I’m sure these new qualification rules have upset many people, including myself, well its pretty much pissed off a lot of people. However, this is my dilemna, every year we struggle to buy plane tickets and hotel reservations pretty much a year a head of time, so we dont have to worry about it last minute, as do many teams also. Now with these new regulations, teams will not know if they will be able to make it to the National/ “Championship” competition in Florida. All the money they raised to pay for the tickets and reservations will be wasted because they did not “qualify.” And on the opposite side, if teams wait to see if they qualify for Florida before reserving accomadations, it would definately be too late to book anything so once again, they’re screwed. Excuse my language but I think these regulations are complete BULL SH**!!!
It is a huge disadvantage for rookie teams who do not have any experience. I thought FIRST was about fairness and letting kids learn from experience. From a driver’s point of view, the thought that everyone makes it to Florida sure took OFF a lot of pressure from regionals, cuz the regionals were just “practices.” But these qualification stipulations put on a hell of alot more pressure because the team’s fate rests on the driver’s shoulder . High school students just don’t need all this new pressure, we already have our own problems to deal with everyday, why more?
*Originally posted by Hymnson *
**High school students just don’t need all this new pressure, we already have our own problems to deal with everyday, why more? **
No offense, but if you don’t like the pressure then don’t be a driver…
Also drivers tend to get a lot more recognition than anyone else on the team which kinda makes up for the pressure you have to endure. I for one loved the pressure, but sometimes I thought that I got a little more recognition than I deserved. The students and engineers that are responsible for making the robot so good and easy to control deserve more recognition (I was more the programming / some electrical guy, but most of what made the robot successful was the mechanical design.)
Two more things:
Most teams will know ahead of time whether they will be attending nationals or not. This is why they based entrance on previous year’s performance and not this year’s. Although I agree those who don’t expect to attend nationals then win a regional or a judged award do have a problem.
I agree that rookie teams have a big disadvantage. They should be given a certain amount of points to start with, maybe 3 points for 1st year teams and 1 point for 2nd year teams. There might even have to be a certain number of spots reserved for rookie teams and then give them out on a first come first serve basis to rookies.