Third Play Registration is open!

Right now, we are only allowing 3rd plays at both week 3 events: 

• SunDome March 19-21 

• Sammamish March 20-22 

To help fill our SunDome event, FIRST Washington is offering free 3rd plays at SunDome.   

Once SunDome and Sammamish have enough teams at their events, we may open up 3rd play options at other events (Oregon State Fair, Glacier Peak & Wilsonville) but we will not open 3rd play options at these events until Sammamish and SunDome have enough teams to be viable events. 

You may end up on a waitlist when registering for a 3rd play event but I will be checking registrations regularly throughout the week and will move your team into SunDome or Sammamish if you end up on a waitlist for one of those events. 

Boeing Grant is open! 

The grant is open October 20 through November 14th or until all funds are exhausted.  If you have a Boeing Mentor, I encourage you all to apply early for 2 reasons: 

• To ensure you are allocated funding before it runs out (this happened to many of our FRC teams a few years ago) 

• With the grant opening so late, to ensure your funding has been allocated prior to event registration closing.  When we do invoices, we have to apply grant funding based on how FIRST has applied those funds.  If your Boeing funds don’t show as applied on FIRST’s end when we invoice, they will not show on your FIRST Washington invoice.  You will have to wait until FIRST opens their regrant window and will have to request a regrant to access those funds. 

Your Boeing Mentor should have access to the grant through an internal system. 

Next FRC Coaches Chat is Tuesday, November 18 at 7:00 pm 

Last month, we focused on how to become a 501c3, On this coaches chat we have invited our President, Fred Krug and Development Director, Lila Mowatt to join us and talk about fundraising. 

We will also go over the invoicing schedule, what will be on the invoices and how they will be sent.   

Make sure to have 1 adult attend! 

Click here for the meeting link 

Important Dates

Slides and recording form 10-23 coaches chat are posted 

If you missed the coaches chat last week or would just like to view the recording or slides, you can find them here:   https://firstwa.org/webinars/  

Volunteer with FTC! 

All our Washington FTC events are live and accepting volunteer applications. Register today!  

Volunteering at your local FTC events is a great way to support your local pipeline of future FRC students.  

FTC leagues are looking for Scoring Referees, Penalty Referees, Lead Scorekeepers and more!  

Judging starts at the Interleague level. Interested? Sign up today from your dashboard! 

FRC Workshops hosted by SOTABots 2557

The SOTAbots are hosting an FRC Workshop November 15 (Saturday). 

• The workshop is at IDEA High School: 6701 S. Park Ave, Tacoma, WA 98408 
• The workshop will be from 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM (Though if there are enough teams and sessions, the hours could be extended) 
• The workshop is free and open to all teams.  
• If a team would like to teach a lesson (or two) at the workshop, please indicate by using the appropriate link below! 

  We would like teams to let us know if they are attending and how many team members they are planning to bring so we can plan accordingly. 

  Here are some links for the workshop: 

  Use this link to verify your team’s planned attendance: 

Planed Attendance Link: https://forms.gle/Ey8xbjSvf7r6VD2U7 

Use this link to pre-order lunches (not mandatory, but encouraged): 

Lunch Link: https://forms.gle/a7tFaL8Vj7to824E6 

Use this link if your team wants to teach a class at the workshop: 

Presentation Proposal Link https://forms.gle/AXGbsaaz5vrDjf9u7 

If you have questions, reach out to Rich Williams RWILLI4@Tacoma.K12.Wa.US  

Boeing Grant is open! 

The grant is open October 20 through November 14th or until all funds are exhausted.  If you have a Boeing Mentor, I encourage you all to apply early for 2 reasons: 

• To ensure you are allocated funding before it runs out (this happened to many of our FRC teams a few years ago) 

• With the grant opening so late, to ensure your funding has been allocated prior to event registration closing.  When we do invoices, we have to apply grant funding based on how FIRST has applied those funds.  If your Boeing funds don’t show as applied on FIRST’s end when we invoice, they will not show on your FIRST Washington invoice.  You will have to wait until FIRST opens their regrant window and will have to request a regrant to access those funds. 

Your Boeing Mentor should have access to the grant through an internal system. 

Important Dates

Boeing Grant is open! 

The grant is open October 20 through November 14th or until all funds are exhausted. If you have a Boeing Mentor, I encourage you all to apply early for 2 reasons: 

1. To ensure you are allocated funding before it runs out (this happened to many of our FRC teams a few years ago)

    

2. With the grant opening so late, to ensure your funding has been allocated prior to event registration closing.  When we do invoices, we have to apply grant funding based on how FIRST has applied those funds.  If your Boeing funds don’t show as applied on FIRST’s end when we invoice, they will not show on your FIRST Washington invoice.  You will have to wait until FIRST opens their regrant window and will have to request a regrant to access those funds. 

Your Boeing Mentor should have access to the grant through an internal system. 

Next FRC Coaches Chat, 7 PM Thursday, October 23 

Our next coaches chat is scheduled for this Thursday, October 23 at 7:00 pm.  Please make sure to have one coach attend if possible. 

We are trying something new this season and will have a guest presenter  October, November and December coaches chats.   

For this chat, we have asked Emil from 2928 to do a presentation talking about how to become a 501c3 

I will still be going over critical information during this meeting as well so again, plese make sure to have one adult attend. 

Click here for the meeting link. 

Second round of preferencing closes at 9 am Thursday 

To preference for your second event, both coaches must have passed youth protection screening and signed consents so if you were able to preference during the first round (which all of you were!) Do not change coaches unless your new coach is through screening.   

A few things to note about your second round of preferencing: 

• Teams are no longer guaranteed their home event.  If you did not pick your home event during the first round of preferencing, you are no longer guaranteed space at that event. 

• Just like the first round of preferencing, the window will close next Thursday at 9 am.  You can pick your preferences any time during that window.  I recommend that you make sure you have entered your preferences by Wednesday evening. 

According to an email from FIRST this morning, most of you have not submitted your preferences for your second event yet.  Don’t wait until the last minute, make sure they are submitted today! 

Important Dates

Second round of preferencing opens at 9 am Thursday 

To preference for your second event, both coaches must have passed youth protection screening and signed consents so if you were able to preference during the first round (which all of you were!) Do not change coaches unless your new coach is through screening.   

A few things to note about your second round of preferencing: 

• Teams are no longer guaranteed their home event.  If you did not pick your home event during the first round of preferencing, you are no longer guaranteed space at that event. 

• Just like the first round of preferencing, the window will close next Thursday at 9 am.  You can pick your preferences any time during that window.  I recommend that you make sure you have entered your preferences by Wednesday evening. 

Next FRC Coaches Chat, 7 PM Thursday, October 23 

Our next coaches chat is scheduled next Thursday, October 24 at 7:00 pm.  Please make sure to have one coach attend if possible. 

Click here for the meeting link. 

Important Dates

Kickoff registration is open!

All teams need to either register for an in person kickoff or select to be a my site.  Here are a few things to note: 

• FIRST is asking for teams to enter a shipping address even if they are registering for an in person kickoff.   This is in case something needs to be shipped to teams after kickoff. 

• If you select MySite, your kickoff kit will not ship to you until after kickoff which means any game piece, etc won’t be received by your team until a week or so after kickoff.  Additionally, there is a charge to have your kit shipped to you.  That charge will be included on your registration invoice. 

Link to last weeks FRC Coaches Chat 

If you missed last week’s coaches chat, you can view the slides and recording here:  https://firstwa.org/webinars/  

Reminder from the Finance Department 

Please make sure your team number is clearly included on ALL donations sent on behalf of your team. This includes checks, volunteer matches, and ACH deposits. 

If for any reason a team number cannot be included, it’s essential that you communicate directly with the Finance Department to ensure proper allocation.(accounting@firstwa.org) 

⚠️ Without a team number, we cannot guarantee that funds will be credited to your team’s booster account. 

Thank you for helping us keep everything organized and accurate! 

Important Dates

Event Preferencing closes at 9 am Thursday 

Event preferencing for you first event  

📖 For full details, check out the FRC Event Preference Guide. 

Don’t miss your chance—make sure your team is event ready before September 25 so you can take advantage of the first preferencing window! 

Not sure if you are event ready?  Click here to see your status. 

****Important****  If you pick an event other than your home event, you may end up on the waitlist once events are posted Thursday afternoon/Friday morning.  This is normal.  I will be working with FIRST to move everyone into events on Friday and Monday.  Please do not email me if you end up on a waitlist, I will not respond to your email. If you are still on a waitlist Tuesday, October 7, you will receive an email from me by the end of the day letting you know what your options are. 

FRC Coaches Chat 

📅 Tonight, September 30 @ 7:00 pm 

At least one adult per team should attend. Topics include: 

• How to preference for events (and when/how you’ll know your placement) 

• Important season dates and deadlines 

• Invoicing timeline and season costs 

To attend this meeting click here —please forward to any adult who should attend. 

Important Dates