News & Information

FIRST Washington ▸ News ▸ Rapid React Coach Email Volume 12: 10-19-21 – First round Event Preferencing Closes Wed and opens for 2nd round Thursday
Articles By Category
  • Community Newsletter
  • FIRST LEGO League Challenge
  • FIRST LEGO League Explore
  • FIRST Robotics Competition
  • FIRST Tech Challenge
  • Uncategorized

    • Rapid React Coach Email Volume 12: 10-19-21 – First round Event Preferencing Closes Wed and opens for 2nd round Thursday

    Greetings Coaches!

     

    If you are new to this email this is the place where you will find all of the Washington specific FIRST Robotics Competition information. Coaches in the FIRST system for the RAPID REACT 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:

     

    • First round of Event Preferencing closes at 9:00 am this Wednesday, October 20
    • Waitlist teams (after preferencing ends Wed) what you need to know
    • Next FRC Coaches Chat Oct 21
    • FIRST Fair this Sat, Oct 23
    • Second round of Event Preferencing opens at 9:00 am this Thursday, October 21
    • Kickoff plan for the season My Site vs in person kickoff
    • Grant Deadlines
    • Washington & Oregon teams: Fill out the FIRST Washington Registration form by Oct 29 to be considered for a Grant from FIRST Washington & ORTOP
    • Washington public school teams: Fill out the iGrant by November 8
    • FTC Tuesday’s with Kevin (Yes we know this is FRC)

     

     

    Event Preferencing closes This Wed, Oct 20

    At 9:00 am this Wednesday, event preferencing will close for the first round. If you want your home event, you must preference for it before 9:00 am tomorrow. Here is a guide that will help you understand (or remind you) how event preferencing works.

     

    Before 9 am Thursday morning (likely on Wednesday) you should receive an email notifying you which event you were placed in/wait listed for. You should also be able to see you event on your dashboard once the placements are finalized.

     

     

     

    Teams Wait listed after preferencing, what you should know

    To guarantee home event space for all of our teams, we hold spots at all events for teams that are in that event as their home event. Because of that, many teams get placed on the wait list if they pick an event other than their home event during the first round. Do not panic and please do not email me right away if you end up wait listed for an event. After first round pics are announced, I work with my contact at FIRST to remove the hold on event space and move teams into events where there is space. This takes time. Everyone who is on a waitlist should either be moved into the event or be contacted by me before Monday morning. IF you haven’t been moved or contacted by Monday, feel free to send me an email and I can work with you to decide what you would like to do.

     

     

     

    Our next FRC Coaches Chat will be Thursday, Oct 21 at 7:00 pm

    We will talk about:

    • What teams should do for their second event preferencing window
    • What kickoff will look like this year
    • Talk about our latest COVID policy updates (coming this week)

     

    To join our coaches chat click here

     

     

     

     

    FIRST Fair October 23rd @ Gladstone HS

     

    • You can attend in-person, or remotely. Due to capacity limitations, we can only accept 4 team members for each in-person event. Each in-person class will only allow 4 members per team to register through the Google form below.

     

    • Hereis the class schedule with descriptions. Please take a look and see what you are interested in!

     

    • We need you to register and provide us with some information in advance through this form. In order to give teams time to decide what classes they want to attend in person, the form will not be open until Thursday, October 7 at 9am.

     

    • If you want to join us remotely, we have set up a Zoom call with breakout rooms for each class session. Please registerin advance for this meeting.

     

    • If you have some in-person classes and some remote classes, we will set up an overflow room in the cafeteria so you don’t have to leave the building.

     

    • All of this information is also available on our Google site and can be found here.

     

    ** Please remember to bring proof of vaccine or negative test for each person who will be entering the event. We ask that one representative from each team collects all relevant information to check their team in upon arrival . Once proof has been verified, we will give that representative wristbands for the entire team.

     

     

     

    Second round Event Preferencing opens This Thursday, Oct 21

    At 9:00 am this Thursday, you will be able to log into your dashboard and rank your event preferences for your second event. Here is a guide that will help you understand (or remind you) how event preferencing works.

     

    It is similar to the first round of preferencing though you are no longer guaranteed a spot in your home event if you did not pick it in the first round of preferencing.

     

    You must select your event preferences prior to 9:00 am Oct 27th

     

     

    Grant Deadlines

     

    • Washington & Oregon Teams: All teams need to fill out the FIRST Washington Registration form to participate in the PNW FRC District. To be considered for a grant, please fill out the registration form by October 29th. Click here to fill out the FW Registration form. It will help us if you could fill this form out asap though the deadline for receiving a grant isn’t until Oct 29.

     

    • Washington Public School Teams: If you are a public school, you can apply for an iGrant. The deadline to submit an application is November 8. Contact your school admin to find out how to apply for this grant.

     

     

    FTC Tuesday’s With Kevin 5:00 – 6:30 pm every Tuesday

    This year Kevin is plans to organize various topics for his Tuesday afternoon workshops and we plan to post those topics and descriptions at the end of our regular team blast. Here is the information for the this weeks Tuesday’s with Kevin!

     

    On 10/19/21 at 5pm, FTC Tuesdays with Kevin will be talking about FTC judging and the FTC Engineering Portfolio vs the Engineering Notebook. If you want to do well at FTC judging, come hear about how the process works. Find out about how you can generate a good impression with the judges. You will be able to ask questions to a FTC World Judge Advisor.

     

    Here is the link to join the meetings. The link will stay the same from week to week. Feel free to forward this info to the students & mentors on your team!

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

     

     

     

     

    Important Dates & Deadlines

     

     

    Oct 14: FIRST Event Preference Window opens 9:00 am

    Oct 20: FIRST Event Preference Window closes 9:00 am

    Oct 21: Second Event Preference Window opens 9:00 am

    Oct 21: FRC Coaches Chat

    Oct 23: FIRST Fair

    Oct 27: Waitlist teams either moved off the waitlist or contacted

    Oct 29: FIRST Washington registration deadline for teams wanting a grant

    Nov 8: OSPI Grant closes (WA public school teams)

     

    Have a great week!