…

24

From team email blast and MAR Facebook page:

Hatboro-Hosham Event Update:

Due to the complete loss of power at the Hatboro-Horsham High School early Friday evening, 3/2/18, that continued into Sunday, 3/4/18, along with area-wide power outages, down trees, and high winds, it was necessary to cancel the event.

FIRST Mid-Atlantic is communicating with FIRST in Manchester and our local resources to develop a plan for the canceled event.

We will post an update tomorrow, Monday 3/5/18 with the details of our plan.

https://i.imgur.com/MrW5mUX.gif

Very curious what will be decided.

25

https://www.firstinspires.org/team-event-search/event?id=27975

To break the ice, it seems that the event was rescheduled in TIMS for Week 5, Thursday through Saturday. Not ideal whatsoever, but we’ll see what FMA’s plan is today I suppose.

26

I hope that is true, because of the viable options, this one seems best on the surface. It’s like they left week 5 open for a situation like this…:rolleyes:

Of course people may have had plans already made for that weekend, and mentors might need to take a day off, but such is life when bad weather arises. They probably assumed hosting the event on Sunday would have been more disruptive than on Friday.

Again, hope it’s true.

27

One more question would be is for teams scheduled for 3 events, does a rescheduled event count as the first event or the 3rd event.

And would the unbag time used by those teams count or not?

28

What’s the logic as to why the only other option for Catholic schools is Westtown? Is Westtown truly the only completion that can fit extra teams or is the reason something else? I say this simply because that’s the fartest event they possibly could have picked for us and wouldn’t mind being able to go to Mount Olive or Bridgewater.

29

Here’s the actual message from FIRST Mid-Atlantic

**Hatboro-Horsham Event Rescheduled!
**

We are pleased to announce that the FIRST Mid-Atlantic Hatboro-Horsham event that was canceled due to a devastating winter storm that resulted in power outages, down trees and high winds has been rescheduled.

The rescheduled event will be held at Hatboro-Horsham High School, Thursday, 3/29/18 through Saturday, 3/31/18.
The event will follow the normal event competition schedule:
Thursday, Load-in 4:00 PM – 10:00 PM*
Friday, Competition Day1, 8:00 AM – 7:30 PM*
Saturday, Competition Day 2, 8:00 AM – 6:30 PM*
*Starting and ending times are subject to change.

A detailed schedule will be available closer to the event.

This rescheduled event has been approved by FIRST in Manchester and is being added to the FRC Events database and will soon be available in the Volunteer Information System for volunteer registration.

Given the extremely extenuating circumstances, FIRST Mid-Atlantic understands that this creates unfavorable situations for some teams and we request flexibility in the revised schedule. In order to avoid a massive alteration in team attendance to all Mid-Atlantic events, all teams will be moved to the new event date.

FIRST Mid-Atlantic has granted a religious exception to the four Catholic schools that were registered for the Hatboro-Horsham event. This exception allows the teams the single option of competing at Westtown.

We are aware that the Passover Seder also coincides with this rescheduled event. The ending times for matches on Friday night will be adjusted to allow team members to attend Passover Seder.

FIRST Mid-Atlantic would like to thank the Hatboro-Horsham School District for working with us to reschedule the event in a timely manner. We would also like to thank all affected teams for their patience and understanding in adjusting their schedules.

https://midatlanticrobotics.com/news/hatboro-horsham-event-rescheduled/

30

MAR historically has kept Easter weekend free if possible, which makes sense if you can pull it off. You don’t need to worry about volunteers traveling, religious teams aren’t at risk of their ‘home’ event taking place on Easter/Good Friday, etc.

I don’t see any reason it’d still count as their first event outside of technical oversight.

That’s a very good question about bag and tag though.

This evades me. Chestnut Hill is geographically the closest event to Hatboro, and while it’s a smaller venue, they’re 4 teams below the most they’ve ever had. The only thing I can think of is that they wanted to minimize how many events were impacted by this, and Westtown is likely the only event that all 4 teams are able to attend (though I’m not entirely sure which teams the 4 are, so that may not be accurate). I imagine your lead mentor has received an email from MAR; ask them if it contains the reasoning.

31

There is a lot more than you’d think that goes into capping events. Yes all events can technically take more teams, but it normally results in unfavorable team experiences (smaller pits, more crowded stands, pits in hallways or secondary spaces, pits in main competition gyms (having music blaring in your ears for the entire competition), lengthened schedules for all, etc.). Historically, some events have had larger capacities, but there were lessons learned that set new caps to that venue. It all typically goes back to team experience.

This year in particular the practice field is a full half field in order to set up the switch and scale such that their spacing mimics the regular field for teams to practice auto. This eats into possible pit space. This could be reduced to a quarter field and the scale/switch shoved on a small carpet with arbitrary layout, but that takes away from the team experience and providing the same experience across all FMA events.

Those who have been to Westtown know the space is very large and can handle more pits easily. All other events are maxed out.

32

The teams are 1279, 2607, 3974 and 5181. 3974 and 5181 is already going to SSCH, 2607 is also competing Week 3 at Bridge-Water and 1279 is competing Week 4 at Montgomery. So Week 2 is the only week that would work for all 4 teams and I guess Westtown was the better event to fit teams into.

33

Honestly, having been at Chestnut during one of those 34 team years… I had figured as much. Thanks for the insight, though - it’s nice to peak behind the curtain a bit.

This year in particular the practice field is a full half field in order to set up the switch and scale such that their spacing mimics the regular field for teams to practice auto. This eats into possible pit space. This could be reduced to a quarter field and the scale/switch shoved on a small carpet with arbitrary layout, but that takes away from the team experience and providing the same experience across all FMA events.

Oh, that’s nice. Will this be standard across FMA this year? I’ve noticed relying on practice fields can be a bit of a crapshoot, so this would be a huge boon - especially since we haven’t finished our autos yet.

Those who have been to Westtown know the space is very large and can handle more pits easily. All other events are maxed out.

While we’re competing at Westtown this year, we haven’t before - so again, thanks for the insight. Nice to know that it’s fairly spacious as well.

You sure those are the 4 teams? I at least know 5684 is a private Catholic school that was registered for Hatboro; I’d be fairly confused if they weren’t one of the four teams that were extended an invite.

Also - was 2590 registered for Westtown before today? I could’ve sworn they weren’t, but now seems like a weird time to take teams off the waitlist… perhaps more than just the 4 teams were extended invitations?

34

We’re doing the best we can to fit a half field practice area at our events. No guarantees as it’s a lot of room and not all of our venues have the space, but we’ll do what we can.

1 Like
35

5684 was registered for Hatboro but is now going to Westtown (FIRSTinspires was only updated today to reflect this).

Also 2590 is no longer on the list for Westtown, FIRST took them off the list after the system originally accepted them moving out of Hatboro.

36

1279, 2607, 3974 and 5684 are all Catholic schools and have registered for Westtown. 5181 (La Salle) is also a Catholic school but isn’t affiliated with a Diocese which could explain why they weren’t given the option to withdraw. Someone from 5181 would need to clarify this though.

37

Ah, that’s interesting.

As for my own inquiry on 2590 - I missed that they’re registered for a week 5 regional. It seems they were the only team registered for Hatboro that had, so I think it’s safe to assume FMA granted an exception for them as well. Given that it seems all 4 Catholic schools opted for Westtown, that’s a total of 5 teams that are making the trip over to Westtown on a mere 4 days notice. Crazy!

EDIT: Scratch the above. Hudson Valley is week 4. Also, while TBA is listing 2590 as registered for Westtown, First’s official channels are not.

38

I wanted to take a moment to recognize and congratulate Team 708 for hosting what turned out to be their second district competition this week. It takes a ton of effort to pull off one event and they, along with the local volunteers and parents, were able to out together an outstanding event again!

Hats off to the Hatters!