Vex Over Under Match Loading On Raised Fields

[TeamGreen]

We will be attending our first signature event next weekend. How you practice directly affects how you play come tournament. Like most large competitions, signature events, and VEX World Championship, the fields next weekend will be raised above ground. This year’s game is highly dependent on introducing field scoring objects from outside of the field by team members. Last year’s spin-up had some aspect of this, however it was limited and the objects were flat and relatively small. This year is much different. There are significantly more outside field objects and they are larger.

The Over Under documentation shows field setup illustrations with the tri-balls lined up neatly on each alliance side. For the sake of field re-set time and sanity of match officials and volunteers , many tournaments have provided some form of plastic bins to house each alliance’s tri-balls for the match (usually 2 bins per alliance). When raised fields are involved the team’s handling and access to these bins have varied. Here are some examples -

1. Haunted Signature Event - teams were allowed to have an alliance member hold the bins next to match load zone. This requires a dedicated alliance team member to facilitate.

Haunted Match Loading

2. WPI Wave Signature Event - teams were allowed to lean the bins against the field wall next to match load zone. This has the potential to be problematic since you are now leaning up against a field wall.

WPI Wave Match Loading

3. Speedway Signature Event - Bin stands or small tables were provided to elevate bins near match load zone. This approach seams to be the most efficient as it places the bins at field height, with no additional support required by a team resource.

Speedway match loading

Questions-
Should there be a standard on how these bins should be positioned and handled by teams for access to tri-balls during match loading, especially when raised fields are used?

How will match load tri-balls be made available to teams at VEX Worlds for the matches and Skills competition?

[Skibub28]

I’d like to add on to this. Some events will use bins that are just big enough to hold the 22 triballs while others have bins that are able to hold 44. In the first case this means that the event ends up using two bins for skills. The number of bins can affect match loading strategies.

If bins are to be used at worlds, will there be a one bin or two bin setup for skills and will there be stands provided for these bins as teams may have both team members matchloading and not be able to hold the bin(s) up to the elevated field?