Charged Up Coach Email Volume 4: 9-13-22 – Event Schedule & Event Preferencing

Greetings Coaches!

If you are new to this email this is the place where you will find all of the Pacific NW District specific FIRST Robotics Competition information. Coaches in the FIRST system for the current season will be added once teams are able to register for events. Every email from me will be numbered and that number lets you know which update it is, if you miss an update you can find it on our website.

Here is what I have for you today:

• Youth Protection Screening
• Preferencing window opens next Thursday
• Event Schedule for the season
• FRC Coaches Chat Sept 22nd
• DEI Committee wants you!
• Please fill out the PNW registration form
• Onshape training with Kevin every Tuesday & Wednesday

 

 

Youth Protection Screening

In order to select your preferences during the first preferencing window, you must have both your lead and alternate contact through youth protection screening. Screening generally only takes a few days but with all 3 programs registering this time of year, it can take much longer. Please log into your dashboard on firstinspires.org and check to make sure your ypp is current.

Preferencing window opens next Thursday

Next Thursday (Sept 22) the event preferencing window opens at 9 am Pacific time.

What does this mean for teams?

For the first round of preferencing you have 2 options:

1. You can pick your home event – You are guaranteed a spot in your home event so if you plan to attend that event, select it and don’t select any other event options and you will be placed into that event.
2. You can select an event that is not your home event and rank your preferences if you have alternates in case your first choice is full or select to be put on the waiting list for a specific event if there is not room.

Here is a guide that helps to explain how event preferencing works.

The 1st event preferencing window closes at 9 am on Thursday, Sept 29. Teams should be notified of their event placement by the end of the day on Friday, Sept 30.

Event Schedule for 2023 FRC Season

Many of you have likely seen our event schedule on firstinspires.org but for those who haven’t, here is the competition schedule for the 2023 Season:

Week 1

Clackamas Academy – March 2-4

Glacier Peak – March 3-5

Week 2

Wilsonville – March 9-11

Week 3

SunDome – March 16-19

Bonney Lake – March 17-20

Week 4

Oregon State Fair – March 23-25

Sammamish High School – March 24-26

Week 5

Auburn High – March 31 – April 2

Week 6

District Championships, Eastern Washington University – April 5-8

First FRC Coaches chat 7:00 pm Thursday, Sept 22

We will be having our first FRC coaches chat at 7:00 pm on Thursday, Sept 22nd. On this chat we will:

1. Go over the event preferencing process and what you’re home event is
2. Go over a high level schedule for the season
3. Chat with all of you to hear how you are doing.

This is a great way to keep up on important information and connect with other PNW Coaches. We do ask that each team try to have on adult attend.

Here is the meeting link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88652899479?pwd=ZjNDVnMwNTY4aE9uRkcyNzhvSWYvdz09

I look forward to “seeing” you all there!

Student DEI Committee Wants You!

9/28/2022 – Student DEI Advisory Committee Kick-Off, 4:30pm – 5:15pm

• Stop by our first meeting of the 2022-2023 FRC season. Learn about what the DEI Student Advisory Committee does, and how your team can get involved.
• All students are welcome to attend, so please pass along to your team members! We are also encouraging coaches and mentors to attend as well. We all have a part to play in making our FRC events more welcoming for all!

RSVP HERE to receive the Zoom link.

Please fill out the PNW FRC Registration form

Any team planning to compete in the Pacific Northwest District needs to fill out our registration form. If you are interested in receiving a grant, you will need to complete the form prior to September 30. Here is the link to the registration form. Please fill it out early so you don’t forget! https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/fef251a315a44f02ad73abc987b3f63b

Onshape with Kevin every Tuesday & Wednesday

Onshape CAD Tuesday with Kevin (Tuesdays 7pm to 8:30pm)

Onshape CAD Wednesday with Kevin (Wednesday 6:30pm to 8:00pm)

Online help learning about CAD using Onshape. This 90 minute session will help get you started and help solve your CAD issues using Onshape. Many of the techniques will apply to other CAD programs as well, but this one will specifically use Onshape. Learn about assemblies, importing parts from vendors like Rev Robotics and AndyMark, modifying parts, creating your own parts for 3D printing, and working with a team on a project. Onshape is free for every FIRST participant and runs on a wide array of hardware because it is web based. You will, however, want a three button mouse. Specifically, a mouse with a left and right button plus a center scrolling mouse button. You can get one for about $6 from Amazon prime. CAD programs work very poorly on laptops with finger pads (trackpads).

Onshape CAD will be applicable to both FTC and FRC. All are welcome.

 

The first week (9/13 and 9/14) both days will focus on getting you and your team setup to use Onshape in an efficient way, demos on what the program does, and a tour of where to find the tutorials and which ones to start with. I expect that 9/14 will be mostly a repeat of 9/13.

All of these meetings start on 9/13/2022 and will be each week until December 14th. They all use the following Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82913817510?pwd=SEZPeC9UQmk2dkpWRFFsaXdkaWxvdz09

Meeting ID: 829 1381 7510

Passcode: NerdyTalk

We will make every attempt to record and upload these sessions to Youtube each week. Check our FIRST Washington Youtube channel and the ‘with Kevin’ playlist.

 

Have a great week everyone!