Coaches Chat Tonight!
FTC DECODE Blog: Volume 15
Urgent!! Volunteers needed for events the next two weekends!
We are still in need of volunteers for our FLL Qualifiers happening in December! We are especially in need of adults to fill judging roles. If you are a coach or mentor, judging at an event other than where your students are competing is an amazing way to learn about the process and how to coach your students on exactly what they need to do in their presentation to judges.
We also need students in various roles – referee, scorekeeper, queuer, and field reset. This is a great way for students to meet their volunteer hour requirement! Here are the events with the greatest need:
December 6: Beaver Lake, Everett, Seattle, Spokane, and Wapato
December 7: Everett, Seattle, Spokane, and Wapato
December 13: Federal Way and Shoreline
December 14: Federal Way, Shoreline, Tacoma, Oak Harbor, and Olympia
If you are able to help, click here to find an event near you: Search Event
Recording and slides from Nov 20 Coaches Chat posted
We went over a lot of information about the upcoming events during our November Blog. As coaches, you are responsible to know this information. Make sure you look through the slide deck and recording posted on firstwa.org so you don’t miss important information and deadlines! You can find the slide deck and recording here: https://firstwa.org/webinars/
Dean’s List Nomination Deadline, Monday Dec 15 at 11:59 pm EST
Each team can nominate up to 2 students in the 10th or 11th grade as a Den’s List Semi-Finalist. The deadline to submit this season is December 15th at 11:59 pm EST. Late nominations are not accepted (the portal is thorugh FIRST HQ so Kevin & I don’t have the power to accept late nominations) so don’t wait until the last minute.
You can find more information on the process here: https://www.firstinspires.org/resources/library/ftc/deans-list
Remote interviews will be held between 1-12 and 1-25. For more information on that process, please look at the slide deck from our November 20th coaches chat and/or the recording
Compass Award Submissions
Each team may submit a mentor for the Compass Award. For more information on the Compass Award, please see page 48 of the game manual here: https://ftc-resources.firstinspires.org/ftc/game/manual
To submit a mentor for the Compass award, please fill out this form by 5:00 pm January 24th. the winner will be announced at the FTC State Championship competition January 31.
All teams are eligible to submit a mentor for the Compass Award, you do not need to be qualified for the State Championship to be considered.
Upcoming off season FTC events/scrimmages
East Side Scrimmage
Hosted by FTC 4054 and FRC 2557
Saturday, December 6th, 2025
Venue: East Side Community Center
1721 E 56th St, Tacoma, WA 98404
Team Sign Up Form: https://forms.gle/Jm6CZjqS2cCzKgke7
Description
The East Side Scrimmage is a one day Demo event for the Tacoma community to learn about FIRST and FIRST Tech Challenge, hosted at the East Side community center. The scrimmage is being hosted with the Teched Out Kids Summit, the event is to allow teams the opportunity to get in drive practice prior to League tournaments the next weekend and display First Tech Challenge to the south Sound community. The event is being coordinated by FTC team 4054 The Gradle Demons and being staffed by FRC team 2557. The event will have Live scoring and will be streamed on the SOTAbots Youtube page
Contact: sotabots@gmail.com
Washington Tech Invitational
Hosted by FTC 14343 and FRC 1899
Sunday, January 4th, 2026
Venue: Interlake High School
Sign up form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=OUFKmQZ8HkmAmHkAbVdd4NHXAAFxsaVIg0ilxGUobv9UQ1V…
FTC teams, we invite you to join our Washington Tech Invitational scrimmage with your robot to compete, build teamwork, and prepare for upcoming competition season! For more info email us at wtiinfo25@gmail.com
High Definition Invitational
Hosted by FTC 18225
Sunday, January 11th, 2026
Venue: Interlake High School
Contact Information
Name: EJ Choi
Email: ftc18225@gmail.com
Important Dates & Deadlines
- 1-31: State Championship
