FTC Into the Deep Blog: Volume 2
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
- February 1: FTC State
