OSPI Informational Meeting is Tonight @ 7:00pm! 

If you are a Washington State public school or Tribal Compact school, you are eligible for the OSPI grant!

The process will be very similar to last year. If you are new to this process or have questions, feel free attend our meeting on Tuesday, September 10 at 7:00 pm.

Keep in mind, this meeting is for questions on the OSPI grant only, we will not be answering program specific questions at that time. For program specific questions, be sure to attend your program specific Coaches Chat.

Register your Team with FIRST Inspires AND FIRST Washington

Get your team registered with FIRST and FIRST Washington ASAP!

There are several reasons you need to get your team registered with FIRST and FIRST Washington ASAP:

• To be sure you are on our mailing list and receiving our regular coach blasts.
• You MUST be registered with both FIRST Inspires and FIRST Washington to receive OSPI funding (public school teams only).
• We will be placing teams into leagues based on registration numbers on September 27. It is that time when we will will considering schools with multiple teams and keeping them together. If you are not registered, you won’t be part of that consideration and we can not guarantee your teams will be together.
• We work hard to place teams in leagues that are close to them, if you are not registered by September 27, you will have to enter the preferencing system when it opens up the following week and will have no guarantee of what league you will be in (other than that it will be within a 100 mile radius from your address.
• You must be registered with FIRST Inspires and FIRST Washington to participate in events

Not sure if your team has registered? check here!

Upcoming Workshop: Setting your Team Up for Financial Success

Join us on October 10th from 5:00pm to 6:15pm for a webinar from our very own Director of Development, Lila Mowatt, covering the basics of fundraising and how you can set your team up for financial success this season. 

Please RSVP here! 

Questions?  Reach out to Jake Osborn at jakeo@firstwa.org  

Important Dates & Deadlines

• Open Now - FIRST Washington Registration
• Sept. 6th - FTC Kickoff

The Bellevue Kickoff is now Full

Auburn kickoff only has 3 teams currently attending and is in danger of being cancelled.  If you plan to attend the Auburn Kickoff, you need to register by the end of the day tomorrow. 

If you plan to attend any of the other kickoffs around the state, please take time to register.  It helps the coordinators with planning to know how many are in attendance.  It is not gracious or professional to just show up. 

OSPI informational meeting next Tuesday, Sept 10 at 7:00 pm 

If you are a Washington State public school or Tribal Compact school, you are eligible for the OSPI grant! 

 The process will be very similar to last year.  If you are new to this process or have questions, feel free attend our meeting on Tuesday, September 10 at 7:00 pm.  Click here for the meeting link: OSPI Informational Meeting  Keep in mind, this meeting is for questions on the OSPI grant only, we will not be answering program specific questions at that time.  For program specific questions, be sure to attend your program specific Coaches Chat.   

Register your Team with FIRST Inspires AND FIRST Washington

Right now, we only have 60 teams registered with FIRST Inspires 21 teams registered with FIRST Washington.  Because we are allowing teams to preference into another league this year it is Imperative that you get registered with both FIRST and FIRST Washington right away.  We have to know how many teams we need to accommodate so we can meet the tight window that we have by opening up an opportunity for teams to preference into another league.  Please help us help you by getting registered with both FIRST and FIRST Washington right away. 

Important Dates & Deadlines

• Open Now - FIRST Washington Registration
• Sept. 6th - FTC Kickoff

Please register for Kickoff if you plan to attend!

Please fill out this form to register your team if you plan to attend an in person kickoff (There is schedule information about each kickoff on the form).  It’s important to register if you plan to attend so the event host can send you important information regarding your specific kickoff event.   

As of right now, we only have 1 team registered for the Auburn Kickoff event.  If we don’t get more teams registered by this Friday, August 30th, we may cancel that kickoff event and move the registered team to the Bellevue event. 

There were some issues with the blog post last week and many of you may have missed the post, please review the big changes to the event structure to ensure you understand what is changing this season and are prepared. 

Big Changes to the Event Structure this Year

If you missed the meeting on May 28 where we discussed the changes to the schedule and event registration process this season, I strongly encourage you to go look at the slide deck and/or view the webinar.  You can find the links on the firstwa webinar page here:  https://firstwa.org/webinars/  

I am going to go over changes at a high level and important/significant dates.  If you have questions after reading this blog please –

• Check out the May 28 meeting and slides. 
• Attend our Sept 17 Coaches Chat where we will be talking about these changes again and answering questions.   

What is changing?

• The event dates have changed. 
• League Changes:  League Coordinators will now select two dates between October 26 and November 24 to hold their events. 
• Interleague Changes:  Interleague events will be spread out during the first three weekends of December rather than all being held the same weekend.   
• Semi Final layer added:  We will now be advancing teams from Interleague events so Semi Final events to give more teams an opportunity to advance. 
• State:  Will be held the same time as it has been but will have fewer teams than in prior years. 
• You will now be able to preference into another league. 

On October 1, leagues will be posted (based on teams registered with FIRST Washington by September 27th so it is imperative that you register your teams by then!!). When leagues are posted, you will see all your event play dates up through your Interleague play in December. 

A preferencing window will open from 10-1 to 10-9 where coaches can preference for a different league. Updated league assignments will be posted on 10-11. 

We will go into this process in more detail on our Sept 17 coaches chat but will not be answering email questions prior to that time. 

Goals with the 2024-25 season changes 

• Give teams and event hosts more flexibility in scheduling. 
• Decrease the burden on volunteers and volunteer coordinators. 
• Improve the scalability of advancement within Washington.

I’m sure many of you have questions after reading this.  Be sure to attend our coaches chat on September 17.  You can find the link to that chat here. 

Boeing Grants are Open

If you have a Boeing mentor, you are eligible to receive the Boeing registration grant.  Please have your Boeing mentor reach out internally to find out how to submit for this grant. 

Important Dates & Deadlines

• Open Now - FIRST Washington Registration
• Sept. 6th - FTC Kickoff

There is a lot of information in this blog and over the next several weeks, we will be highlighting a lot of changes to the season and schedule in Washington.  It is critical you read the entire blog. 

Please register for Kickoff if you plan to attend!

Please fill out this form to register your team if you plan to attend an in person kickoff (There is schedule information about each kickoff on the form).  It’s important to register if you plan to attend so the event host can send you important information regarding your specific kickoff event.  It is important for you to register using this form even if the kickoff host knows you are attending. 

Big Changes to the Event Structure this Year

If you missed the meeting on May 28 where we discussed the changes to the schedule and event registration process this season, I strongly encourage you to go look at the slide deck and/or view the webinar.  You can find the links on the firstwa webinar page here:  https://firstwa.org/webinars/  

I am going to go over changes at a high level and important/significant dates.  If you have questions after reading this blog please 

• Check out the May 28 meeting and slides 
• Attend our Sept 17 Coaches Chat where we will be talking about these changes again and answering questions.   

What is changing? 

• The event dates have changed 
• League Changes:  League Coordinators will now select two dates between October 26 and November 24 to hold their events 
• Interleague Changes:  Interleague events will be spread out during the first three weekends of December rather than all being held the same weekend.   
• Semi Final layer added:  We will now be advancing teams from Interleague events so Semi Final events to give more teams an opportunity to advance 
• State:  Will be held the same time as it has been but will have fewer teams than in prior years 
• You will now be able to preference into another league. 

On October 1, leagues will be posted (based on teams registered with FIRST Washington by September 27th so it is imperative that you register your teams by then!!). When leagues are posted, you will see all your event play dates up through your Interleague play in December. 

A preferencing window will open from 10-1 to 10-9 where coaches can preference for a different league. Updated league assignments will be posted on 10-11 

We will go into this process in more detail on our Sept 17 coaches chat but will not be answering email questions prior to that time. 

Goals with the 2024-25 season changes 

• Give teams and event hosts more flexibility in scheduling 
• Decrease the burden on volunteers and volunteer coordinators 
• Improve the scalability of advancement within Washington  

I’m sure many of you have questions after reading this.  Be sure to attend our coaches chat on September 17.  You can find the link to that chat here. 

Coaches Chat – Tuesday, September 17 at 7:00pm

Because of all the changes this year, we will be having our first Coaches Chat a bit earlier than usual this year. I encourage everyone to have at least one adult in attendance as we talk about important changes (both with FIRST and FIRST Washington) and go over the schedule for the season.

Feel free to share this coaches chat link with any adult you would like to attend.

Important Dates & Deadlines

• Open Now - FIRST Washington Registration
• Sept. 6th - FTC Kickoff