ULTIMATE GOAL Coach Email Volume 22 4/20/21 – Lots of information so please read this entire thing!
Greetings Coaches & Mentors!
If you are new to this email this is the place where you will find all of the Washington specific FIRST Tech Challenge information. Coaches in the FIRST system for the ULTIMATE GOAL season will be added weekly. 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 are the updates I have for you today. Please read the entire thing, there is a lot of detail about the next several weeks:
- Coaches meeting for Interleague Championships: Tonight at 7:00 pm
- Window for second round of League events closes tonight
- Drivers meeting for Interleauge Championships, Thursday, 4-22 at 7:00 pm
- Interleague Championship window opens Sunday, 4-25. Remember, you can still compete for judged awards even if you don’t compete with your robot
- We need judges for the May 1 events!
- Advancement from Interleagues to State
- Promote & Compass submissions open to all teams
- Preliminary State Schedule
The coaches meeting for our Interleague Championships is tonight at 7:00 pm
At this meeting we will go into detail regarding what you should expect during the interleague championship event window.
Here is the meeting info:
General FIRST WA Zoom Account is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: FTC Meetings
Time: This is a recurring meeting Meet anytime
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83846694396?pwd=SGNWeVpiZFVreTd4b1Y5WWJhL1g0Zz09
Meeting ID: 838 4669 4396
Passcode: 128537
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Meeting ID: 838 4669 4396
Passcode: 128537
Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdj51hKBaa
Window for 2nd round of league events closes tonight at 11:59 pm.
Don’t wait until the very last minute! If you haven’t already, run your matches early and get those scores submitted as soon as possible. Once the window closes, there is nothing Kevin Emery and I can do to get those scores submitted for you.
Drivers Meeting for Interleague Championships is this Thursday at 7:00 pm!
This is the students opportunity to interact with our key volunteers, Kevin Emery, Kevin Ross and myself to get their questions answered and address their concerns about the upcoming competition. I appreciate how great a job all of the coaches on the call have done staying incognito and allowing this to truly be a student meeting. Please forward the link above for the coaches meeting on to your students. The link will be the same for both meetings. It would be fantastic if we could get a representative or two from each team to attend!
Interleague Championship window opens this Sunday
There is a lot that will be happening during the week of Interleague Championships. Here is a high level overview of what is happening when:
- Sunday, April 25 12:00 am: Event window opens and teams may start submitting scores
- Monday, April 26 6-8 pm: Online meeting window opens for teams for technology testing. I highly recommend all teams take advantage of this to help ensure a smooth judging session on May 1. You will receive the link for this technology testing no later than noon on Monday, Apr 26 and can find out more about how judging will work tonight on the coaches meeting
- Friday at 11:59 pm, the window will close for submitting scores
- Saturday:
- Judging from 8:30 – 11:30 am
- Virtual pits from 1:30 – 3:00 pm. All teams should plan to attend their virtual pits, this is where the judges can ask you follow up questions You will receive a link to the virtual pit session by the end of the day Friday, April 30
- Awards Ceremony, 6:00 pm. You will also receive a link to the awards ceremony by the end of the day on Friday, April 30. We will announce which teams move on to State at the end of the awards ceremony
Remember, you do not have to compete with your robot to take part in the Interleague Championships, you can just do the judging portion and still have the opportunity to move on to state.
We need judges for the May 1 events!
We are still very short on judges for all 3 of our Interleague Championship events. One of the best ways you can learn how to do better in judging sessions is to be a judge! This year provides a unique opportunity for coaches to judge in a different event than their team is competing in. Please consider signing up to be a judge. We have a judge training tomorrow night as well as Monday night (for those who are unable to attend tomorrow) so sign up right away! Make sure you show your team affiliation in your profile so that we can assign you properly and thanks in advance for your support!
Advancement from Interleagues to State
We did discuss this during our last coaches meeting but for those that missed the meeting, here is the break down:
- Each Interleague has 24 teams
- State will also have 24 teams
- Therefore 8 teams will advance to state based on the advancement criteria for remote events. (more info can be found in Game Manual Part 1 section 6.2)
Promote & Compass Submissions
To submit for the Compass or Promote award, fill out this form. Remember this award is open to all teams regardless of whether you qualify for State or not.
Deadline to submit is Wednesday, May 5th. If you are submitting for both the Promote and Compass awards, please fill out the form for each submission.
Preliminary State schedule
I apologize, I know there has been some confusion around the schedule for the state event. For planning purposes, I have listed the general schedule. Teams that qualify for state will receive an email from me on Monday, May 3 with more specific information.
- Saturday, May 1: Team advancement shown during awards ceremony
- Monday, May 3: Email sent to main and alternate contacts of qualified teams with registration form. Please fill out this form by 5:00 pm Monday so we can confirm attendance
- Tuesday, May 4: Drivers meeting We have not scheduled a coaches meeting because of the short window between Interleauges and State but feel it is important to have a drivers meeting for the students. If needed, we can extend this meeting to 8:30 and spend the last 30 min answering coaches questions.
- Wednesday, May 5
- State submission window opens
- Promote & Compass submissions are due
- Saturday, May 8:
- 8:30 – 11:30 am: Judging Sessions
- 1:30 – 3:00 pm: Virtual Pits
- Tuesday, May 11:
- 1:00 pm: Window for submitting scores closes
- 6:00 pm: Awards Ceremony – Note: we will not be announcing the Dean’s List Finalists or Compass award winner at this awards ceremony. Instead, we will be announcing them at our showcase on May 13.
Thanks for sticking with me through what was a very LONG email!
Take care and get out and enjoy the sunshine!
Kevin Emery
FTC Program Delivery Partner
FIRST Washington
Adrienne Rime
Director of Programs
FIRST Washington