FRC Blog: Volume 14

Next FRC Coaches Chat is scheduled for Thursday, December 14 at 7:00 pm

We will be focusing on what teams need to do to prepare for kickoff during this coaches chat.  I expect the meeting to be short which will allow for either more time for all of you to connect with each other on Teams or we can close the meeting down and let you all get back to your families and preparations for the holidays. 

To join the meeting click here 

Make sure your team is prepared for kickoff! 

Kickoff is just around the corner and there are several things you need to do to be sure that you are prepared!  I know there has been some confusion because teams can opt out of the black tote and drive base but every team will receive a kickoff kit and needs to plan to pick it up from the kickoff Jan 6.   

Here is what you need to do to make sure you are prepared: 

  1. Secure your PNW FRC Registration so you can pick up your kickoff kit 
  2. If you are attending an event in person: Make sure your students are all registered on your firstinspires dashboard and that their consents have been signed.  You will need to bring a copy of your roster to kickoff and include paper consent forms for anyone who has not signed the electronic consent form. 
  3. Kit pickup:  If you are having someone other than your coach or assistant coach pick up your kickoff kit, you need to fill out a surrogate form.    You can find a link to the surrogate form as well as more information on having a surrogate pick up your kit here.

Sign Up to be an FTC Dean’s List Interviewer!

FTC Dean’s List will be remote this year, so you can interview from anywhere. Even if you’re affiliated with a team, you can be an interviewer. We’ll match you with unaffiliated candiddates. All 21+ volunteers are welcome. 

Provide your availability here! 

FRC Blog: Volume 13

Invoices need to be secured by Friday, December 8 

Invoices were sent to the contact listed on the PNW FRC registration on November 17th and need to be secured by Friday, December 8th.   

For those teams who have already secured their invoices, thank you!  If you have not yet secured your invoice, don’t wait until the last minute, secure your PNW FRC registration now!  You will not be allowed to pick up your kickoff kit if your registration is not secured (and every team will receive a kickoff kit, even if you opted out of the drive base and black tote) 

 

Next FRC Coaches Chat is scheduled for Thursday, December 14 at 7:00 pm

We will be focusing on what teams need to do to prepare for kickoff during this coaches chat.  I expect the meeting to be short which will allow for either more time for all of you to connect with each other on Teams or we can close the meeting down and let you all get back to your families and preparations for the holidays. 

To join the meeting click here 

Make sure your team is prepared for kickoff! 

Kickoff is just around the corner and there are several things you need to do to be sure that you are prepared!  I know there has been some confusion because teams can opt out of the black tote and drive base but every team will receive a kickoff kit and needs to plan to pick it up from the kickoff Jan 6.   

Here is what you need to do to make sure you are prepared: 

  1. Secure your PNW FRC Registration so you can pick up your kickoff kit 
  2. If you are attending an event in person: Make sure your students are all registered on your firstinspires dashboard and that their consents have been signed.  You will need to bring a copy of your roster to kickoff and include paper consent forms for anyone who has not signed the electronic consent form. 
  3. Kit pickup:  If you are having someone other than your coach or assistant coach pick up your kickoff kit, you need to fill out a surrogate form.    You can find a link to the surrogate form as well as more information on having a surrogate pick up your kit here.

Sign Up to be an FTC Dean’s List Interviewer!

FTC Dean’s List will be remote this year, so you can interview from anywhere. Even if you’re affiliated with a team, you can be an interviewer. We’ll match you with unaffiliated candiddates. All 21+ volunteers are welcome. 

Provide your availability here! 

FRC Blog: Volume 12

FRC Invoices Have been Sent

Invoices were sent from the email account accounting@firstwa.org to the contact listed on your PNW FRC Registration.

If you did not receive an invoice, feel free to email accounting@firstwa.org be sure to include your team number in the email. 

Invoices need to be secured by December 8th. 

FRC Coaches Chat Recording 

The FRC Coaches Chat recording and slides from our last call are live.

If you missed last week’s coaches chat, you, can find the recording and slides here. 

 

Sign Up to Volunteer for FLL! 

Our FLL Challenge events start the first weekend of December and all are in need of Judges, Referees, and more! 

We’ve seen massive growth across all FIRST Washington programs, and FIRST LEGO League Challenge has grown to 391 teams. That’s nearly 100 more teams than last season, and nearly 2,000 students across the state. To accomodate this growth, we’ve got 5 more qualifiers than last season. That means we need 250 more volunteers than usual! 

How to Register: 

  1. Login to yoru Dashboard.
  2. Select Volunteer Registration on your Dashboard.
  3. Then select Event Volunteering.
  4. On Event Filters, pick the program you wish to volunteer with (FLL, FTC, FRC). Or clear all filters to see all events.
  5. Select the event you wish to volunteer at. Under Volunteer Roles, pick the role you wish to fill.
  6. For the Dates Available field select the dates you’re available for. 
  7. Lastly, select the Begin Youth Protection Screening button and follow the prompts to submit your free-of-charge background check.

Sign Up to be an FTC Dean’s List Interviewer!

FTC Dean’s List will be remote this year, so you can interview from anywhere. Even if you’re affiliated with a team, you can be an interviewer. We’ll match you with unaffiliated candiddates. All 21+ volunteers are welcome. 

Provide your availability here! 

FRC Blog: Volume 11

FRC November 18th Workshop: Cancelled

This workshop has been cancelled due to lack of interest. Thank you SOTAbots for organizing! We hope interest returns for next season.

Our next FRC Coaches Chat will be Thursday, Nov 16 at 7:00pm 

Please try to have one adult attend.  We will have a short agenda for this meeting: 

  • Invoices and payment deadlines 
  • Kickoff 
  • Check in with all of you 

These meetings are a great way to connect with other coaches! 

FRC Invoices

FRC Invoices will go out to the contact listed on the PNW Registration form no later than November 20th.

Your invoice needs to be secured by December 8th to ensure you will be able to pick up your kickoff kit on January 6th.

FIRST Washington is in the process of securing all PNW teams with FIRST right now. You should be able to access FIRST Choice when it opens later this week when it opens.

FRC Blog: Volume 10

FRC Blog: Volume 10

Important Deadlines in the next few weeks

FIRST Registration closes November 13.  What does that mean?

  • If you are interested in a 3rd play, you need to select it before registration closes
  • If you haven’t already, you will want to select a kickoff before registration closes.  It is important you select a kickoff.  If you don’t, you will be listed as a my site and your kit will ship to you after kickoff (and you will be charged by FIRST for the shipping)

Securing your FIRST Registration:  I know you are all receiving emails from FIRST but your team does NOT have to secure their FIRST registration prior to November 13, FIRST Washington will secure your FIRST registration by November 13th 

FIRST Washington invoices will go out no later than November 20th.  Here is a breakdown of what you will see on the invoice:  

  • FIRST & FIRST Washington Registration fee of $13,000
  • Grants up to $6000 that show on your firstinspires dashboard (if you have grants totaling more than $6000, reach out to me to find out how that can be applied as payment to your invoice)
  • Grants from FIRST Washington and/or ORTOP 

Your invoice will need to be secured by Friday, December 8 .

Our next FRC Coaches Chat will be Thursday, Nov 16 at 7 pm

 

Please try to have one adult attend.  We will have a short agenda for this meeting:

  • Inovices and payment deadlines
  • Kickoff
  • Check in with all of you

 

These meetings are a great way to connect with other coaches!

FRC Blog Volume 9 – Make sure you are registered for a kickoff

FRC Blog Volume 9 – Make sure you are registered for a kickoff

Make sure you are registered for a kickoff

Every team needs to select a kickoff to attend or your team will be marked as a my site. 

If your team is marked as a my site it means

  • You kit will not ship to you until after kickoff (so it may take a week or longer until you receive it)
  • You will be charged shipping by firstinspires

You can register for your kickoff on your firstinspires dashboard

You are not required to attend the kickoff, you can send someone to pick up your kit during the kit pick up window.

The recording from our last coaches chat is posted

 

I apologize for the confusion.  I thought all of the zoom meeting links had been removed but there was a zoom link still on our calendar so I know many of you were trying to attend the meeting but couldn’t find the correct link.

As I said in the last blog, we are switching over to teams for these meetings so be sure to check that the link you are using is a teams link.

Click the button below to navigate to the slide deck and recording on our website.

FRC Fall Workshops : Hosted by FRC Team 2557

Please join us for our annual get together focused on everything to do with FRC robots and general game play. Some of the workshops will be repeats of previous years – valuable to rookie teams and new members of veteran teams.

Date: November 18, 2023

Time: 9 AM – 3 PM

Location: Point Defiance Zoo Environmental Learning Center (ELC) Tacoma, WA 98407

Lunch: Generous Pizza Slice, Chips, Cookie and Drink for $5 (sign up onsite)

We plan to have some new topics this year. Possibilities are:

• Using websites like Chief Delphi

• Pit organization

• Front of House – speaking effectively to judges and others,

• Pre-season Design Challenges,

• Care and Feeding of Mentors

• Managing Luck

Or any other topic you would like to see or present. We are always looking for new topics and presenter