It’s been a few weeks after registration started, and a lot have happened since then. Mainly, the “Championship event” qualification has been discussed inside out at least a thousand times, and people are shifting their attention to the rest of 2002 events. Issue about #of teams registered is a big one these days… As well as talks of different regionals and the 2002 kick offs.
Well, without further delay, here is the second test launch of a new Chief Delphi forum newsletter. This is a special edition covering the intense discussion about the newly announced 2002 competition events (I am having trouble figuring out a great title for this newsletter, please go to this link- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=900 and take a look at the “Newsletter title contest”)
-Ken Leung
1999-2001: Team 192 GRT
2001-2002: 100, 192, 258, 481, 814…
(Go to this page http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=699 if you want to know what this letter is all about)
Content:
i) Last comments of Championship event qualification.
ii) 2002 events attendance
iii) Regional competitions
iv) Kick off
v) Others
| I. Last comments of Championship event qualification |
The issue about qualification has been covered extensively from the pervious newsletter. That issue generated a lot of new threads on the CD forum, and for a while it seems to be the only thing people talk about. After the intense discussions, most people seems to be settled with final though:
The new process is not completely fair to all teams, especially to disadvantaged teams with the lack of funding and experience. Let’s move on and try harder this year to get into the Championship event, we are not going to give up! And let’s help FIRST devise a better process next year…
**Not everyone is happy with this new rule… **
It is understandable since a lot of seniors won’t get to attend Championship event as a competitor. And, even when their teams qualify for the event through 2002 regionals, there are still financial difficulties with the last minute booking… A result from FIRST’s “the least of the possible evils” solution, which, a lot of people believe, is not idealistic but a necessary course of action. A point brought up was that this process is really similar to sports teams qualifying at the last minute for regionals or nationals, and the school and community rally behind those teams to raise the funds for them to compete. Hopefully this will happen to FIRST teams also…
Along the line of being unfair to disadvantaged teams…
Someone suggested: “What about teams being treated unfairly when they are winning regionals and awards?” What they are talking about is that teams might feel pressure when their success prohibit others from attending Nats through qualifying points, and those students shouldn’t have to face that kind of pressure at all, or feel the need to perform less than their best to let other teams qualify… Those are valid issues to be address, but we should also trust that teams will be acting with gracious professionalism at all time. Every participant deserves to do their best in this competition, and people should NOT be taking unfair advantaged out of this system…
**A few interesting questions were raised in the middle of all these discussion… **
For instance, “Which of the qualification rules are unfair?”, “What are the values of going to National?”, “What is the future of FIRST events?”, or “How will this process affect the growth of FIRST?”… These are not simple questions. We have to think about different things… Why are we doing this competition…? What is this competition about? Winning? Learning? Why is National so important to the students? Are the values in National so unique that it can’t be found in regionals? Is National just a big show, and If it is or isn’t only a big show, is it really worth that much effort to ensure every teams’ attendance? Will there be more teams joining when National is limited? How do start up teams look at limitation? Are veteran teams taking up too much regional slots of rookie by going to too much regionals? Should FIRST focus more into National event of regional events? Etc. You will be surprised how people answer them with many different voices.
Maybe we can think of this year as an adjustment year, maybe not. But either way, go through 2002’s competition with our best effort as always, and look at these questions again afterward, figure out what’s good, what’s bad, and what’s most important to us…
Threads related to this issue:
“I think they (FIRST) have done a great job with a difficult proposal.”
“based on what their goals were when they developed the system of qualifying, they did the best they could, for these reasons…”
“Yes, it isn’t perfect… So guys lets move on… We know what we have to do for the season, we’ll do it…”:
One way to think about it.-
http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=782&perpage=15&pagenumber=1
“one of the goals of FIRST, within the schools, was to get the same level of recognition for these “academic athletes” that the sports teams recieved.”
A New Thought…- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=695
Comments from "FRCOps " of FIRST
Florida…- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=696
“It’s going to be a challenging and rewarding learning experience no matter what happens.”
Call me an optimist…- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=752
“I think that having to qualify for nationals will light a fire in the teams that deserve to be at nationals and they will rise to the top.“
Disadvantaged Teams- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=729
“we are out for the moment but not giving up.”
Teams missing on the Nats list…- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=777
“We will not sandbag. We are going into this season with the will to win, just as we ever have.”
Worries- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=697
“I have heard that there are several teams trying to
register multiple times to”
Registration - Professionalism- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=749
“As far as getting a team to nationals on three weeks notice, it’s possible to do it as a team.”
Is the registration this year fair- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=687
Different views about going to national competition:
“Teams go to Florida because its the big show.”
“I’ve been expressing my feelings that Nats are not as fun as regionals.”
“That is what FIRST is about- it’s not about winning. It’s about fun, learning, and learning to love technology. You don’t need Disney world to do that…”
“Disney is NOT the prize… The prize is competing against ALL the other teams in the world REGARDLESS OF WHERE IT IS.”
2002 Season Thoughts…- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=671
What’s the point of going to Nationals?- http://66.78.36.159/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=667
