In this weeks Blog-

Events are here! 

One weekend down, one to go!

How to print a roster

Note – For teams competing this weekend and going forward!

Fundraising for Your Team!

Next weeks blog we will talk about Semifinals and State! 

Make sure you read the entire blog!

One weekend down one to go!!

Congratulations to the teams that competed last weekend! 

I will be running around this weekend stopping in at events to see what your teams have done! Make sure to celebrate how hard they have worked and how much they learned no mater the outcome.

This day is all about them!

How to Print a Roster!

Every season I get questions from coaches right before events asking how to print their roster! A team roster is required at every event you attend.

If your students are not listed on your roster electronically, you still have to turn one in! You need to hand write their names on and attach a paper consent form signed by a parent or guardian for every event you attend.

Where do I find my roster?

Your team roster is located on your FIRST Inspires dashboard! You must have 2 coaches assigned to your team that have passed FIRST’s YPP (Youth Protection Program) screening to print!

You can folow a step by step here-

For teams competing this weekend and going forward!

Fundraising for your team

Many of you have booster accounts with us and either have fundraising links set up (through give lively, benevity, etc…)  It is imperative that you make sure your team number gets put on any and all donations we receive whether by check or electronically.  We support over 1000 teams and many of them have booster accounts.  We have No way of knowing a donation from James Smith should go to your team unless they tell us your team number (not your team name or school name or coach name or mentor name or student name or parent name – hopefully you are getting the point) We are a VERY small staff that must do many different tasks to support all teams in the PNW and Washington and when we have to take time to chase down donations, it prevents us from doing other things we need to do to support all of you!   

If your team number is not listed on your donation, you are at risk of those funds not being deposited into your booster account because we just have no way of knowing how to contact the donor or who the funds are for.  Please help us help you by making sure your instructions to your sponsors are clear when it comes to making donations to your FIRST Washington booster account. 

More From FLL

In this weeks Blog-

Challenge-

Kevin’s Robot Corner Tonight!

Events are here! 

How to print a roster

Fundraising for Your Team!

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Our First Weekend of Events is Finally Here!!

Who is excited! I know I am!

I will be running around this weekend stopping in at events to see what your teams have done! Make sure to celebrate how hard they have worked and how much they learned no mater the outcome.

This day is all about them!  

How to Print a Roster!

Every season I get questions from coaches right before events asking how to print their roster! A team roster is required at every event you attend.

If your students are not listed on your roster electronically, you still have to turn one in! You need to hand write their names on and attach a paper consent form signed by a parent or guardian for every event you attend.

Where do I find my roster?

Your team roster is located on your FIRST Inspires dashboard! You must have 2 coaches assigned to your team that have passed FIRST’s YPP (Youth Protection Program) screening to print!

You can folow a step by step here-

Fundraising for your team 

Many of you have booster accounts with us and either have fundraising links set up (through give lively, benevity, etc…)  It is imperative that you make sure your team number gets put on any and all donations we receive whether by check or electronically.  We support over 1000 teams and many of them have booster accounts.  We have No way of knowing a donation from James Smith should go to your team unless they tell us your team number (not your team name or school name or coach name or mentor name or student name or parent name – hopefully you are getting the point) We are a VERY small staff that must do many different tasks to support all teams in the PNW and Washington and when we have to take time to chase down donations, it prevents us from doing other things we need to do to support all of you!   

If your team number is not listed on your donation, you are at risk of those funds not being deposited into your booster account because we just have no way of knowing how to contact the donor or who the funds are for.  Please help us help you by making sure your instructions to your sponsors are clear when it comes to making donations to your FIRST Washington booster account. 

More From FLL

In this weeks Blog-

Challenge-

Waitlist Closed

Payment deadline passed

Name Changes

Are you event ready?

Explore- 

Invoices going out weekly 

Event registration live

Event assignments for paid teams!  

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Waitlist Update!

All teams but 1 have been moved off the waitlist. I have emailed the last team to offer available spots.

The Waitlist is closed for the season!

Thanks for everyones patience !

Payment Deadline!

All teams planning to participate in the FLL Challange SUBMERGED season Qualifier events should be paid. The payment deadline was 11/15.

Are you Event Ready?

If you want to check the status of your team-

Green– All set, Event Ready!

Yellow- Unpaid Invoice, not event ready.

Red– No FIRST Washington registration, no paid invoice, not event ready.

-We are a very small staff, and most, if not all, things are done manually. It takes some time for you to pay, accounting to process it, and them to tell me. I get updates once a day, so if you have paid and don’t see your team listed PLEASE DON’T EMAIL ACCOUNTING. You just slow the process down 🙂

480+ invoices have gone out- if you have filled out the FIRST Washington registration one was most likely send to you! Check your spam/junk folder and look for an email from “Aplos”

Name Changes!

For both FLL Challenge and FLL Explore–

If your name is incorrect on the reports I have posted:

• Challenge Assignments
• Explore Team Status and Assignments

Please fill out this form letting me know the change. All FLL Challenge Changes, and FLL Explore Changes for December events must be completed by Monday 11/25. I will not be accepting changes after 11/25. 

March:

• Snohomish- March 1st
• Yakima- March 15th
• Sammamish- March 8th
• Bonney Lake- March 15th

Useful Contacts-

Program Manager- Jacqueline Grimm jacqueg@firstwa.org

Coach Advisor- Heather Bioren- heatherb@firstwa.org

FLL Head Referee- Kevin Torrico- fllheadreferee@firstwa.org 

Accounting- accounting@firstwa.org

More From FLL

In this weeks Blog-

Challenge-

Waitlist update

Payment deadline

Are you event ready?

Explore- 

Invoices going out weekly 

Event registration live

Event assignments coming soon!  

Coaches Chat this Thursday 7pm!

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Waitlist Update!

I appreciate all of you patience!

I will be moving all the teams I am able to off of the waitlist this week. I have quite a few- so I will not be emailing everyone. YOu will receive an email from me if-

• I was unable to accommodate you at all
• I was able to accommodate you, but not at the location you chose

I will be doing the same thing with teams that asked to switch days- I have already moved most that have asked, there are a few more left to do.

All moves should be done by Friday!

Payment Deadline!

All teams planning to participate in the FLL Challange SUBMERGED season Qualifier events must be paid by this Friday, 11/15!

Are you Event Ready?

If you want to check the status of your team-

Green– All set, Event Ready!

Yellow- Unpaid Invoice, not event ready.

Red– No FIRST Washington registration, no paid invoice, not event ready.

I am not finished moving teams or making assignments- if you asked for a change and your assignment is the same- I am still working on it. If I am unable to accommodate your request, I will email you to let you know! 🙂

-We are a very small staff, and most, if not all, things are done manually. It takes some time for you to pay, accounting to process it, and them to tell me. I get updates once a day, so if you have paid and don’t see your team listed PLEASE DON’T EMAIL ACCOUNTING. You just slow the process down 🙂

480+ invoices have gone out- if you have filled out the FIRST Washington registration one was most likely send to you! Check your spam/junk folder and look for an email from “Aplos”

FLL Challenge Coaches Chat

Join us for this Thursday’s Coaches Chat!

We will be talking about-

• Events!

Additional Coaches Chat dates- December 3rd, January 14th

Meeting link- https://firstwa.org/event/fll-coaches-chat-4/2024-11-14/ 

For robot game questions- join us for next months Kevin’s Robot Corner on December 5th! You can also email Kevin at fllheadreferee@firstwa.org

March:

• Snohomish- March 1st
• Yakima- March 15th
• Sammamish- March 8th
• Bonney Lake- March 15th

Useful Contacts-

Program Manager- Jacqueline Grimm jacqueg@firstwa.org

Coach Advisor- Heather Bioren- heatherb@firstwa.org

FLL Head Referee- Kevin Torrico- fllheadreferee@firstwa.org 

Accounting- accounting@firstwa.org

More From FLL

In this weeks Blog-

Challenge-

Event Assignments!-

List updated!

 FIRST Washington registration closed!

Explore- 

First round of invoices have gone out! 

Event registration! 

Kevin’s Robot Corner this Thursday!!

Make sure you read the entire blog!

FIRST Washington Registration-

Challenge-

• We currently have 480 FLL Challenge teams registered with FIRST Washington
• We currently only have 303 teams that have paid their FIRST Washington invoice!
• Every team that wants to participate has to secure their invoice to be eligible!- 480 invoices have gone out- if you have filled out the FIRST Washington registration one was most likely send to you! Check your spam/junk folder and look for an email from “Aplos”
• Only those 303 have event assignments!

Explore-

• FIRST Washington registration is still open. 
• Teams that have filled out this registration are being invoiced in batches about once a week. 
• Teams will be confirmed in their event when all registrations are completed and the $50 FIRSTWA fee is paid. 

Event Assignments!

I appreciate all of you patience! This was a much bigger undertaking than we expected!

The teams listed have been assigned events. If you do not see your team number on this list, that means you either –

• Have not registered with FIRST Washington
• Have not paid your FIRST Washington invoice
• I have not been told you have paid your FIRST Washington invoice

We are a very small staff, and most, if not all, things are done manually. It takes some time for you to pay, accounting to process it, and them to tell me. I get updates once a day, so if you have paid and don’t see your team listed PLEASE DON’T EMAIL ACCOUNTING. You just slow the process down 🙂

480 invoices have gone out- if you have filled out the FIRST Washington registration one was most likely send to you! Check your spam/junk folder and look for an email from “Aplos”

Assignment List Updated 11/4

Switching to a different type of list. It is now posted on the website. 

Event Waitlist form

Below is a link to the event waitlist form. This is only to be used if you are wanting to switch locations of your event, not just the day you are assigned.

The process of moving teams will not start until after 11/4- I have started moving teams where I can. Check on the list to see if your assignment has changed. 

Form to switch days only

Below is a link to the form to switch the day you are assigned only (ie. Bellevue Saturday to Bellevue Sunday) at the same venue. This is not to be used if you are wanting to switch locations of your event.- I have started switching teams. Please check your assignment to confirm if you have been moved or not. 

I am not finished moving teams or making assignments- if you asked for a change and your assignment is the same- I am still working on it. If I am unable to accomidate your request, I will email you to let you know! 🙂

March:

• Snohomish- March 1st
• Yakima- March 15th
• Sammamish- March 8th
• Bonney Lake- March 15th

More From FLL

In this weeks Blog-

Event Assignments!

Event registration information! Please read!

Register with FIRST Washington! 

Registration closing the end of this week!

Explore invoices going out by the end of next week!

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Note from the FIRST Washington staff-

When sending email asking questions about your team, please include your-

• Team number
• contact info

This way we can help you more efficiently 🙂

Also, please do not email Accounting for event and team related questions that do not pertain to finance, grants, booster accounts, etc. They are working hard to support over 1100 teams and do not have that information.

Thank you!

Get your team registered with FIRST and FIRST Washington ASAP! Challenge registration closing the end of this week!

• We currently have 561 FLL Challenge teams registered with FIRST Inspires
• We currently only have 479 teams registered with FIRST Washington- every team that wants to participate has to register with FIRST Washington! 
• Only 220 teams have paid their FIRST Washington invoice and are eligible to attend events!
• Only those 220 have event assignments!

Event Assignments!

I appreciate all of you patience! This was a much bigger undertaking than we expected!

The teams listed have been assigned events. If you do not see your team number on this list, that means you either –

• Have not registered with FIRST Washington
• Have not paid your FIRST Washington invoice
• I have not been told you have paid your FIRST Washington invoice

We are a very small staff, and most, if not all, things are done manually. It takes some time for you to pay, accounting to process it, and them to tell me. I get updates once a day, so if you have paid and don’t see your team listed PLEASE DON’T EMAIL ACCOUNTING. You just slow the process down 🙂

Assignment List Updated 10/29

If you are an Everett or Federal Way Public School team and are on this list but do not have a date assigned, do not panic! I am waiting for an email from your Admin 🙂

Event Waitlist form

Below is a link to the event waitlist form. This is only to be used if you are wanting to switch locations of your event, not just the day you are assigned.

The process of moving teams will not start until after 11/4

Form to switch days only

Below is a link to the form to switch the day you are assigned only (ie. Bellevue Saturday to Bellevue Sunday) at the same venue. This is not to be used if you are wanting to switch locations of your event.

FLL Challenge Event Registration

Overview-

• Teams are assigned events based on location.
• Once a team has paid their FIRST Washington fee and they have been assigned an event, if they would like to change events there will be an opt out form to fill out to request another event.
• Teams will then be placed on a waitlist and moved into that event after all teams have been placed or after a certain date, whichever comes first, if there is still space.
• If there is not space in the event they chose, they may move back into their original event, space permitting, or be assigned to an event with available space.

Challenge Registration- Details- Make sure you read!

• Teams will no longer be filling out a registration survey- YAY
• Teams will still need to be paid to see their placement- invoices just started going out this week to those that filled out the FIRST Washington registration. If you did not fill it out, you will not receive an invoice and will not be placed or able to participate until you do.
• Teams will be assigned a home venue/event that is within 50 miles
• The 50 miles is point to point distance, not driving distance
• This is based on Venue Zipcode and Team Zipcode
• Teams have the ability to opt out of their home event using the opt out form and go on a waitlist. Teams may only ask to opt out by filling out the form- no email communication will be accepted.
• Waitlist teams are not guaranteed a spot in the event they choose, or a spot in the event they opted out of.
• Waitlist teams are placed on a first come first served basis in the event they choose if there is available space, and will be notified after the placement window closes if there is space in the event they chose.
• If there is not space- they can move back to their home event, space permitting, or move into an event with available space, but there is no guarantee an event with available space will be within 50 miles
• Teams requesting to change the day of the week only and not the venue they are competing at will be handled differently. I do not have that process ironed out yet 🙂

March:

• Snohomish- March 1st
• Yakima- March 15th
• Sammamish- (tentative) March 8th
• Bonney Lake- March 15th

More From FLL