FTC BIOBUZZ Blog: Volume 10

League assignments are posted!

You can find your league assignment on the FIRST Washington website here: https://firstwa.org/ftc-competition-info/ below the event listings. This list is sorted both by team and by league for your convenience.  

You will notice that a lot has changed this season! Importantly, Washington is down to 12 leagues and 6 league tournaments this year. This means that league pairings for the league tournaments have shifted; take a close look at your league assignment to make sure you know where you will be competing. Every league tournament will advance some teams to the wildcard tournament and some teams to the state championship, so be sure to plan for those competitions as well!  

Here is a table of the new league pairings for league tournaments: 

Does your assigned league or league tournament not work for your team? You can fill out this form to opt out of your assigned league and share your preferences.  

If you choose this option, here are a few things to note:  

• Leagues pair with league tournaments.  If you move to a different league, you may also move to a different league tournament. Check all the dates carefully when you are entering preferences. 

• If you have multiple teams and would like to change leagues, it may be harder to accommodate your request. Please submit the form for all your teams in one go along with your preferences (the more leagues you can request the better). If we are unable to move all your teams in a block, we will reach out to you (at the email provided) and see what we can work out. Teams will not be split up without prior discussion and approval.  

Event preferencing will close at 5pm on Wednesday, September 30th.  Any requests submitted late will not be considered.  

Why did the leagues change in Washington? 

Hi there! I am MacKenzie, the Event Manager at FIRST Washington, and I want to talk a little bit about the changes to FTC in Washington this year. We made the difficult decision to reduce our number of leagues for a variety of reasons, and I believe that these changes will result in a more positive team experience in Washington.  

Washington grew to 14 leagues and 7 league tournaments to accommodate higher team registration numbers and allow for continued growth. Compared to last year, fewer teams registered for FTC this year, leaving some areas more sparsely populated than before. We decided to make some changes in the leagues to improve experiences at both league meets and league tournaments.  

One of our goals is to avoid leagues of fewer than 10 teams whenever possible. While smaller league meets can be fun and relaxing, they can also be stressful due to back-to-back matches limiting build and repair time. Besides more work time, larger events offer more opportunities to build community, assess different designs, and compete with a variety of teams. This helped us make the decision to reduce the total number of leagues. 

The main reason we decided to change the number of leagues has to do with awards at league tournaments. Events with fewer teams offer a different number of awards than larger events. With 14 smaller leagues, some league tournaments may not have reached the same size thresholds, resulting in unequal award opportunities for teams and fewer ways to recognize the amazing work all of you do. 

We hope that FTC will grow next year so that we can increase the number of events again. I love working with all our amazing event hosts, and I appreciate their willingness to plan fantastic events just as much as I thank them for their gracious flexibility. 

FIRST Washington Grant closes Monday, October 5 at 5:00 pm 

FIRST Washington Grant is open.  You can find past communications regarding funding and the link to the grant application here:  https://firstwa.org/firstwa-grant/   

Remember: 

• You will have to fill out a grant application to be considered for any funding that FIRST Washington manages 

• The grant form will need to be filled out for each team you would like to be considered for funding 

• Grants will no longer be deducted from your FIRST Washington registration, they will be issued separately based on the info you submit in the grant application as well as your school requirements (if you are a school based team) 

Rookie Rumble 

This year we are excited to host the Rookie Rumble at Innovation High School in Bothell Washington! This event will give teams the chance to experience their first event of the season with low pressure to prepare for their first event in the following weeks. This event will feature a mock inspection to ensure you are ready or your event, practice matches, and help desks for coding and hardware problems. While the event is called Rookie Rumble, all teams are able to attend but if we get towards capacity, we will focus on Rookie or Newly established teams as priorities. We look forward to playing this year’s game with all of the teams! As a reminder – even if you don’t feel ready, still feel free to attend. You may learn from other teams while there, get some practice in, and make some new connections! 

The event will be held from 8:00am to 3:00pm at Innovation Lab High School in Bothell, WA on October 17th. Exact details and schedule will be shared with teams who sign up.  

https://forms.gle/kKjS4fjtEjM8df238 – Link to sign up for the Rookie Rumble   

Questions?  Reach out to Tim Swartz tswartz@nsd.org 

Important Dates