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FRC Reefscape Blog: Volume 15

by | Jan 29, 2025 | FRC, Newsletter

Coaches Chat Recording is Live

You can watch the recording or read the slides from the January Coaches Chat here:

FIRST WA Webinars

Workshop Request and Quiet Room Deadline is Fast Approaching!

I know many teams enjoy hosting workshops at events.  As of right now, only 1 team has signed up to host a workshop.  The deadline for submitting a workshop request is next Friday so if your team is interested in hosting a workshop, make sure to sign up and submit your slide prior to the deadline! Complete the form via the button below:

Event Workshop

Quiet Room

The Quiet Room has been a popular and welcome addition to our events.  We are hoping to continue offering quiet rooms at our events but need help from all of you.  We need to change how our quiet rooms are staff to ensure that the volunteers have gone through youth protection screening so they will now need to sign up as a quiet room volunteer through their dashboard.  The Volunteer Coordinator for the event(s) your team signs up to host, will communicate with your point person to share contact information for the people that volunteer for that role (they should be the people your team is recruiting).  As of right now, we have only had one team sign up to be a quiet room host. Especially with the additional layer of coordination, we will be unable to allow quiet room hosts to sign up at the last minute so please be sure to sign up before the deadline if you are interested in hosting/coordinating the quiet room at one of our events. Complete the form via the button below:

Quiet Room

Both forms will close Friday, February 7th and we will not accept submissions after the deadline. 

Event Accommodation Form

This is likely the last time I will send this out in a blog.  Just a reminder, if you have participants on your team that need accommodations, please submit your request via the button below.

We are a small staff. The later you make the accommodation request, the more difficult it is for us to meet your participants needs.  It is important to us that all participants get the best experience possible, but we cannot help your team if we are unaware of accommodation needs! It is extremely difficult to make venue changes when an event has already started, so help us help you! 

Examples of Accommodations: 

  • Mobility differences – Maybe your have a mentor that uses a wheelchair or crutches, and you want to confirm the best way for them to navigate the venue.
  • Hearing differences – Maybe you have a students who utilize cochlear implants, or students that utilizes an interpreter, and you’d like to discuss how we can better support them! 

We cannot always provide the exact solutions requested, but we will have a better chance of providing support if we know ahead of time!

*The examples above are broad generalizations.

We try to use person-first language, and make general examples so coaches and mentors are more likely to identify that they need to complete this form. We understand that everyone’s abilities are personal and will vary. It is always our intent to refer to individuals as they identify. We thank you for your understanding and hope this form helps us make events more inclusive for all! 

 

Event Accommodations

Important Dates

FTC Blog Into the Deep: Volume 17

by | Jan 29, 2025 | FTC, Newsletter

FTC State Championship

Where: Amazon Meeting Center 2031 – 7th Ave. Seattle, WA 98121 

Parking: Parking in the doppler garage is free starting at 7:00 am. 

FTC State is open to all teams to attend.  It can be a great experience for your students to see the top teams compete against each other.   

Amazon requires that everyone who enters the meeting center register.  What does this mean for spectators? 

  • Any one over 18 will need to show ID 
  • If you bring your entire team and have not pre-registered, plan for it to take 15 minutes or so to get everyone registered and badged. 
  • If you are not competing, please wait until after 9:00 am to arrive, prior to that, we want the focus to be getting participating team students, mentors and their families inside the building. 
  • If you are bringing your team as a group, you can fill out an excel spreadsheet to pre register.  You will need to have that spreadsheet to me by noon on Jan 27th so I can pass the info along to Amazon.  Send me an email if you would like a copy of the spreadsheet sent to you to fill out.   

What State Champs LIVE!

Can’t attend the FTC State Championship? No problem! Tune into the event live via our Twitch Stream. 

Watch LIVE!

FTC State Champs Schedule:

11:15 AM  Opening Ceremonies 
11:30 AM – 12:05 PM  Qualification Matches 
12:05 PM – 12:50 PM  Lunch 
12:50 PM – 3:50 PM  Qualification Matches 
4:05 AM  Alliance Selection 
4:30 PM  Playoff Matches & Awards 

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • February 1:  FTC State

FTC Blog Into the Deep: Volume 16

by | Jan 23, 2025 | FTC, Newsletter

Compass Award Submissions due by Friday

All teams are eligible to submit for the Compass award whether they are moving on to the State Championship or not.

For more information on the requirements for submitting for the compass award, see the game manual here:  https://ftc-resources.firstinspires.org/file/ftc/game/manual-06

You can submit for the Compass award via the button below. The deadline for submission is Friday, January 24th.  No late submissions will be accepted.

Compass Award Submission

FTC State Championship

Where: Amazon Meeting Center 2031 – 7th Ave. Seattle, WA 98121 

Parking: Parking in the doppler garage is free starting at 7:00 am. 

FTC State is open to all teams to attend.  It can be a great experience for your students to see the top teams compete against each other.   

Amazon requires that everyone who enters the meeting center register.  What does this mean for spectators? 

  • Any one over 18 will need to show ID 
  • If you bring your entire team and have not pre-registered, plan for it to take 15 minutes or so to get everyone registered and badged. 
  • If you are not competing, please wait until after 9:00 am to arrive, prior to that, we want the focus to be getting participating team students, mentors and their families inside the building. 
  • If you are bringing your team as a group, you can fill out an excel spreadsheet to pre register.  You will need to have that spreadsheet to me by noon on Jan 27th so I can pass the info along to Amazon.  Send me an email if you would like a copy of the spreadsheet sent to you to fill out.   

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • February 1:  FTC State

FRC Reefscape Blog: Volume 14

by | Jan 16, 2025 | FRC, Newsletter

Join the Coaches Chat Tonight at 7:00 pm

The coaches chat is tonight Thursday, January 16th  at 7:00 pm.  Coaches Chats are an opportunity for us to share important information with all of you as well as help you connect with other coaches.  We recommend each team have one coach attend.

During this meeting we will be checking in to see how the build season is going as well as talking about workshops/accommodations/quiet room at events.  This is not the district event briefing, that is in February.

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Menstrual Equity

What is Menstrual Equity? 
 Menstrual Equity refers to the idea that everyone should be provided access to affordable menstrual hygiene products. M.E. FIRST aims to provide everybody with free pads and tampons at FRC competitions to remove financial barriers related to menstruation.  
 
How to Help? 
 Your team can help with this project by signing up as an M.E. FIRST Ambassador to assist in providing menstrual products at your events this season. This includes placing menstrual products in the bathrooms and making care packages for teams to keep with them throughout the event.  

2980 M.E. Ambassador Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdoIRaq-9bk 
 If you’re interested please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/NiHepUUbpJP1niZi8 
 If you have any questions, please reach out to 2980m.e@gmail.com. 

FIRST Force Scrimmage

Get Your Game On!

The FIRST Force Scrimmage is returning to Corvallis High School in Corvallis, Oregon on Sunday, February 16.  This is a great event to meet teams and their new robots before week 1.  Your team will also have a chance to practice a match as a part of an alliance, test and tune your robot, try out your scouting system, and have a lot of fun.

The cost for the scrimmage is $100.00 per team with fee waivers for 2024 and 2025 rookie teams.  Teams from Oregon and Washington are welcome.  See the links below for registration and details.  The member teams of FIRST Force hope to see you there!

Important Dates

FRC Reefscape Blog: Volume 13

by | Jan 8, 2025 | FRC, Uncategorized

I hope everyone had a fantastic kickoff and is excited for this years game! 

I have received emails from a few coaches that I thought would be good to share with the broader group 

  • Problems with items in your kickoff kit:  If you had issues with anything in your kickoff kit there are some instructions you can follow from your firstinspires dashboard to get those items replaced.  I have heard from some coaches that they are getting an error message or are not being allowed to submit issues through their dashboard.  If your team is affected by this, send an email to ftcteams@firstinspires.org and they will be able to get you taken care of. 
  • The manual has an error:  It states that 45 PNW teams will move on to our District Championship event.  The number will be the same as last year, 50 PNW teams will move on to the District Championship event. 

The next Coaches Chat is scheduled for Thursday, January 16 at 7:00 pm

Our next coaches chat is scheduled for Thursday, December 5th  at 7:00 pm.  Coaches chats are an opportunity for use to share important information with all of you as well as help you connect with other coaches.  We recommend each team have one coach attend.  

During this meeting we will be checking in to see how the build season is going as well as talking about workshops/accommodations/quiet room at events.  This is not the district event briefing, that is in February.

There are no upcoming events at this time.

4 forms to fill out prior to District Events starting

  1. Event RSVP
    • Please fill this for out for each event you are attending.  Make sure to put a cell number for someone who will be onsite at the event.  Many of you have your school number listed on your dashboard and none of you will be at the school when we are trying to reach you from an event.
  2. Event Accommodation Form
    • This form is to be used if you have someone in attendance that would like special accommodations (some examples could be: closed captioning at events, or someone in a wheelchair that needs access to the field)  Please keep in mind that we may not be able to accommodate all requests and our ability to accommodate a request may change by venue but we will make every effort to accommodate as many requests as possible.  It is important to us that all participants have a great experience at our events and we are committed to doing all we can to enhance that experience.  Keep in mind, the earlier you fill out this form, the more likely we will be able to accommodate any request you make.
  3. Quiet Room host
    • I know the quiet room is an important part of our events and we need help from all of you to make this happen.  We need to make some changes this season that will require hosts to commit earlier so we can work with them to appropriately staff these rooms.  Please sign up as soon as you are able to commit to hosting a room
  4. Event Workshops  
    • We love having teams host workshops at events when possible.  Please fill out this form if you are interested in hosting a workshop.  You will need to upload a slide when you fill out the form so have your workshop slide prepared. 

Important Dates