Coaches Chat is TONIGHT

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.  

Click “more info” to join!

FTC Invoices have been Sent

The first round of invoices was sent to the contact listed on the FIRST Washington registration form last night.  Any team registered by October 1 received an invoice.  We will be working on getting a second batch out soon for those who registered late. 

I do want to remind everyone that if you did not register by they grant deadline (September 27) then you were not considered for a grant so your invoice will be for the entire registration amount. 

We have shifted the deadline to secure your FIRST Washington registration to October 25th since invoices went out later than planned. 

Final League Assignments are Posted

For some of you, events start in about 10 days.  To participate in events you must: 

• Have your FIRST Washington registration secured 
• Be registered with FIRST Inspires 
• Be event ready which means you lead and alternate coaches must 
• Have signed their consent forms 
• Passed their youth protection screening 

Important Dates & Deadlines

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

Final League Assignments are LIVE

League home assignments are posted on the firstwa website here.

Remember, you will need to be registered with both FIRST and FIRST Washington to participate in your league events.

Coaches Chat Tuesday, October 15th

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.  Click here for meeting link 

FTC Invoices will be Sent Soon! 

We are working to get invoices out by the end of the week or beginning of next week.  We have shifted the deadline to secure your FIRST Washington registration to October 25th since invoices are going out later than planned. 

Important Dates & Deadlines

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

League Assignments are LIVE! 

League home assignments are posted on the FIRST Washington website here. Assignments were based on teams submitting both their FIRST Inspires AND FIRST Washington registration as of 9:00am on September 30th.

If you were not registered with FIRST Washington or FIRST Inspires as of September 30th, you were not placed in a home league. To be placed in a league, reigister with firstinspires and FIRST Washington.  We will updated the league list once a day in the morning based on the registration information from the night before.

New this year! Your team can preference into another league using this form.

• This form is meant to only be used in cases where you want to opt out of your pre-assigned Home League. If you want to remain in your Home League, do not submit this form. 
• All of our event dates are published on the FIRSTWA Calendar 
• We will attempt to place teams into their top preferences, but that is subject to event capacity. 
• Teams are limited to selecting leagues within 75 miles of your team. Any selections further away than that will be removed.  
• The form does not enforce this, it will be handled manually before assigning leagues 
• You must select at least two (2) leagues that you would like to move to, but may select up to five (5).  
• If we are not able to place you into any of your preferences, you will be placed into your original home league. 
• If you have multiple teams and want them to be kept together, we recommend you stay in your home league. We will not guarantee that your teams will be placed in the same league if you enter the preferencing system. 
• Reach out to Adrienne Collins (acollins@firstwa.org) and/or Kevin Emery (kemery@firstwa.org) with any questions or concerns. 

The preferencing window will close on Wednesday, October 9. Final league assignments will be posted by the end of the day Friday, October 11. 

OnShape with Kevin this Fall

Kevin is doing his onShape workshops a little differently this season.  Instead of having live workshops, he has pre-recorded a series to allow people to move at their own pace.

If you have students who would like to learn CAD for FTC, here is a playlist of a series of videos for learning how to use OnShape.

If you have questions, feel free to reach out to Kevin Ross at kevinro@firstwa.org. 

Important Dates & Deadlines

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

Get your team registered with FIRST and FIRST Washington ASAP! 

We will make league assignments the end of September based on team registration this Friday, September 27.  If you want to be in a league that is convenient for you or make sure your teams are all competing in the same league, register now!

FTC Coaches Chat recording is Posted

If you missed the coaches chat September 17, you can view the slides and recording on our Workshops and Webinars page. Click the button below! 

OnShape with Kevin this Fall

Kevin is doing his onShape workshops a little differently this season.  Instead of having live workshops, he has pre-recorded a series to allow people to move at their own pace.

If you have students who would like to learn CAD for FTC, here is a playlist of a series of videos for learning how to use OnShape.

If you have questions, feel free to reach out to Kevin Ross at kevinro@firstwa.org. 

Important Dates & Deadlines

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

FTC Coaches Chat, Tonight, Sept 17 at 7:00 pm

Because of all the changes this year, we will be having our first Coaches Chat a bit earlier than usual.  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.

Get your team registered with FIRST and FIRST Washington ASAP!

• We currently have 97 teams registered with FIRST Inspires 
• We currently have 94 teams registered with FIRST Washington 
• Last year we had 173 teams participate 
• This year, we are expecting 190-200 teams 

What does this all mean?  We are waiting for 100 teams to register. We will make league assignments the end of September based on team registration.  If you want to be in a league that is convenient for you or make sure your teams are all competing in the same league, register now! 

Important Dates & Deadlines

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

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