Hello All Valuable Members,
I wanted to clarify one query and your answers and guidance on this query is appreciated.
Two students in my group are 11 yrs old. I wanted to check if these 2 students can play in 2 separate teams - one team for VIQRC ES and other separate team for VIQRC MS as drivers for the 2024-2025 season.
Can same student play in 2 separate teams exclusively made of ES and MS events or one student is limited to only play either in VIQRC ES or VIQRC MS but not in both the teams.
I found in the rules, that once an ES team plays one game as MS team, then it remains as MS team for rest of the seasons. However I am asking this query in context when there are 2 separate teams created, one exclusively for VIQRC ES and one exclusively for VIQRC MS.
I also want to know what is the advantage of Elementary Teams using “play up option” and play as Middle School teams.
Please look at G4 in the VIQRC Game Manual. In most circumstances, students, regardless of age, cannot be in two teams at once and can only be moved from one team to another for specific reasons, such as for non-strategic reasons or as supporting team members. Having two drivers move between teams would probably be more strategic, so if you wish to move the two students between the teams, they must justify that they are doing it for a non-strategic reason or a reason allowed by the game manual and RECF policy.
Teams that decide to play up have different reasons, such as increasing competitiveness or making attending events in specific regions easier. The teams in my region generally stick to their intended grade level since playing up likely disadvantages them with how competitive teams in my region can be.
Thank you very much for the detailed explanation and the reference on G4. Truly appreciated.
So to summarize -
One student should only be part of one team for strategic reasons.
Playing up , is only good when the team is fully confident that they can compete with other teams who could belong to higher grades and skills. Its best to stick in the most eligible category instead.
Thanks again for helping to clear my doubts on this topic.
I was asking using this logic only that both are 2 different games , and using 2 different teams. May be I did not explained the query correctly.
I saw in other forums, that same student participates in VEX IQ and VRC as long as they are eligible by Date of Births.
In this case, even VEX IQ ES and VEX IQ MS are 2 separate competitions, and same student (as long as he/she meets the age) can legally join both teams as driver or programmer.
With 2 teams, we will have 2 separate team numbers, and 2 separate robots, but same student in both the teams.
The challenge will be if both event happens same day and same time, but that is manageable by selecting events / tournaments in different days for ES & MS and when there is only one ES/MS combined event, we can only register to such events either as ES or MS team.
2025 will be my first year as coach, so I am trying to ask question, to ensure i do the right things but at the same time, I am trying to increase the chances of covering both games using same students when age makes them qualify to both.
Given both games have same game so for the student, he/she has to only practice one game and master it but will have chance to participate in 2 competitions parallelly.
Sorry for the additional queries, but hopefully with everyone’s guidance, I should be able to make the right choice.
I had students do both last year. They did VRC with my org and VEXIQ with another org. The feedback from the students is that it was way to much. The feedback from my coaches was not good as these students missed a lot of our VRC practices and even some events. Their teams also performed poorly vs their peers who just did VRC. I am not allowing students to do both this year. They can move up the the major leagues or stay in the minors, but not both.
In any sport you have to choose the level you play at. I think it’s silly that RECF allows simultaneous participation. In the best case it can overstress students. In the worst case it gets abused to allow older students that should move up to trophy hunt.
Just because you can do something does not mean you should. I have 10th graders with 2 years of VRC worlds experience that could legally form a VEXIQ team next year because the criteria is age. Would I ever allow that? Absolutely not.
Thank you for the kind reply. I also 100% agree that having both VIQRC and VRC in same season will be a lot for any single student and is definitely not recommended, even though its legal.
however in case of VIQRC ES and VIQRC MS, its exactly same game, same practice (more rigorous coz preparing for both ES and MS simultaneously). This common game concept (if student is eligible by age) , is the key factor why I asked this question. Thanks.
I think this is fine as long as the student isn’t stressed out with being on both teams. This allows students become comfortable fith the VRC parts so they may transition between programmes well.
Early-entrance kids. One of my own kids is a year ahead of school; his later-year birthday caused him to miss the normal enrollment time, but his academic capability is far in excess of what would be his “typical” admit timeframe, so we got him tested and he started kindergarten a year early. He would technically fit in that “10th grade still meeting IQ birthday requirements” bucket when he gets that old.
Thank you everyone for the kind replies.
Based on all valuable replies, it seems like as long as the students are not stressed out with 2 teams, it is perfectly legal by the vex laws and rules.
given both ES and MS have same game VEX IQ rapid relay, it might be worth a shot.
I still have to work out on the logistics timelines and $$ expenditure for maintaining 2 teams though
