CREATE US Open as substitute for Worlds

Is the CREATE US Open a good substitute for Vex Worlds? We might not have sufficient funds for attending worlds, and we have a email from the CREATE Foundation (or whomever) saing we have qualifyied for the event. There have been several… negitive… posts from teams who have attended. We do not have anyone we know who have attended, so I thought I might ask the Fourm.

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Do you mean the posts complaining about the DQs?
I wouldn’t trust those to reflect the whole event…

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We also received an invite and I’m also interested in hearing how this event is overall for VEX IQ!

With so few paths to Worlds and us being in a super competitive region, we’re debating going to this and then just figuring out the funding if we also make it to Worlds.

We qualified for CREATE US Open late last season but it was already fully booked by then. So I didn’t do a ton of research on it then.

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Yeah, that’s why I decided to create a topic about the CREATE US open that has a calmer purpose.

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I live in Omaha and have been to the US Open several times for both IQ and EDR. What are you hoping to get out of the experience of going? Without knowing that, it’s hard for me to say if you would find it to be a worthwhile alternative.

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You’re braver than me… I didn’t even think the post would be allowed since it’s not a VEX official event!

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Not exactly related to this topic, but this season China has recently added (apparently) V5RC and VIQRC tournaments that are specifically for qualification to the US Open, including a regional round of some sort for North, South, West and East China as well as a National round according to Robotevents. I personally haven’t seen any announcements related to this from Chinese VEX information channels yet though.

From some of the Chinese teams I’ve talked to, the US Open is considered a substitute for Worlds because of the competition in China for Worlds qualification, making the US Open one of the only opportunities for teams to compete outside of China at an ‘international’ tournament. The fact that VEX/RECF China may be organizing tournaments just to facilitate the Chinese qualification to the US Open is probably indicative of the large demand for Chinese teams for the US Open despite significant travel costs.

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Think of it as an overpriced Signature event that doesn’t qualify you for anything.

The IQ team I coached went during the Slapshot season when there was a lot of issues. Even though we did well and had fun, I don’t think we would have gone back again. The best part of the event was the evening Mega Alliance. Yes, there will be some top worlds teams there for a tune up. Social Networking if you chat with other kids. There really wasn’t much to do outside the event that you couldn’t probably find in your local city. The 8 hour drive out there was longggggg. And the referees were bad that year from the post you have probably seen.

It was $500 two years ago, $700 this year. That’s a lot of money for an event that won’t get you anywhere. If you can’t afford worlds, yeah, it’s something else to keep your season going one more event. I would tell you to save $500 and go to a signature event during the season instead if you can. Or save your money this season and roll it over for next year so that you will have money for worlds next year.

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I don’t think the US Open is a substitute. You’re better off looking into an actual Signature Event, which the US Open is not officially a Signature Event. The Oklahoma, Michigan, and Florida signature events are still open. 2024-25 Rapid Relay Signature Events.

Your State Championship will be a much better experience, which you’ve already qualified for.

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At least for IQ, there has been alot of somewhat sketchy practices happening at the US open. There was one team during the Slapshot season that had an aunt of one of their members volunteer to run skills, and there is/was video evidence proving that they got to run 4 auton skills matches, each with people in the line behind them. This implies that either the team was given practice time on the skills field while others were in the line behind them, which is disrespectful and biased to those in line, or even worse, this family member allowed for 4 skills matches and redacted an earlier one, which is even more disastrous in terms of implication.

I am NOT naming any names, but I have only said what I know is 100% true, from video evidence or me witnessing it myself.

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When I went, I had a few thoughts.

First of all, it was very demoralizing as there was no worlds bid and no incentive to do well besides from trophies.
Secondly, this event was flooded from a lot of teams which were (most likely) mentor built. This was very aggravating.
Additionally, I hated the two divisions setup and that skills was only on the first day. Since its not a Worlds Qualifying event, theres a lot of flexibility towards what rules they half to follow.
Personally, I dont think its worth it for me to ever go again. I would rather go to Kalahari or the Great Wolf Lodge if you want a big event with a more so worlds like atmosphere.
Hope this helps, and other may have thought different or had different expieriences.

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