In terms of working over the summer, what are some team’s schedules? Also, what is typically the date of your first competition?
We usually have a skills-only event at a Mini Maker Faire in Louisville in September. First competitions are usually in October, I think.
Our first tournament in Virginia is around Halloween. We have lots of school teams that don’t start until the beginning of the school year. The early tournaments are usually attended by private and school teams that able to work over the summer.
In Southern New England, our competitions don’t start until mid October. We start our season next week with a kickoff meeting, sponsor dinner, and team formation. Over the summer, we have a few work sessions but not many. Its a model we have followed for as long as I have been in the program and it has worked successfully.
Ok i wasnt sure if it was similar to Ohio at other places. We are a privately funded school team so we typically meet one to two days a week over the summer and then our first competition is last weekend in october. However, I think this year we are moving our first comp up to september so we can get an earlier start
There’s a school in maryland doing a june comp this year. Im pretty excited for it.
Wait sorry if I missed something but how is that possible if field elements aren’t shipped until August?
The vex website says they ship in 4 weeks
The V5 parts are shipping in August, but the field elements ship soon
Ahh that’s what I was missing, my mistake.
The earliest qualifying event in Michigan (and I believe in the USA) is on August 6, The Monroe County Community College/Monroe County Fair VEX Qualifier. This event for both VRC and VEX-IQ is held outside under the big entertainment on the last day of the Monroe County Fair. Registered teams get free admission to the fair to spend the evening after the event to see the sights. More details soon when it gets officially posted on robotevents!
Indiana’s season begins in late October/early November. From what I understand, this is pretty standard in most states, especially in the midwest. Early tournaments typically see smaller numbers.
If they’re possible, I’d highly recommend doing some summer build sessions. It allows for teams to prototype designs early in the year and find what designs work best, before having to build a final design for a competition.
From what I’ve seen, this rings true in Indiana as well. Although there are some exceptions, the teams that perform the best early in the season had access to building during the Summer months.
We have a weekly meeting through the summer and have the first competition Halloween weekend.