SOUTH CAROLINA FIRST
FIRST Robotics District Model Proposal
LET'S START A CONVERSATION.....
Welcome to the South Carolina FIRST website! The purpose of this site is to facilitate the discussion of moving South Carolina to the districts. The district model offers many advantages to the states who adopt it. These advantages and the process for how districts work are detailed on this site. However, the transition from one state regional to a district model with multiple events is not an immediate transition. It requires hard work, commitment, and planning from all South Carolina teams.
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We hope that South Carolina coaches, mentors, parents, and students will use this site as a jumping off point to begin considering how the district model can improve their team's FIRST experience. If your team believes the district model is the right model for our state, please contact us and let us add your team's logo to the list of teams who support moving to the model.
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The Future of FIRST: The District Model
The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is the premier engineering challenge for high school students. Teams of students, working closely with teachers and volunteer mentors, have six weeks to conceptualize, design, build, program, modify and test a robot to participate in a competition that changes each year.
FIRST currently operates under two different models: the regional model and the district model. The district model was introduced in 2008 and has continued to grow to include more states and countries. In the district model, teams compete at smaller, less expensive district events. District teams can compete at other state's district events and regionals in addition to the two district events they initially register for. District teams pay less, play more, and have better chances at winning awards and qualifying for the World Championship.
South Carolina FIRST is a group dedicated to promoting the development of the district system in South Carolina for the advancement of FRC teams.
FIRST Robotics Competition Teams in the US Competing in the District Model
Yellow states, current districts
Red states, states moving to districts in next two years
“The existing FRC competition model served its purpose well in the early days of the sport, when the number of teams was small, and the population density was very low. After 20 years of growth, some regions now have a sufficient quantity and density of teams to allow a new operating model. The Regional model treats every competition event as an ‘open’, with no attempt at continuity between the individual events.
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The District Competition System is modeled after traditional tiered playoff sports structures, where teams play a season rather than a single event, and the best teams advance through tiered playoff tournaments. This new model is much better suited to meet the needs of the teams and fans in regions with lots of teams.”
Jim Zondag, FRC 33
FIRSTinMichigan Board of Directors