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FLL Submerged Blog: Volume 18

by | Jan 14, 2025 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore

In this weeks Blog-

*Last coaches chat of the season moved to this Thursday!*

Good luck to the teams competing this weekend!

Reminders!

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

Good luck this weekend!!

Congratulations to the teams competing in the Western Washington Semifinals and the Eastern Washington state championship! 

This should be a fun weekend!

If you are not sure of your assignment, you can check at the link below! 

FLL Advancement

I was able to switch all but 4 teams that requested to change events. I am sorry I was unable to accomodate all. 

 

Please Remember-

ALL teams moving on to the next set of events (Semifinals or State) are required to turn in a printed roster from your FIRST Inspires dashboard and paper copies of any consent forms for students or adults not listed electronically. NO EXCEPTIONS! If you come without one, we will direct you to go find a place to print it and come back. There are not printers on site for you to use. We will not check in your team without it. This is your responsibility!

You also must have ALL student participants listed on your FIRST Inspires roster with either a green check mark, or have paper copies of their consent form signed by a parent or guardian.

The max number of student participants allowed by FIRST on an FLL Challenge team is 10. If you have more than 10 listed, you will not be eligible to win awards or advance. If you did it at the qualifier and no one caught it, I would advise you fix your rosters now 🙂

 

FLL Challenge Coaches Chat

Join us 1/16/25 for the next Coaches Chat! – this was moved to Thursday! 

We will be talking about-

  • Semifinals
  • State
  • Beyond

This will be our last coaches chat of the season! We will be answering robot game questions as long as Head Referee Kevin is in attendance!

 

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Whats After State?

One team from each state championship will advance to the World Festival in Houston, Texas in April.

Teams will also have the oportunity to advance to one of the FLL open events. This year I have-

Greece- 1 spot (May 2-4, 2025)

Massachusetts- 2 spots (June 13-15, 2025)

California- 2 spots (May 30-June 1, 2025)

Florida- 2 spots (June 24-28, 2025)

New Jersey- 3 spots (May 17-18, 2025)

 The 2 Champions award winning teams (one from East and one from West) will each get a spot to World Festival in Houston. 

The Champions award finalist teams (one from East and one from West) will get first choice out of the above FLL Open Events. 

Once the finalists have chosen, the remaining open spots will open for signups to the award winning teams from the 2 state championships. 

Teams will be selected at random for each event, so make sure you only sign up for events you can acctually attend. 

If there are remaining spots, the sign up will open to teams that attended the state events. 

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FRC Reefscape Blog: Volume 13

by | Jan 8, 2025 | FRC, Uncategorized

I hope everyone had a fantastic kickoff and is excited for this years game! 

I have received emails from a few coaches that I thought would be good to share with the broader group 

  • Problems with items in your kickoff kit:  If you had issues with anything in your kickoff kit there are some instructions you can follow from your firstinspires dashboard to get those items replaced.  I have heard from some coaches that they are getting an error message or are not being allowed to submit issues through their dashboard.  If your team is affected by this, send an email to ftcteams@firstinspires.org and they will be able to get you taken care of. 
  • The manual has an error:  It states that 45 PNW teams will move on to our District Championship event.  The number will be the same as last year, 50 PNW teams will move on to the District Championship event. 

The next Coaches Chat is scheduled for Thursday, January 16 at 7:00 pm

Our next coaches chat is scheduled for Thursday, December 5th  at 7:00 pm.  Coaches chats are an opportunity for use 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.  

During this meeting we will be checking in to see how the build season is going as well as talking about workshops/accommodations/quiet room at events.  This is not the district event briefing, that is in February.

4 forms to fill out prior to District Events starting

  1. Event RSVP
    • Please fill this for out for each event you are attending.  Make sure to put a cell number for someone who will be onsite at the event.  Many of you have your school number listed on your dashboard and none of you will be at the school when we are trying to reach you from an event.
  2. Event Accommodation Form
    • This form is to be used if you have someone in attendance that would like special accommodations (some examples could be: closed captioning at events, or someone in a wheelchair that needs access to the field)  Please keep in mind that we may not be able to accommodate all requests and our ability to accommodate a request may change by venue but we will make every effort to accommodate as many requests as possible.  It is important to us that all participants have a great experience at our events and we are committed to doing all we can to enhance that experience.  Keep in mind, the earlier you fill out this form, the more likely we will be able to accommodate any request you make.
  3. Quiet Room host
    • I know the quiet room is an important part of our events and we need help from all of you to make this happen.  We need to make some changes this season that will require hosts to commit earlier so we can work with them to appropriately staff these rooms.  Please sign up as soon as you are able to commit to hosting a room
  4. Event Workshops  
    • We love having teams host workshops at events when possible.  Please fill out this form if you are interested in hosting a workshop.  You will need to upload a slide when you fill out the form so have your workshop slide prepared. 

Important Dates

FTC Into the Deep Blog: Volume 15

by | Jan 7, 2025 | FTC, Newsletter

Semifinal Competitions are This Weekend! 

The Asimov and Capek Semi-Finals will be held at Tahoma High School in Maple Valley this weekend (Jan 11/12).  

The events are open to the public so even if your team is not competing, feel free to stop by and check out the competitions.  

We will also be streaming the competitions.  You can view them via the buttons below: 

Asimov
Capek
There are no upcoming events at this time.
There are no upcoming events at this time.

Compass Award Submissions

All teams are eligible to submit for the Compass award whether they are moving on to the State Championship or not.   

For more information on the requirements for submitting for the compass award, see the game manual here:  https://ftc-resources.firstinspires.org/file/ftc/game/manual-06  

You can submit for the Compass award by filling out this form.  The deadline for submission is Friday, January 24th.  No late submissions will be accepted. 

We Want Your Feedback! 

FIRST Washington strives to support coaches in building sustainable and supported teams. We’d love to hear from you how we’re doing.

Please take time to fill out THIS SURVEY to let us know how this season is going and how you feel about your team’s sustainability. The survey is anonymous and will not collect your name/email or team number. All questions are optional, and any that you complete will help. Thank you for supporting an improved experience for all teams! 

Dean’s List Interviews will take place Remotely via Teams January 13 – 26

Dean’s List nominations are closed! Coaches! If you nominated a student(s), you should have received an email with their interview time(s)/date(s). It’s your responsibility to share that information with your student(s). We are not granted access to contact information for nominees, so it has to come from one of the two primary coaches. 

If you nominated a student(s) and have not received the interview schedule, search your inbox and spam folder for an email from FTC and FRC Program & Mentor Support Alida Mendes McCracken – alidam@firstwa.org.  

 Below are some tips for interviewers to keep in mind. Please do not reach out to your Program Director with questions about Dean’s List! : ) 

  • Interviews will be no less than 6 minutes and no longer than 15 minutes per student
  • Students will be interviewed remotely by a panel of 3 interviewers
  • All students should have 1 adult (coach, mentor, parent, guardian, etc.) present for the interview. They can either be in the physical room with the student, or they can log on to the Teams chat via the remote meeting link. If you are having an adult tune in to the meeting via the link, please only have one adult join. Adding lots of extra attendees to the meeting remotely can slow down the interviewing process.
  • If there is no adult present with the student (either in their room physically or in the Teams meeting remotely) the student cannot be interviewed.

Important Dates & Deadlines

  • 1-31:  State Championship 

FLL Submerged Blog: Volume 17

by | Jan 6, 2025 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore

In this weeks Blog-

Western Semifinal and Eastern State Assignments!

 Reminders!

FLL Coaches Chat

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

Advancement Assignments!!

Sorry for the delay, I needed the two weeks off 🙂

I did my best to keep Saturday Qualifier teams to Saturday and Sunday Qualifier teams to Sunday. A few were moved around due to location and availability. 

FLL Advancement

If you would like to apply to switch your date or location- you can fill out this form. I will do my best to accommodate as many teams as I can, but the only way I can switch a team in is if another wants to move out. It is first come first served, as long as I have a compatible swap. I will not be taking requests through email. If you email me a request I will not reply.

This form will be open until the end of the day Friday 1/10

Semifinal form

 

Please Remember-

ALL teams moving on to the next set of events (Semifinals or State) are required to turn in a printed roster from your FIRST Inspires dashboard and paper copies of any consent forms for students or adults not listed electronically. NO EXCEPTIONS! If you come without one, we will direct you to go find a place to print it and come back. There are not printers on site for you to use. We will not check in your team without it. This is your responsibility!

You also must have ALL student participants listed on your FIRST Inspires roster with either a green check mark, or have paper copies of their consent form signed by a parent or guardian.

The max number of student participants allowed by FIRST on an FLL Challenge team is 10. If you have more than 10 listed, you will not be eligible to win awards or advance. If you did it at the qualifier and no one caught it, I would advise you fix your rosters now 🙂

 

FLL Challenge Coaches Chat

Join us 1/14/25 for the next Coaches Chat!

We will be talking about-

  • Semifinals
  • State
  • Beyond

This will be our last coaches chat of the season! We will be answering robot game questions as long as Head Referee Kevin is in attendance! 

 

There are no upcoming events at this time.

Eastern Washington State

Eastern Washington State is January 18th in Spokane at St. Georges School. Info will be coming out from the event hosts soon. 

Western Washington State

Western Washington State will be February 2nd in Seattle at the Amazon Meeting Center. Teams that advance from the semifinals to state will receive info the following week.

Whats After State?

One team from each state championship will advance to the World Festival in Houston, Texas in April.

Teams will also have the oportunity to advance to one of the FLL open events. This year I have-

Greece- 1 spot

Massachusetts- 2 spots

California- 2 spots

Florida- 2 spots- updated! 1 additional spot!

New Jersey- 3 spots

 

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FLL Submerged Blog: Volume 16

by | Dec 19, 2024 | FLL, FLL Challenge, FLL Explore

In this weeks Blog-

You did it! Now What?

 

 

Make sure you read the entire blog!

Season Info

You did it!!

Congratulations to all the teams that competed this season! 

No matter the outcome, you should be proud of your teams! They worked hard, learned new information and new skills! 

They look to you as coaches and mentors to support them, win or lose, and be a postitive influence in their lives. They could not do it without you! 

Take time to celebrate what they have done, and take some much needed rest over the holidays! 

 

What’s next?

Teams advancing from the Qualifiers in Western Washington head to the semifinals, from Eastern Washington to the Eastern WA state championship. 

Semifinals are January 18th-19th in Seattle and Kent/Covington. Eastern WA state is January 18th in Spokane. 

Look for more details in the coming weeks! 

 

Please Remember-

ALL teams moving on to the next set of events (Semifinals or State) are required to turn in a printed roster from your FIRST Inspires dashboard and paper copies of any consent forms for students or adults not listed electronically. NO EXCEPTIONS. If you come without one, we will direct you to go find a place to print it and come back. There are not printers on site for you to use. We will not check in your team without it. This is your responsibility!

 

Semifinals!

Western Washington Semifinals – January 18th-19th. 

Teams advancing will be assigned to an event and a day just like in the Qualifiers. There is no additional fee. 

In the past, teams that have attended events from Seattle north have gone to Seattle, teams that attended events from Seattle south attended in Kent/Covington. 

If you competed in a Saturday Qualifier, there is a high likelyhodd you will be assigned a Saturday Semifinal, if you competed in a Sunday Qualifier, there is a high likelyhood you will compete in a Sunday Semifinal. 

There will be a schedule coming out, most likely over the Christmas break. I will be including a form similar to the day switch form for the Qualifiers. *Please note- I can only move a team if a team is moving out of the event/day you want to switch into. There are no extra spots available. 

DO NOT email me requests for days/locations for your team. I will not respond. I will only take requests using the form. 

Eastern Washington State

Eastern Washington State is January 18th in Spokane. Info will be coming out from the event hosts soon. 

Western Washington State

Western Washington State will be February 2nd in Seattle. Teams that advance from the semifinals to state will receive info the following week.

Whats After State?

One team from each state championship will advance to the World Festival in Houston, Texas in April.

Teams will also have the oportunity to advance to one of the FLL open events. This year I have-

Greece- 1 spot

Massachusetts- 2 spots

California- 2 spots

Florida- 1 spot

New Jersey- 3 spots

 

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