2021 Freight Frenzy

Dear colleagues,

Welcome back to the new school year! Hopefully you were able to enjoy some rest and relaxation! Hard to believe but it is time once again to meet (virtually) to discuss plans for this year's FTC season. Please join me next Sunday (8/15) at 4pm on Zoom:

Topic: South Florida FTC League Planning Meeting for 2021-2022 Season

Time: Aug 15, 2021 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81797244493?pwd=c0pWRnBFZ3JQUmVJcC9IT0txWVVQQT09

Meeting ID: 817 9724 4493

Passcode: 422013

See you then!

Erin

Greetings Florida FTC Teams, Coaches, Volunteers, and Sponsors:

Welcome to the fifteenth (15) Florida FTC season (2021-21) and this season game challenge called FREIGHT FRENZY. FIRST team registration is open and the Florida leagues have already started identifying locations for your league events. The FREIGHT FRENZY game reveal will be on September 18, 2021. The theme for all of the FIRST programs this season is centered around transportation and you can see the overall season teaser by watching the following video: FIRST FORWARD presented by Qualcomm

The primary purpose for this email is to provide you more information about the upcoming Florida (online) kick-off event and help you prepare for the coming FIRST Tech Challenge season. It is never too late to start your engineering notebook and adding team outreach events to build your first steps toward winning the Inspire Award at your League Championship and the Florida Championship. A great place to start earning your Gracious Professionalism points is to attend a kick-off event and help mentor our Florida rookie team. It is also very helpful if our more experienced teams attend our virtual pit events and provide support for the Florida rookie team. We do plan on continuing with some of our more successful remote/virtual activities from last season even if we are running physical events. We plan on hosting a couple of cross-league virtual/online pits and we are also planning to host another cross-league celebration event to show off videos from our teams. Please stay tuned for more information in future newsletters.

The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 18, 2021 at 12:30pm EDT

2. Event Plans and Leagues

3. Game Manual Part 1 Available

Newsletter Details:

• Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 18, 2021 at 12:30pm EDT – The Bob & Sid show as well as AJ Foster’s Tech Think Time sessions are back by popular demand. The Florida FTC 2021-22 season will officially be started with a kick-off event hosted on the FIRST in Florida YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/FIRSTinFlorida). The Florida FTC Kick-off Event will start at 12:30pm EDT. During the kick-off event, we will provide an update on the season plans as well as perform a walk through of the FREIGHT FRENZY game elements and rules. A more detailed agenda will be available a week before the kick-off event.

• Event Plans and Leagues – EVENTS: As Florida continues to struggle with increased COVID infection rates, this will have an impact on our plans for the season. Our need for flexibility and adaptability will continue into the 2021-22 season. The current plan is to start the 2021-22 season with a combination of remote and physical events. Some of our leagues have identified options for smaller physical events early in the season. However, a majority of the Florida FTC leagues will start this season with remote events and then hopefully migrate to physical events by December. I would not be surprised if we continue to operate this season with a combination of physical and remote events. The decision to host physical events will be a combination of the size of the facility, number of teams attending, the willingness of the teams to attend, the COVID infection rate in the local region, and any local school system restrictions.
  
  LEAGUES: We are expecting to continue with the existing 8 Florida Leagues: AeroCoast, Gulf Coast, North East Florida, OneClay. ROBOT, South Florida, Space Coast, and Tesla. However, we also regularly evaluate opportunities to split leagues and reduce team travel time to attend events. We are currently evaluating the potential of creating a new league in South East Florida. The final factor we are evaluating is to determine if we will have enough teams in this region. Therefore, I encourage teams in this area to register as soon as possible to help us move forward with this decision.
  

• Game Manual Part 1 Available – This is a reminder that FIRST has already released part 1 of the game manual and coaches/teams are encouraged to start reviewing in preparation for the season kick-off. Part 1 of the game manual can be found on the following FIRST web page: https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/ftc/game-and-season-info. Part 2 will be released on September 18, 2021 and will contain all of the FREIGHT FRENZY game specific rules and penalties. Attending the Florida kick-off event described above is a great chance for your team to start learning about this season’s game.

Dear South Florida FTC Coaches,

For those teams returning this season, welcome back to the South Florida FTC League, and for those new teams, welcome to the South Florida FTC League! I am the Chairperson for this league, which started out many years ago with only a few local teams competing, and now has consistently grown to one of the largest in the State! As you saw from the Email Blast from Hans Wolf, the league system makes it so your team has the opportunity to compete during the FTC season locally. At this point, we do not have a definitive competition schedule, but here is what we are planning tentatively:

Kick-off: September 18th (virtual, statewide)

Scrimmage: mid-October (virtual)

1st Meet: mid-November (virtual)

2nd Meet: December 4th (in-person)

3rd Meet: early January (virtual)

4th Meet: mid- to late January (in-person)

League Championship: February 5th (in-person)

While we continue to work on finalizing our league schedule, we hope that this blend of remote and in-person tournaments will help accommodate each team adequately, so that all teams will get to compete in at least two meets before the League Championship.

Now that you are officially registered with FIRST and have been placed in the South Florida League, you will soon be hearing from our league treasurer, Alice Miller, regarding your league fee of $200. This helps offset the cost for our event hosts throughout the season, as they are often strapped with facility and maintenance costs, as well as volunteer food and services. This is in addition to the $275 you paid to FIRST directly to register your team. That fee is to offset costs at the World Championship. The league does not get any of that FIRST fee. Alice's email will also instruct you on how to pay your league fee, and we ask that you pay before the first league meet.

I will keep you updated on the happenings of the season, the schedule when it is finalized, and any other important updates, by email. We will likely have a "Welcome" meeting in mid-September (over Zoom), right before or after kick-off. Please do not hesitate to email me back in the meantime if you have any questions/concerns. And feel free to visit our league website (southfloridaftc.com) for up-to-date and prior seasons' information. If you would like to include/update your team information, you can email our webmaster, Kate Sample at kate.sample19@gmail.com.

Looking forward to a great FTC season in South Florida!

My best,

Erin

Greetings Florida FTC Teams, Coaches, Volunteers, and Sponsors:

Just a few more days until the FREIGHT FRENZY game reveal. We have a full agenda for the online Florida FTC Season Kick-off Show that will start at noon EDT on September 18, 2021.This will be your first chance to learn about the FREIGHT FRENZY game rules and the Florida FTC season plans. We will also provide an opportunity for you to ask game rule questions through the YouTube chat window.

The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

• 1. Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 18, 2021 at 12:00 noon EDT

• 2. Grant Opportunities Available

Newsletter Details:

• Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 18, 2021 at 12:00 noon EDT – The Florida FTC Kick-Off Show will be hosted on September 18, 2021 at 12 noon EDT. This is a great opportunity for teams to learn and ask questions. The Kick-off Show will be hosted on the FIRST in Florida YouTube channel and specifically will be at the following URL: https://youtu.be/fG5poee69is

The following are the topics that we will be reviewing during the 60-minute kick-off show:

• 1. 1. Welcome to the 2021-22 Season with an update about the league structure and season schedule. We will also highlight the Florida global award winners from last season.

     2. Tech Update from Professor AJ Foster

     3. Overview of the FTC kit options

     4. Student Leadership Innovation Council update

     5. FIRST global kick-off video including the game animation

     6. Bob & Sid Show is back with a review of the game rules

     7. Live walkthrough of the field and the scoring elements

• Grant Opportunities Available -- Team financial grants are available from many of the FIRST sponsors. The best place to find out information about the available grants can be found on the following FIRST web page: grants web page.

Greetings Florida FTC Teams, Coaches, Volunteers, and Sponsors:

The 38-hour count down has started. This is the final reminder that the Florida FTC 2021-22 season kick-off show is scheduled for 12:00 noon EDT this Saturday, September 18th. Please join us on the FIRST in Florida YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/fG5poee69is) to learn about our plans for this Florida FTC season and get all the details about the FREIGHT FRENZY game. Back by popular demand we will have the Bob and Sid Show and Professor AJ to help you prepare for this season. You do not need to separately watch the FIRST kick-off show because we will be playing the full show during the middle of the Florida Kick-off. Also, teams we will be looking for your game questions in the YouTube chat window and we will answer them live.

The following are the topics that we will be reviewing during the 60-minute kick-off show:

• Welcome to the 2021-22 Season with an update about the league structure and season schedule

• Tech Update from Professor AJ Foster

• Overview of the FTC kit options

• Student Leadership Innovation Council update

• FIRST global kick-off video including the game animation

• Bob & Sid Show is back with a review of the game rules

• Live walkthrough of the field and the scoring elements

Greetings Florida FTC Teams, Coaches, Volunteers, and Sponsors:

The FIRST Tech Challenge 2021-22 season has officially launched with the reveal of FREIGHT FRENZY game on Saturday, September 18, 2021. The primary purpose of this newsletter is to provide information about the Florida FTC season and provide pointers to where you can find additional information.

The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Tentative Season Schedule

2. Florida FTC Event Available on YouTube

3. Game Manual and Animation Video Available on FIRST Website

4. Order Field Elements from Andy Mark

5. Programming Documentation

Newsletter Details:

1. Tentative Season Schedule – Specific event dates will be published by each of our leagues in the coming weeks. Event information will be made available through this email newsletter and is also posted on the www.flfirst.org website. The following is the planned seasons schedule:

1. • October to November 2021 - League Scrimmages & Workshops

   • November 2021 to January 2022 - League Meets (Traditional and Remote)

   • February 6, 2022 - Last date for League Championships

   • March 4-5, 2022 - Florida Championship

2. Florida FTC Event Available on YouTube – If you were not able to attend the Florida FTC kick-off show on Saturday, it is available on the FIRST in Florida YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG5poee69is)
   

3. Game Manual and Animation Video Available on FIRST Website – The FREIGHT FRENZY game manual part 2 is now available on the FIRST game & material web page: https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/ftc/game-and-season-info. Start reviewing the details of the game rules and if you have any questions post them to the game forum https://ftcforum.firstinspires.org/. Teams should also review part 1 of the game manual to help understand any robot specific restrictions and rules. For example, we received a question about using magnets on the robot during the Florida kick-off show. Section 7.3.2 has the answer to this question.
   

4. Order Field Elements from Andy Mark – FIRST Tech Challenge field perimeter, mats, and game elements can be purchased from the Andy Mark website (www.andymark.com). On the right-hand side of the top menu bar, you will see an area for ordering “FIRST” parts.
   

5. Programming Documentation – The FIRST Resource Library has documentation that can help you understand the FTC programming platform and tools that are available. Please visit the following web page for some great reference documentation: Order Field Elements from Andy Mark

Dear South Florida FTC Colleagues,

At this point, here are the confirmed events for our league for the 2021-2022 season (date changes from previous email are indicated in red):

1) Build Day/Scrimmage (remote) - October 23, 2021 (10a-2p)

2) Volunteer training (in-person) - November 6, 2021 (9a-12p) at St. Anthony Catholic School, Ft. Lauderdale

3) Tournament #1 (remote) - November 8-14, 2021

4) Tournament #2 (in-person) - December 4, 2021 (7a-4p) at Coral Springs Charter School, Coral Springs

5) Tournament #3 (remote) - January 10-16, 2022

6) Tournament #4 (in-person) - January 22, 2022 (8a-5p) at Ft. Pierce Westwood Academy, Ft. Pierce

7) Judging (virtual) - January 29, 2022 (8a-3p, pre-scheduled judging session)

8) League Championship (in-person) - February 5, 2022 (7a-6p) at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Ft. Lauderdale

We will email with more information as the events approach. All events have been submitted to the state affiliate partner, who will be submitting them to FIRST. I will email when the events are open for you to register your team(s) and when volunteer registration becomes available, along with instructions on how to do that.

Don't forget there is also a virtual pit night opportunity for your teams on October 19th. See information below:

Join us October 19th at 6/7 pm CT/ET, for our first virtual pit of the FREIGHT FRENZY season. Our virtual pits give teams across the state a chance to share what they have been working on and learn from one another. Teams must register by October 18th to ensure that a breakout room is prepared for their team.

https://doolittleinstitute-org.zoomgov.com/meeting/register/vJItcuqvqj4oHRYSTy8yfSlpfvb2st1I5Pg

My best,

Erin

Greetings Florida FTC Teams, Coaches, Volunteers, and Sponsors:

All leagues have created an initial set of league meets, and some leagues have established the full season schedule. This also means that leagues are also looking for volunteers to help run the events. The focus of this newsletter is to help coaches learn about what league events are available and how to register for the events. This newsletter also includes information about how you can register to volunteer at an event.

The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. League Event/Meet Schedules Published

2. Register to Participate in League Meets

3. Remote Event Scoring Software

4. Volunteer Registration Open

Newsletter Details:

League Event/Meet Schedules Published – Initial league meet dates and locations have been published to the www.flfirst.org website. The league event schedule can be found by going to the following web page: http://www.flfirst.org/index.php/season/events. Scroll down through the page to find your league. Each event includes information such as the type of event (Remote or Traditional), date, and location.

Register to Participate in League Meets – As described above, league events are published on the www.flfirst.org website and can be found on the following page: http://www.flfirst.org/index.php/season/events.

It is important that teams register to attend league and state events to help the event organizers prepare the venue or setup the remote scoring software for the number of teams that will be participating. If your team would like to attend an event, you must register for the event by selecting the blue highlighted word “Open” to go to the event registration page.. You will need a six-digit passcode to register for events. Within a week of you completing your FIRST team registration process, you should have received an automated email from the first.flfirst.org website with your passcode. Please keep this email in safe place as you will use the same passcode throughout the 2021-21 season to register for events. If you did not receive the passcode email or cannot find it, I suggest you first check through your SPAM folder and if you still not able to locate the email you can request the code by visiting the following web page: https://ftc.flfirst.org/Registration_System/resend_passcode.php

Remote Event Scoring Software – Remote events allow teams to run matches on their own fields and submit match scores through a cloud-based scoring system. The two coaches that are registered with the team on the FIRST website (www.firstinspires.org) will have access to the FTC Scoring Software through their account by logging in the FIRST dashboard. You will use the software to run practice matches and well as league meet/scrimmage matches. Teams can also access the remote event scoring software by going to the following web page (URL): https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/. Team coaches that have completed the online consent form and the background check process will be able to access the software using their FIRST account credentials (user ID email address and password that you use to login to the FIRST dashboard). I encourage all Florida FTC teams that will be participating in remote events to login to the scoring software and submit test match scores even if you do not have a running robot. The results from this event will not be used as a part of the league ranking.

Volunteer Registration Open – League meets require 20-30 volunteers to run a successful and secure event. Therefore, all leagues need volunteers and all of the events have now been setup in the FIRST Volunteer Management System (VMS). You can access the FIRST VMS system by logging in to your dashboard on the www.firstinspires.org website. Start the volunteer registration process by selection the “VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION” section of your dashboard and then go to “Event Volunteering”. Search for FIRST Tech Challenge Evens in Florida.

Greetings Florida FTC Teams, Coaches, Volunteers, and Sponsors:

Please reply to this email with your team number if your team is not planning on attending any traditional/physical events and will only be able to participate in a remote event. In the previous Florida FTC Newsletter, I highlighted that all of the leagues have started to setup events and all of the leagues are planning to host traditional/physical events. Some leagues are starting with remote activities, but the plan is to quickly move to traditional/physical events. I am also aware that some teams are not going to be able to attend physical events and will be restricted to only participate in remote events throughout the 2021-22 season. Therefore, we are considering creating a separate remote only league that includes teams from across all of the Florida leagues. This will give teams the ability to submit match scores and participate in remote only events. Please reply to this email if your team would like to be moved to a remote only event league. However, please be aware of the following constraints of the remote only league:

• We are planning to have a traditional/physical state championship on March 4-5, 2022. Therefore, teams that participate in the remote only event will not qualify to attend the Florida Championship.

• It is also uncertain if we will be able to have a league tournament/championship for this remote only league. It will depend on our ability to identify volunteers that are able to support the team judging that is required for league tournaments/championships.

Dear South Florida FTC Colleagues,

Hard to believe we are now a month into FTC season and we are scheduled to have a virtual league scrimmage this weekend! While we still await our league events to get loaded into the scoring software, we want to take the opportunity this weekend to help teams with accessing and using the scoring software to record scores in a remote event, and also offer Q & A time to teams regarding the game rules and/or the robot technology. Therefore, this is the tentative agenda for Saturday's scrimmage:

10am - 11am: Welcome Meeting for Coaches/Volunteers

11am-11:30am: Q&A with Head Referee Jason and Head FTA Pete

11:30am-2pm: Scrimmage/Practice matches for your team (suggested, but not required)

We strongly recommend all of our new coaches attend the Welcome meeting for important and helpful information regarding event registration and how to access and use the scoring software for remote events, since our first league meet (11/8-11/13) will be remote.

I apologize for the lack of correspondence until now...the end of the quarter was very busy, but hopefully your teams are hard at work for this year's FTC season! Looking forward to "seeing" you all very soon!

1) Scoring software link and information:

=> Remote Event Scoring Software – Remote events allow teams to run matches on their own fields and submit match scores through a cloud-based scoring system. The two coaches that are registered with the team on the FIRST website (www.firstinspires.org) will have access to the FTC Scoring Software through their account by logging in the FIRST dashboard. You will use the software to run practice matches and well as league meet/scrimmage matches. Teams can also access the remote event scoring software by going to the following web page (URL): https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/. Team coaches that have completed the online consent form and the background check process will be able to access the software using their FIRST account credentials (user ID email address and password that you use to login to the FIRST dashboard). I encourage all Florida FTC teams that will be participating in remote events to login to the scoring software and submit test match scores even if you do not have a running robot. The results from this event will not be used as a part of the league ranking.

2) Zoom link for Saturday (10-11am, COACHES ONLY; 11am - any and all team members are invited)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83624156155?pwd=bUNrMmJYOGJ2aFVLSERtanFQdExYUT09

Meeting ID: 836 2415 6155

Passcode: 112261

Dear South Florida FTC League Coaches, Mentors, and Volunteers,

I. Scrimmage results

Thank you to those of you that were able to tune in for the Virtual Scrimmage on Saturday (10/23). We hope you found the meetings helpful regarding the league, this year's game, and the technical Q and A. I know most teams were not ready to run robots, but I was happy to see some teams try and submit scores to the scoring software to practice for our first remote meet, which kicks off a week from Sunday. The following teams reported scores for the scrimmage: 450, 10130, 13233, 16759, 16760, and 18619. (Remember, none of these actually count for your team towards their league ranking...it was just a test)

Here is the link to the recording from the meetings and Q&A from Saturday, in case you missed it:

Topic: South Florida FTC League Scrimmage

Start Time: Oct 23, 2021 09:49 AM

Meeting Recording:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/4-aauM7Z0-3uuhWlUdH30ZonPNyTALK_Swo21RXFeKPleqcINYB-zhtjkyOAHO3M.49-64x3OOnCU0hIT

II. Volunteer Training on Saturday, 11/6, from 9am-12pm at St. Anthony Catholic School in Ft. Lauderdale

We will have an in-person volunteer training on Saturday (11/6) specifically to assist with training in the following volunteer roles: Referee, FTA, FTA assistant, Hardware/software inspector. Please encourage parents or FRC students that might be interested in volunteering at our in-person events this year to come, if they are looking to do one of these volunteer positions. Use the following Google Form to register for the event. Please complete it by Thursday (11/4) at 11:59pm.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfX03u2HDzMwY5vI3dEYiVfR7NiuU9yDMAll2ga63IEctYVLA/viewform?usp=sf_link

III. Hardware shortages across the league

As you probably know, many parts have been going out of stock quickly this year and some are backordered until the middle of the season. Many of our league teams are in search of parts for their robot while they way. If you have an extra control hub (out of stock currently from Rev), please contact David Buncher at iPrep Academy North (email is dbuncher@dadeschools.net). He is willing to pay the same price for it that Rev charges.

I know of at least two other teams that are waiting on robot parts to be delivered hopefully this week or next. Any teams with a surplus of parts, please feel free to email me and I will put the word out to new teams to see if they need any to get started.

IV. Register for League Meet #1

Do not forget to register your team for League Meet #1 if you plan on participating, at flfirst.org. Please make sure your students are also completing their consent and release forms online in advance of Remote League Meet #1.

V. Save the date...kick-off for Meet #1 will be Sunday (11/7) at 7pm.

Please do not hesitate to email if you have questions.

Thank you to those that were able to join us at the Volunteer Training. And thank you to team #16484 and their coach Mrs. Jahnes for hosting a great event! It felt so good to see each other in person again, and it really helped all of us dust off the cobwebs that have developed regarding hosting an event in person. Looking forward to more of those this season!

As you know, League Meet #1 is THIS WEEK! Since it is a remote tournament, your team(s) have the ability to submit scores for their six qualification matches starting tomorrow (11/8) at 12:01am and ending Sunday (11/14) at 11:59pm. Your team will score their own matches and submit your scores through the online scoring system found at https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/. Note: only the 1st and 2nd mentor/coach will have access to submit your team's scores. Despite not all teams in the league registering to participate in Meet #1, I have added all teams, currently registered in our league, to the event, as we did for all the remote events last season. If your team cannot compete, this is not a problem. The next time you do compete, the 0 scores will be overwritten with new ones. The scoring software stores the ten best matches for each team throughout the season.

We will have a kick-off meeting for League Meet #1 TOMORROW at 7:30pm over Zoom to answer any questions you and your teams have regarding the scoring software, running remote matches, or with regard to game play. Here is the link for joining:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84006331409?pwd=TEpyeEYranMycHVNd3NjbGUvOHZTUT09

Meeting ID: 840 0633 1409

Passcode: 517229

As always, if you have any issues with submitting scores this week, you can reach out to me directly at 614-425-6616 or Suzette at 954-600-5121. And if you have any pressing game-related questions, please post on the Slack and Jason will answer them.

Looking forward to a great first meet! Good luck to your teams!

As we move into the busy part of the FTC season, I encourage all teams to check for league meet updates on the www.flfirst.org website and please review email updates from FIRST. Several leagues have published new league meet dates and there have been several game rules updates which will be the focus of this Florida FTC newsletter.

The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. League Event/Meet Schedules Published

2. (Repeat) Register to Participate in League Meets

3. (FIRST Update) New Game-Specific Rule

4. Official Game Q&A Forum is Open

5. Scoring System – Team Guide

Newsletter Details:

• League Event/Meet Schedules Published – New league meet dates and locations have been published to the www.flfirst.org website for the ROBOT, AeroCoast, Space Coast, and Gulf Coast leagues. The league event schedule can be found by going to the following web page: http://www.flfirst.org/index.php/season/events. Scroll down through the page to find your league. Each event includes information such as the type of event (Remote or Traditional), date, and location.

• (Repeat) Register to Participate in League Meets – As described above, league events are published on the www.flfirst.org website and can be found on the following page: http://www.flfirst.org/index.php/season/events. It is important that teams register to attend league and state events to help the event organizers prepare the venue or setup the remote scoring software for the number of teams that will be participating. If your team would like to attend an event, you must register for the event by selecting the blue highlighted word “Open” to go to the event registration page.. You will need a six-digit passcode to register for events. Within a week of you completing your FIRST team registration process, you should have received an automated email from the first.flfirst.org website with your passcode. Please keep this email in safe place as you will use the same passcode throughout the 2021-21 season to register for events. If you did not receive the passcode email or cannot find it, I suggest you first check through your SPAM folder and if you still not able to locate the email you can request the code by visiting the following web page: https://ftc.flfirst.org/Registration_System/resend_passcode.php

• (FIRST Update) New Game-Specific Rule – A new revision of the Game Manual Part 2 (https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/ftc/game-and-season-info) – both remote and traditional, was released on October 19, 2021. The following new rule will be added to both manuals as part of the re-release:

<GS11> Drive Teams Touching Robots or Driver Stations after Barcode Randomization – Drive Teams are not allowed to touch or interact with their Robots or Driver Station once field personnel have begun the randomization process. If this occurs, a Minor Penalty will be assessed, and the offending Robot is not eligible to earn the Autonomous Bonus in the Autonomous Period. This Penalty only affects the offending Team. The non-offending Alliance partner Robot remains eligible for the Autonomous Bonus Scoring achievement.

• Official Game Q&A Forum is Open –The Official Game Q&A Forum is open for the FREIGHT FRENZYSM presented by Raytheon Technologies season! The forum allows one person from each team to ask questions and receive official answers from our game rule experts. FIRST® Tech Challenge is rolling out a new forum this season, so please read the Official Q&A Forum instructions on our website that walk through how to register in the new system. They are located on our Game and Season Materials webpage, under the Official Q&A Forum Documentation section.

• Scoring System – Team Guide – The Team Guide for your team’s remote events is now available on the Game and Season Materials webpage. Afterward, test your knowledge of the system with the Scoring System Quiz for Teams.

A couple of months into the 2021-22 FTC season and we have completed seven (7) scrimmages and eleven (11) meets. Seven (7) of the league meets have been traditional events. Additional league events have been added to the Florida FTC event registration system (http://www.flfirst.org/index.php/season/events). The focus of this Florida FTC newsletter is to provide information on where you can see the Florida event results, league rankings, and event results from across the FIRST Tech Challenge program.

The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Florida FTC Website League Rankings (www.flfirst.org)

2. FIRST Event Information Portal

3. Florida Championship Dates & Location

4. FIRST World Championship Announcement

Newsletter Details:

1. Florida FTC Website League Rankings (www.flfirst.org) – The Florida FTC website includes a league ranking page under the “Season” dropdown menu. You can get access to the latest league ranking by traversing the menus on the Florida FTC website as follows: Season>>League Ranking>>”Select League”. The results are typically published a several days after the event results are published by your event scorekeeper through the scoring software.

2. FIRST Event Information Portal – Teams have access to the results of all events within the United States. The event details can be found on the following FIRST webpage: https://ftc-events.firstinspires.org/2021. The best way to find the Florida league event results is to select “Florida” within the region menu in the center of the page and then press the “Update List’ button. The events are organized by date.

3. Florida Championship Dates & Location – The final event of the Florida 2021-22 FTC season will be March 4 & 5, 2022 and we are planning on hosting a traditional event. Forty-eight (46) teams will qualify to attend the Florida Championship through the eight (8) league tournaments. Two (2) teams will be randomly selected from a list of teams that submit a request to attend the Florida Championship. Please send an email with your team number to hans.wolf@verison.net if your team would like to enter the Florida Championship lottery. The Championship will be held at the Advent Fieldhouse located in Winter Haven, FL. Teams will be required to arrive at the venue Friday (March 4) afternoon to complete robot and field inspection. Teams will also be required to pay an event registration fee to help differ the cost of the event. Stay tuned for more information as we finalize our Florida FTC Championship plans.

4. FIRST World Championship Announcement – On November 19, 2021, FIRST announced plans to consolidate the two world championship events to a single event this season located in Houston, TX on April 20-23, 2022. More information about the FIRST Tech Challenge announcement can be found on the FTC blog: http://firsttechchallenge.blogspot.com/

Happy Thanksgiving and I hope you were able to enjoy some time off last week. December will be a busy month for league meets. Therefore, the purpose of this newsletter is to highlight upcoming league meets and also highlight an important rule when running remote matches.

The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Important Rule When Scoring Ducks at Remote Meets Only

2. December League Meets

Newsletter Details:

Important Rule When Scoring Ducks at Remote Meets Only – Several of our state referees have noticed an important rule to highlight to teams when scoring ducks during the End Game for remote matches only. Specifically, we have noticed that some teams have scored more than 8 or 9 ducks/team shipping elements during End Game and this is not possible. I encourage teams to review the pre-match setup definition in section 4.51on page 13 and rule GS-9 on page 23 of the Remote Game Manual Part 2. If your team purchased a full field, you would have received 20 Ducks, but you are only allowed to use 10 Ducks for each side (blue and red alliance) of the field. The ten Ducks should be setup as follows:

One (1) Duck is placed on the Carousel

One (1) Duck is placed on each Barcode (there are a two Barcodes on each side of the field)

Seven (7) Ducks are placed in the Loading Dock and available for teams to Deliver during the End Game.

December League Meets – Is everyone ready for robots? There are 9 league meets scheduled during December and a majority of the events are traditional. I encourage teams and volunteers to register for the following events as soon as possible:

December 4 – Gulf Coast League Meet #2, ROBOT League Meet #1, and South Florida League Meet #2

December 7 – OneClay League Meet #3

December 11 – North East Florida League Meet #3 and ROBOT League Meet #2

December 12 – Tesla League Meet #2 (Remote)

December 18 – AeroCoast League Meet #3 and Space Coast League Meet #2

Greetings Florida FTC Teams, Coaches, Volunteers, and Sponsors:

It is time for team coaches to start thinking about your Dean’s List nominations. The Dean’s List nomination deadline date is January 15, 2022 for all Florida FTC teams. In newsletter #7, I announced the location and date for the Florida Championship. This event has now been setup in the FIRST Volunteer Management System and the event is open for volunteer registration. The remainder of this Florida FTC newsletter includes additional information about these two topics:

The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Florida Championship Volunteers Needed

2. Dean’s List Nomination

3. Change to Dean’s List Nomination Event

Newsletter Details:

Florida Championship Volunteers Needed – It has been 5+ years since we have hosted the FTC Championship in the central Florida area. The Florida Championship is scheduled for March 4-5, 2022 at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven. This is the first official request for volunteers as the event has now been setup in the FIRST Volunteer Management System. You can start the volunteer process by logging in to your FIRST dashboard (www.firstinspires.org) and then select the volunteering button located near the center of the screen. This will give you the option to search for the event and start your volunteer registration process. I look forward to seeing all of the great Florida volunteers at this event.

Dean’s List Nomination – Last season (2020-21), a Florida FIRST Tech Challenge student, Arko Ghosh from team 12600, was selected as one of the ten (10) Dean’s List Winners from nominations submitted across all FTC regions. It is again time to recognize the outstanding Florida FTC students by submitting your Dean’s List nominations. All FIRST Tech Challenge teams/coaches are able to submit up to two (2) Dean’s List nominations. The nominations must be a 10th or 11th grade student team member that best represents the FIRST program values. Each of the nominated students will be interviewed as a part of each league tournament (championship) to provide additional input to the selection of the four (4) Florida Dean’s List Finalist at the Florida Championship. The final step in the process will be the selection of the ten (10) Winners at the World Championship in April, 2022.

To learn more about the Dean’s List award, please review chapter 10 of the Game Manual Part 1 or go to the following FIRST web page: FIRST Tech Challenge Dean's List | FIRST (firstinspires.org).

Change to Dean’s List Nomination Event – The deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations is January 15, 2022. Coaches can submit the nomination essay through your FIRST dashboard. In past years, coaches were required to select the correct league tournament to submit the nominations. The change this season, is that all nominations across all of the Florida leagues will be submitted to a single “Interview Only” event called the “FL Dean’s List Interview” event.

As we close in on the Holiday break, I wanted to email a few reminders/tips for your teams as they prepare for our remaining FTC competitions in 2022:

League Meet #2 Debrief

First and foremost, thank you to Suzette and her teams for hosting a fantastic tournament on 12/4! After not competing in person for almost 2 years, it was great to see everyone back at it! Thank you to our amazing volunteers that made the tournament run smoothly! While it may not have been obvious, we are definitely dealing with a volunteer shortage, so PLEASE encourage your robotics parents/mentors to get involved. Every tournament has a number of technical and non-technical roles that need to be filled, and we need ALL the help we can get!

While the day was filled with alot of good, we definitely experienced our fair share of problems. This was mostly due to teams not necessarily being ready to compete in person...hence, there is a fair amount of rust we need to clean off before our next meet. Our head ref and his team, as well as our head FTA put together the following attached list of do's and don'ts, so please share with your teams to ensure an even smoother in-person event on January 22nd.

My two cents here would be to remind all coaches and teams that these meets only happen because of our volunteers! And the demeanor amongst all competitors should be driven with Gracious Professionalism. When corrected on something by a volunteer, the correct response should be gratitude for their help, rather than frustration with them for enforcing the rules. Please remember to be kind to each other and especially to our volunteers!

Rule Update/Change

Volunteers can make mistakes too. Our head ref wants to correct something from Meet #2: he told a team that after they completed a Warehouse Operation, they could move back in the Warehouse in order to score freight onto the Shared Shipping Hub. This was INCORRECT.

Rule GS5b states "A Robot must be Completely Outside of the Warehouse to Score Freight."

Please make sure your team stays on top of all the game rules and the updates on the forum in advance of each tournament!

South Florida FTC League 2022 schedule

Our next meet will be remote and will take place from January 10th-16th. This will be followed up with another in-person meet on January 22nd at Ft. Pierce Westwood Academy, then judging on January 29th for the League Championship (over Zoom). Our regular season will be rounded out with the League Championship on February 5th at St. Thomas Aquinas High School. So, rest up over break, because we have a very busy couple of months for FTC when we return!

Outreach Opportunity

FIRST has been invited to be a part of the South Florida Fair from January 21 to 23, 2022. The theme is Rockin Robots and FIRST has been invited to take over Building 3. There will be an FTC field set up and teams are invited to come and scrimmage on January 23^rd 9:00am to 4:00pm. There are also volunteer opportunities for teams to help run the FIRST LEGO League Scrimmage on Saturday, January 22^nd from 9:00am to 12pm and 12:30pm to 4:00pm.

If your team is interested in participating, please sign up here https://forms.gle/8jYJcJx9siZkfwD39

Contact Stacey Jones for more information: stacey@southfloridarobotics.org

Wishing you and your families the Happiest of Holidays and an even brighter 2022!

My best,

Erin

P.S. If interested in sharing a charter bus up to Ft. Pierce for the January 22nd meet, please reach out to the Cypress Bay coach, Angela Ashley, directly. Her email is angela.ashley@browardschools.com.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year FTC Teams and Volunteers:

As 2021 comes to a close, I am happy to announce that the Florida FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) program has completed 26 events and a majority of those events have been traditional/physical. With two months remaining in the Florida FTC season, I have a few important reminders for coaches, volunteers, and team members:

The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Florida Championship Volunteers Needed

2. Dean’s List Nomination

3. Florida FTC League Rankings

4. January 2022 League Meet Schedule

Newsletter Details:

Florida Championship Volunteers Needed – The final event of the Florida 2021-22 FTC season will be March 4 & 5, 2022 at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL. Forty-six (46) teams will qualify to attend the Florida Championship through the eight (8) league tournaments. Two (2) teams will be randomly selected from a list of teams that submit a request to attend the Florida Championship. Teams will be required to arrive at the venue Friday (March 4) afternoon to complete robot and field inspection. Teams will also be required to pay an event registration fee to help differ the cost of the event. We will again need over 60 volunteers to help manage the two days of activities. You can start the volunteer process by logging in to your FIRST dashboard (www.firstinspires.org) and then select the volunteering button located near the center of the screen. This will give you the option to search for the event and start your volunteer registration process. I look forward to seeing all of the great Florida volunteers at this event.

Dean’s List Nomination – The deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations is January 15, 2022. Coaches can submit the nomination essay through your FIRST dashboard. In past years, coaches were required to select the correct league tournament to submit the nominations. The change this season, is that all nominations across all of the Florida leagues will be submitted to a single “Interview Only” event called the “FL Dean’s List Interview” event.

All FIRST Tech Challenge teams/coaches are able to submit up to two (2) Dean’s List nominations. The nominations must be a 10th or 11th grade student team member that best represents the FIRST program values. Each of the nominated students will be interviewed as a part of each league tournament (championship) to provide additional input to the selection of the four (4) Florida Dean’s List Finalist at the Florida Championship. The final step in the process will be the selection of the ten (10) Winners at the World Championship in April, 2022.

To learn more about the Dean’s List award, please review chapter 10 of the Game Manual Part 1 or go to the following FIRST web page: FIRST Tech Challenge Dean's List | FIRST (firstinspires.org).

Florida FTC League Rankings (www.flfirst.org) – The Florida FTC website includes a league ranking page under the “Season” dropdown menu. You can get access to the latest league ranking by traversing the menus on the Florida FTC website as follows: Season>>League Ranking>>”Select League”. The results are typically published a several days after the event results are published by your event scorekeeper through the scoring software.

January 2022 League Meet Schedule – January, 2022 will be the last chance for teams to participate in a league meet prior to the league tournaments. The following are the currently scheduled league meets for the remainder of the 2021-22 Florida FTC season:

• January 8, 2022 – Space Coast League Meet #3

• January 15, 2022 – North East League Meet #4 and Space Coast League Meet #4

• January 16, 2022 – ROBOT League Meet #2A and South Florida League Meet #3

• January 22, 2022 – Gulf Coast League Meet #3 and South Florida League Meet #4

• January 22, 2022 – Tesla League Meet #3

Happy New Year South Florida FTC community!

Hope you were able to enjoy some rest and relaxation over the Holiday Break, and you and your teams are ready for a busy conclusion to the FTC season! Please read this email thoroughly and all the way to the end to make sure you get all the important information regarding each of the following topics:

1) League Meet #3 (remote)

2) Dean's List deadline

3) League Meet #4 (in person)

4) Judging for the League Championship

5) League Championship

1) League Meet #3

Reminder: League Meet #3 is a remote meet scheduled for January 10th-16th. Please reference earlier email blasts from me or Hans Wolf with detailed instructions on where/how to submit scores for your team's six qualification matches. All scores must be submitted by January 16th at 11:59pm.

2) Dean's List deadline

Teams are encouraged to submit nominations for Dean's List semifinalists by January 15th. Dean's List recognizes 10th or 11th grade students on your team that have gone above and beyond for their team and for FIRST robotics. You must submit your nomination under your team on your FIRST dashboard, where it says "Certificates and Awards". All nominated semi-finalists will be interviewed in-person at the League Championship on 2/5 by a panel of judges.

3) League Meet #4 - 1/22/2022

As of now, League Meet #4 is proceeding as planned. This will be an in-person tournament at Ft. Pierce Westwood Academy. Teams wanting to participate MUST register at FIRST FTC Florida by Sunday 1/16 at 11:59pm. The host school needs to plan accordingly for the amount of teams/people planning to attend, so please register sooner rather than later. Teams that register will receive an email with more detailed information closer to the tournament from Kyle Cobb, the event host. Don't forget that we need key league volunteers to sign-up for the event as well. We are in need of referees, FTA's, and hardware/field inspectors. You can sign up to volunteer through your FIRST dashboard by clicking the Volunteer Tab. Remember, you are expected to go through training materials and complete certification tests/requirements for your role prior to the tournament.

4) Judging for the League Championship - Saturday 1/29/2022

All teams planning to compete at the League Championship should participate in judging interviews on Saturday 1/29. These will be done over Zoom, and teams will be scheduled 10 minute timeslots to allott for 5 minute presentations and 5 minutes for questions. Here are a few important things to remember as your team prepares for its judging interview:

a) the schedule for the interviews will be sent out by Tuesday 1/25, if not before

b) all teams MUST submit their engineering portfolio and their control award sheet and video by Monday 1/24 at 11:59pm (these need to be submitted by the first or second coach/mentor through the scoring software)

c) our league will NOT be accepting submissions this year for the Compass or Promote Awards (if your team advances to the State Championship, they can submit videos for these awards at that time)

*more information regarding judging, engineering portfolios, and the control award can be found in Game Manual 1*

5) League Championship - Saturday 2/5/2022

For now, this event is proceeding as planned at St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Given the current COVID situation, details will be forthcoming regarding the logistics for that day. For those teams that are new to FTC, the league championship will include 5 qualification matches for each team, as well as an Alliance Selection ceremony followed by semi-finals and finals. Trophies will be awarded to teams for Robot performance as well as for Judging performance, based on their interviews and engineering portfolios. Teams advancing to the State Championship from our league will also be announced. More details to come in the next blast.

Best wishes for a healthy and fun-filled conclusion to the FTC season. Good luck to all teams competing next week. Remember, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reply to this email or post it in our Slack channel.

Greetings Florida FIRST Tech Challenge Coaches:

• This is a final reminder that the deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations is January 15, 2022. Coaches can submit the nomination essay through your FIRST dashboard. In past years, coaches were required to select the correct league tournament to submit the nominations. The change this season, is that all nominations across all of the Florida leagues will be submitted to a single “Interview Only” event called the “FL Dean’s List Interview” event.

• All FIRST Tech Challenge teams/coaches are able to submit up to two (2) Dean’s List nominations. The nominations must be a 10th or 11th grade student team member that best represents the FIRST program values. Each of the nominated students will be interviewed as a part of each league tournament (championship) to provide additional input to the selection of the four (4) Florida Dean’s List Finalist at the Florida Championship. The final step in the process will be the selection of the ten (10) Winners at the World Championship in April, 2022.

• To learn more about the Dean’s List award, please review chapter 10 of the Game Manual Part 1 or go to the following FIRST web page: FIRST Tech Challenge Dean's List | FIRST (firstinspires.org).

Dear South Florida FTC League Coaches, Mentors, and Colleagues,

Meet #4 originally scheduled to be IN-PERSON at Ft. Pierce Westwood Academy will now be a REMOTE tournament. The submission window will be open Saturday (1/22) - Sunday (1/30) for you to submit your team(s)' scores. This change is due to the rising COVID numbers and to protect and preserve the safety of all of our students, coaches, and volunteers. We look forward to a downturn of this surge very soon, and hope for the League Championship being IN-PERSON on 2/5. More information regarding the League Championship and judging will be forthcoming later in the week. I wanted to get you this as earliest as possible to help with your logistical planning.

My best,

Erin

Dear South Florida FTC Coaches, Mentors, and Volunteers,

Thank you again for your patience as we continue to navigate a challenging time for our robotics season. This email contains updates regarding:

1) League Meet #4 (now remote)

2) Judging for the League Championship (conducted remotely)

3) League Championship (in person)

1) League Meet #4 (remote) - 1/22-1/28

As you saw in my email earlier this week, we had to change Meet #4 this Saturday from in-person to remote, due to the current COVID surge. Therefore, all teams have the ability to submit scores for League Meet #4, even if they were not already registered or planning to attend the in-person event. The submission deadline is different than our other remote events, just so that it includes the originally scheduled Saturday. All remote events give you a 7 day submission window for scores. Therefore, if your team is planning to compete next week, scores can be submitted from Saturday 1/22 until Friday 1/28 at 11:59pm.

2) Judging for the League Championship

All teams planning to compete at the League Championship will participate in judging interviews on Saturday 1/29. These interviews will be done remotely, and teams will be scheduled 10 minute time slots - 5 minutes for a presentation and 5 minutes for questions. These will start at 9am and will run until 11:30am. Then, each team will have a callback interview for more Q & A in the afternoon.

Here are a few important things to remember as your team prepares for its judging interview:

a) the schedule for the interviews will be sent out by Tuesday 1/25

b) all teams MUST submit their engineering portfolio and their control award sheet and video by Monday 1/24 at 11:59pm to be eligible for judged awards (these need to be submitted by the first or second coach/mentor through the scoring software).

c) the control award video should be 2-3 min in length and demonstrate the autonomous a team describes in their control award sheet

c) our league is NOT be accepting submissions this year for the Compass or Promote Awards (if your team advances to the State Championship, they can submit videos for these awards at that time)

*more information regarding judging, engineering portfolios, and the control award can be found in Game Manual 1*

3) League Championship - Saturday 2/5/2022

We continue to plan for an in-person League Championship at St. Thomas Aquinas High School. Decisions will be made next week regarding logistical details in terms of the number of team members that can be in attendance, as well as IF spectators will be allowed. Please remember that with so few in-person events this year, teams are expected to have a more challenging time going through inspections, as these will be conducted strictly so that teams are ready for what they will experience at the State Championship. In an effort to help with Saturday's full day event, we will expect teams that are local to undergo inspections on Friday (2/4) afternoon/evening. This will help make Saturday run smoother for all of us, as only those teams coming from further away will need to go through inspections in the morning. Also, if any local team does not pass inspection on Friday, they can hopefully rectify that on Saturday morning. A more detailed inspection schedule and event schedule will be emailed next week.

Some teams have already emailed that they can no longer attend future FTC events this season, due to a variety of challenges. Please email me, if you have not done so already, if you will not be competing at the League Championship and therefore also will not be needing a Judging Interview.

Good luck to your teams!

My best,

Erin

Greetings Florida FTC Teams, Volunteers, and Sponsors (Please distribute this email to your team members, parents, and mentors):

A special thank you to all of the league volunteers that have helped us host traditional/physical events again this season. It has been fun seeing four (4) robots on the FTC field again. There is only two weeks remaining in the Florida FTC league schedule and then we will turn our attention to the Florida Championship. In the last couple of weeks, we have canceled a couple of traditional league meets due to COVID constraints. However, at this time we are still planning to host traditional events for all eight league tournaments and the Florida Championship on March 4-5, 2022. This email newsletter contains information to help you prepare for the league tournament and Florida Championship. The following is information that is contained in this newsletter:

1. League Tournament Schedule

2. Florida Championship Plans

3. Florida Championship Volunteers Needed

Newsletter Details:

League Tournament Schedule – The league tournaments will be very different from all of the previous league meets. Specifically, the league tournaments will not only include running robot matches; it will also include teams participating in judge interview sessions, Dean’s List nominated students will be interviewed, and each league will have an awards ceremony to present our typical robot performance and judge awards that are described in Game Manual Part 1. Your league judge advisor will be contacting you about setting up times for your 10-15 minute judge interview. Another important part of the judge evaluation process is that each team will be asked to submit the Engineering Portfolio, Control Award Submission Form, and the Judge Feedback Form. You will be receiving additional communications from your league leadership with more details about the judging timeline and process for each of the 8 Florida FTC leagues. For leagues that will include the Promote and Compass awards, you will use the video submission system on the www.flfirst.org website to submit your one-minute videos. Please read Game Manual Part 1 for the details of the Promote and Compass award requirements. The following are the league tournament dates and locations:

• AeroCoast League Tournament – January 29, 2022 at Crestview High School

• Gulf Coast League Tournament – February 5, 2022 at Palm Harbor University High School

• North East Florida League Tournament – February 5 at Bolles Bartram Campus

• OneClay League Tournament – February 5, 202 at Lake Asbury Junior High

• ROBOT League Tournament – February 5, 2022 at McKeel Academy of Science & Technology

• South Florida League Tournament – February 5, 2022 at St. Thomas Aquinas High School

• Tesla League Tournament – February 5, 2022 at Lake Highland Prep School

• Space Coast League Tournament – February 6, 2022 at Hagerty High School

Florida Championship Plans –The final event of the Florida 2021-22 FTC season will be March 4 & 5, 2022 at the Advent Fieldhouse located in Winter Haven, FL. Teams attending the Florida Championship will be required to arrive at the venue by 2pm on Friday, March 4th to complete the inspection process and will also be required to pay a $200 event registration fee. The following are the number of teams that will advance from each league and the criteria described in game manual part 1 will be used to determine which teams advance from your league:

• AeroCoast – 3 teams

• Gulf Coast – 5 teams

• North East – 9 teams

• OneClay – 4 teams

• ROBOT – 5 teams

• Space Coast – 9 teams

• South Florida – 9 teams

• Tesla – 3 teams

• Florida Championship Volunteers Needed – Volunteering at the Florida Championship is your opportunity to support the Florida FIRST Tech Challenge program and get some fantastic swag. This is your opportunity to get a fantastic volunteer t-shirt, a Freight Frenzy game pin, a volunteer gift, and a delicious lunch. We are still looking to fill all volunteer positions including judges, FTA/CSA, field reset, pit administration, score keeper, and referees. Please login to your FIRST dashboard and sign-up as a Florida Championship volunteer. We also need volunteers to help use setup for the event on Friday morning, March 4.

Dear Coaches and Mentors,

I wanted to send a quick update regarding the documentation that must be submitted to the scoring software, since I have had several questions since my last blast. The deadline to upload everything has been EXTENDED til Tuesday (1/25) at 11:59pm. This is because the added pressure of running Meet #4 remotely likely caused some unanticipated scheduling issues. We hope with the extra time that all teams will be able to submit the required materials to participate in Judging at the League Championship.

The most important submission is your team's Engineering Portfolio. This is a 15 page document, which the judges will preview before interviewing your team. (Information about the specifics of what to include in there can be found in Game Manual 1.) Any team wanting to be eligible for any judged awards at the League Championship must submit an Engineering Portfolio.

Additionally, if your team wants to compete for the Control Award, they must submit the completed Control Award form (see attached), along with a link to a 2-3 minute video of their robot running its autonomous program.

Lastly, your team has the option to request feedback from the judges. If you would like to receive this, your team should complete the Judging Feedback form online through the scoring software.

Please don't hesitate to email if you have additional questions. Judging Update #2 will contain the schedule for the Judging Interviews on Saturday (1/29), and will go out on Tuesday (1/25).

My best,

Erin

Dear South Florida FTC Coaches, Mentors and Volunteers,

Please find the attached judging interview schedule for THIS Saturday (1/29). Teams that submitted Engineering Portfolios have been scheduled for 20 minute interview time slots between 9:15am and 12:30pm, and follow-up interviews of 10 minute time slots between 1:30pm and 3:30pm. Please let me know ASAP if there is any issue with the scheduled time for your team.

Even though we can make the schedule and publish your interview time slot in the Scoring Software, I made the schedule externally to better adapt to any last minute changes. (So, you won't see your interview time posted there. Please follow the attached schedule). Additionally, while the scoring software allows us to conduct the interviews in that interface, we will again be using Zoom for these instead. The link for the judging interviews will be sent to coaches of participating teams in a separate email.

Teams are encouraged to log in 5-10 minutes before their scheduled start time to make sure they can test audio and video in advance of going into their judging panel breakout room. The 10 minute interview will consist of a 5 minute prepared team presentation followed by a 5 minute Q & A. The extra 10 minutes is allotted in case of technical issues or other delays. The follow-up interview is to allow for another round of 5 minutes Q & A for each team.

Please don't hesitate to reply to this email if you have additional questions.

My best,

Erin

Dear South Florida FTC Coaches, Mentors, and Volunteers,

I know you have been anxiously awaiting more detailed information on the League Championship taking place next Saturday (2/5) at St. Thomas Aquinas High School. I appreciate your patience as I was trying to work out all the particulars, as this League Championship will be different from the last in-person event I hosted in 2020.

Please find the following information contained in this email:

1) Format for Event

2) League Championship Schedule

3) Guidelines/Recommendations regarding COVID protocols

4) Participation Requirements

Please read through til the end to make sure you get all the information you need for the upcoming event.

1) League Championship Event Format

Since we have several new teams participating this season, I wanted to expand a little on the format for the League Championship, as it is different from a traditional in-person meet. The League Championship is the culmination of the regular season of League play. Teams go through judging (happening 1/29), inspections, and then regular qualification matches. After all teams complete 5 qualification matches, we will enter the Alliance Selection Round, where we use the ranking of the teams to determine captains of the alliances to proceed into the semifinals. These captain teams will then select two other teams to make up their alliance. Therefore, all teams have a chance to be part of the semifinals, regardless of their ranking at the end of regular qualification matches. After the Alliance selection ceremony is complete, we move into Semifinals followed by Finals. The League Championship concludes with an Awards Ceremony and an announcement of which teams from our league will be moving on to the State Championship.

2) League Championship Schedule

Please find the tentative schedule for the League Championship attached. This details as best as possible what the Saturday schedule will entail. It will be a full day, as we expect to have 30+ teams competing. Due to the large number of teams competing, we need to start inspections the night before the event. What we usually do is schedule the teams that are local to do their robot and field inspections on Friday evening, leaving Saturday morning for any teams traveling from further away and any teams needing a re-inspection, in case there were any issues that needed fixing the night before. WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE TEAMS THAT HAVE NOT ATTENDED ANY IN-PERSON EVENTS TO COME FOR INSPECTIONS ON FRIDAY EVENING. Please reply to this email if you CANNOT come for inspections on Friday evening or if you have any other additional constraints/requests. I will create the inspection schedule this weekend and send it out to you on Sunday.

3) Guidelines/Recommendations regarding COVID protocols

Due to the pandemic, it is extremely challenging to host an event of this scale. In order to do so in the safest manner, we are asking the following of all teams:

a) Masks will be required at all times during the League Championship. We support the recent recommendation of the CDC to utilize KN95 or N95 masks when available.

b) Whenever possible, we ask teams to maintain 6ft of distance between team members and other teams.

c) There is to be no food consumption inside the pit area or the competition area. Rather, we ask teams to utilize outdoor spaces on our campus for that instead. Therefore, we will not offer a lunch option for teams, nor will we be serving concessions. Please plan accordingly.

d) This will be a NO SPECTATORS event. Unfortunately, there will already be a large number of people involved in the event with just the teams participating, so we need to keep it NO SPECTATORS.

e) We ask, if possible, for teams to limit the number of student participants to essential personnel only. We know all your students want to attend the League Championship, but we want to decrease the possible numbers of students gathering in large groups as much as possible. It is up to the discretion of the team and their coach to decide what would be essential personnel.

4) Participation Requirements

All registered and paid teams in the South Florida League are invited to participate in the League Championship. Please email me, if you have not already done so, if your team does not plan to participate. It is a requirement that all teams must be in good standing with the league to participate, which means your $200 league fee must be paid. I will be contacting those teams who still have outstanding league fees, so arrangements can be made. All teams must have completed Consent Forms for all students attending, and coaches should bring a team roster to turn in at Check In to show this. All teams must pass Robot and Field Inspection before being included in the Match List for Qualification matches. Please find the Checklists for these in Game Manual 1 to ensure your team goes through a thorough self-inspection before arriving at the League Championship. We have had to exclude teams from competiting in the past because they have not passed inspection. We cannot afford to be anything less than strict on these, as we want to prepare our teams that advance for what they will experience at the State Championship.

Good luck to all teams preparing over this next week! Looking forward to it!

My best,

Erin

Hello Teams,

I am emailing with more information for the South Florida FTC League Championship to be held Saturday, 2/5/22, from 7:00 am-6:30 pm at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We are very excited to be hosting this event in-person! At this time, we are expecting 30+ teams for this tournament, and due to the recent COVID-19 surge, we have implemented several changes to this year’s event from previous ones in an effort to protect our team participants and the volunteers. Please read this entire email for important information for your team for Saturday

Topics in this email include:

1. COVID Guidelines/Protocols

2. Inspection Schedule (1st attachment)

3. Tournament Schedule (2nd attachment)

4. Lunch Options for teams to arrange on their own (3rd attachment)

5. Site Layout (4th attachment)

6. FIRST Consent and Release Form/Team Rosters

1. COVID Guidelines/Protocols

Due to the pandemic, it is extremely challenging to host an event of this scale. In order to do so in the safest manner, we are asking the following of all teams:

a) Masks will be required at all times during the League Championship. We support the recent recommendation of the CDC to utilize KN95 or N95 masks when available.

b) Whenever possible, we ask teams to maintain 6ft of distance between team members and other teams.

c) There is to be no food consumption inside the pit area or the competition area. Rather, we ask teams to utilize outdoor spaces on our campus for that instead. Therefore, we will not offer a lunch option for teams, nor will we be serving concessions. Please plan accordingly.

d) This will be a NO SPECTATORS event. Unfortunately, there will already be a large number of people involved in the event with just the teams participating, so we need to keep it NO SPECTATORS.

e) We ask, if possible, for teams to limit the number of student participants to essential personnel only. We know all your students want to attend the League Championship, but we want to decrease the possible numbers of students gathering in large groups as much as possible. It is up to the discretion of the team and their coach to decide what would be essential personnel.

2. Inspection Schedule

Attached to this email you will find a detailed schedule for inspections. Because of the large number of teams, we must start inspections on Friday afternoon/evening (2/4/22). I tried to schedule these based on proximity to STA. Teams considered local are scheduled for Friday, while teams that have to make a farther drive are scheduled on Saturday. Please look at when your team is scheduled and let me know ASAP if you need to make a change. All teams that come Friday evening will go through robot and field inspections in the cafeteria, and they can set up their pit area. Teams can then leave belongings, parts, robots at their pit table, or they can take them and bring them back. If any changes are made to your robot’s hardware/software after inspections, you must get it re-inspected on Saturday morning. Please plan to arrive at least 15 minutes before your scheduled time, if scheduled for Friday, and plan to stay about an hour to complete both inspections. No food will be available for purchase on Friday afternoon/evening, so please plan accordingly for your team. (The dinner timeslot indicates when our volunteers will take their dinner break.)

3. Tournament Schedule

Robotics competitions are complex to run, and there are many opportunities for slowdowns. While our volunteers make every effort to operate on a timely basis, by the nature of the event, the schedule is a guide and not a guarantee. Attached to this email is the tentative schedule for our event. (Note: this schedule does not include the inspections for Friday…that can be found on the first attachment.)

4. Lunch

Please find the attachment with options for your team’s lunch, all including locations in close proximity to our venue. There will not be any pre-order option organized by the tournament host.

5. Site Layout, Directions, and Parking

St. Thomas Aquinas High School is located at 2801 SW 12th St. Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33312. Take the Davie Road exit off of I-95, head west to 28th Ave., and go north. Park in the gym parking lot or the parking garage located to the north of the school. Team check-in on Friday and Saturday will occur in the main hallway that connects the cafeteria and the gym.

The pit area and Friday inspections will be located in the cafeteria, while Saturday inspections and match play will take place in the gym. Team check-in on Saturday begins at 7:00 am in the cafeteria, which is the location for the pit this year. A campus map is attached for your convenience, with all appropriate locations marked for competition day. If you will be coming by bus, your bus will have to offload just outside the gates of the gym parking lot area. Please email me back to let me know if your team is coming by bus, so I can make sure there is ample places to park the buses.

6. FIRST Consent and Release Form and Inspection Forms

FIRST Consent and Release forms are required for student team members, coaches, and mentors attending the tournament. Consent and Release forms are not required for spectators. All of the students, mentors, and coaches on your team should be entered into your team roster on the FIRST website and should have an approved status. Bring a copy of your team roster and turn it in to the check-in desk upon arrival on Friday/Saturday. Student team members, mentors, and coaches attending the tournament that don’t appear as approved on the team roster are required to turn in a completed FIRST Consent and Release form at check-in. The FIRST Consent and Release form is available for download from the FIRST web site.

Teams are supposed to self-inspect their robots before doing it officially at the tournament. Therefore, please make sure your teams come prepared with the field inspection and robot inspection sheets to their official tournament inspections.

Looking forward to a great day!

Thanks,

Erin Williams

St. Thomas Aquinas High School

South Florida FTC League Championship Host

Greetings Florida FTC Teams, Volunteers, and Sponsors (Please distribute this email to your team members, parents, and mentors):

Later this week I will announce the 48 teams that are advancing to the Florida FTC Championship on March 4-5 at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL. As the 17th Florida FIRST Tech Challenge season comes to a close, it is time to make sure this program gets noticed by our Florida Legislation. Let your team harness the power of advocacy to influence the political, economic, and social institutions to support FIRST in Florida! Start building your outreach material for your engineering portfolio for next season or expand your team’s capabilities for the judging at the Florida FTC Championship.

The 2022 Florida Legislation is in session, and we need your help to get funds for Florida teams and explore long-term pathways to sustainability.

Team 2383 has started a program called "Bring Your Rep to FIRST", which consists of inviting your representatives to join you at your lab (school or garage, wherever you meet), to show them what you are doing right now ==> building an amazing ROBOT, while creating the future workforce of Florida!

The meet doesn't have to be in person, it can be virtual as well, and 2383 will share with you how to approach your representatives to help you start a long-term relationship with them. The objective is to get your legislators excited about your work and explore ways they can help us make the program sustainable in the long-run.

If you are interested in learning more, we invite you to a meeting this next Thursday February 10 at 5 pm ET. Bring your best speakers to the meeting, as the training that will be provided will be targeted towards students.

Please watch the enclosed video for more details.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A2_Nm1l1hfe4TCPDvkn3u5ZZomPY9bBl/view?usp=sharing

Let us know if your team is interested in helping, especially if you can't attend the meeting, so they can contact you at a different time.

https://forms.gle/fENkcvk3soUW33ZC8

Bring Your Rep 2 FIRST forms.gle Meet info.

Date: Thursday, February 10, at 5 pm ET

https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NDNhYTg4ZDgtODQxOS00ZGNmLWIzMzYtNTRhOWU2YzUzMzBi%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2287f3c3bf-6dd1-44ec-bd8f-99e4e622ef84%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%222264efd9-e96c-48a3-a329-457720f46972%22%7d

Greetings Florida FTC Teams, Volunteers, and Sponsors (Please distribute this email to your team members, parents, and mentors):

The 2021-22 Florida FTC league season has come to an end as all eight of the Florida leagues have completed their League Tournament (Championship). The final event of the year will be the Florida Championship on March 4-5, 2022 at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL. The primary purpose of this newsletter is to provide information about the Florida FTC Championship:

1. Volunteer Opportunities

2. Robo Vision On Demand – Florida FTC Championship Webcast

3. Florida FTC Championship Team List

Newsletter Details:

Volunteer Opportunities – A majority of the volunteer positions needed for the Florida Championship have been filled. However, we still need a few additional volunteers to help with judging and the field technical support roles (FTC/CSA). This is your opportunity to get a fantastic volunteer t-shirt that has a rubber duck on it, a Freight Frenzy game pin, a volunteer gift, and a delicious lunch. We also need volunteers to help us setup for the event on Friday morning, March 4. If you are already volunteering at the event and will be at the venue early Friday morning, please make sure that you also register for the Load-in/Load-out Crew.

Robo Vision On Demand – Florida FTC Championship Webcast – Robo Vision On Demand will again be webcasting the Florida FTC Championship on their YouTube channel. You can easily find the Robo Vision On Demand channel by searching for RoboVisionOD on YouTube or going to the following web URL:

https://www.youtube.com/user/RoboVisionOD

Florida FTC Championship Team List – All of the teams advancing from the league tournaments and the two lottery teams have confirmed their ability to attend the Florida Championship. The following is the final list of teams that will be participating in the Florida FTC Champion (good luck to all of the teams):

Team # Team Name League

506 Pandara Gulf Coast

516 Gears of Fire Gulf Coast

3123 Spontaneous Combustion Gulf Coast

3839 Mechanical Geniuses Gulf Coast

4227 Metal Morphosis Space Coast

4228 Gears Of Other Dimensions Space Coast

4717 Mechromancers Space Coast

6322 WiredCats Origin South Florida

7017 In Gear ROBOT

7341 F.R.E.N.C.H. F.R.I.E.S. Space Coast

7477 Super 7 Space Coast

7592 Roarbots Space Coast

7719 RISE ROBOT

8798 Aluminati Industries OneClay

8859 RaiderTek OneClay

9110 WiredCats Omega South Florida

9214 R² OneClay

9930 Robo-Knights Tesla

9944 SATURN North East

9986 EagleBotics Navy South Florida

10022 WiredCats Gen 3 South Florida

10276 Storm Troopers North East

10497 SwampBots North East

10650 Hazmat Robotics Biohazards Tesla

10830 AJAX South Florida

11172 Static Discharge North East

12600 Hadron Knights ROBOT

12827 Crazy Cat Ladies North East

13233 Cyber Knights South Florida

13675 Talon Techs OneClay

14191 Galactic Squirrels AeroCoast

14384 Patent Pending North East

14431 Pyrites South Florida

14725 Java the Hutts Gulf Coast

14850 Infinity Gear ROBOT

14856 T.I.R.E.D. Space Coast

15297 Legacy AeroCoast

16249 Excaliper Tesla

16290 Z.I.P Ties Space Coast

16391 Rising Ninjas South Florida

16484 ROBOCANES South Florida

16716 IvyWarriors ROBOT

17288 Rubber Bandits Tesla

18145 Men in Black Jax North East

18147 The Imposters AeroCoast

18172 Uplift Robotics Space Coast

18317 Steel Eels North East

19388 Metal Mavericks North East

20012 Cadastrophe Gulf Coast

The Florida FTC 2021-22 (17th) season has officially ended with the conclusion of the Florida Championship that was held at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven on Saturday, March 5, 2022. The focus of this FTC email newsletter is to publish the award winners and the 3 teams that will be progressing to the Houston World Championship. I look forward to seeing our Florida teams in Houston and I look forward to what the next game challenge will be for the 2022-23 season.

The following are the two topics contains in this email:

1. Keep Your Sponsors Involved

2. Florida Championship Award Winners

3. Florida Teams Advancing to the Houston World Championship

Newsletter Details:

Keep Your Sponsors Involved – The FTC season has officially come to an end but that does not mean your team should not continue to meet and plan for next year. I encourage all of the team that received grants from a sponsor to create an end of season summary letter that helps shows how your sponsors have impacted your teams. This is a great way to make sure they are willing to donate again next year.

Florida Championship Award Winners - The 17th Florida FTC season has come to an end with an exciting celebration at the Florida Championship that was held at Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven on Saturday, March 5, 2022. I would like to thank all of the volunteers, coaches, mentors, and team members across Florida that made this a special Florida Championship event.

The 49 teams that attended the Florida Championship made it a very competitive event. A combination of high scoring robots and teams made it difficult to select the judge award winners. The judges had no easy task as they reviewed thousands of pages of engineering portfolios, watched several hours of matches, conducted 49 interviews, and held additional discussions with a large number of teams.

The following is a summary of the winning robots and the award winners:

Inspire Award Winner: 14725 Java the Hutts - from Fort Myers, FL

2nd place – 4717 Mechromancers - from Oviedo, FL

3rd place – 7719 RISE - from Lakeland, FL

Dean’s List Award:

Florida Finalists:

Sanat Dhanyamraju of Team 16290 Z.I.P Ties - from Sanford, FL

Lana Gerstenberger of Team 12827 Crazy Cat Ladies - from Jacksonville, FL

Nicolas Sanders of Team 10497 SwampBots - from Gainesville, FL

Sahil Vaswani of Team 16716 IvyWarriors - from Odessa, FL

Winning Alliance:

7592 Roarbots (Captain)

3839 Mechanical Geniuses

516 Gears of Fire

Finalist Alliance:

506 Pandara (Captain)

4717 Mechromancers

16290 Z.I.P Ties

Lawrence Division Finalist

14725 Java the Hutts (Captain)

12827 Crazy Cat Ladies

18172 Uplift Robotics

Scott Division Finalist

9930 Robo-Knights (Captain)

10276 Storm Troopers

17288 Rubber Bandits

Think Award

Winner: 4717 Mechromancers

Finalist: 7719 RISE and 10650 Hazmat Robotics Biohazards

Design Award

Winner: 10650 Hazmat Robotics Biohazards

Finalist: 516 Gears of Fire and 10497 SwampBots

Innovate Award sponsored by Raytheon Technologies

Winner: Team 506 Pandara

Finalist: Teams 10497 SwampBots and 16391 Rising Ninjas

Control Award

Winner: 12827 Crazy Cat Ladies

Finalist: 13233 Cyber Knights and 20012 Cadastrophe

Connect Award sponsored by Arm, Inc.

Winner: Team 18172 Uplift Robotics

Finalist: Teams 16716 IvyWarriors and 12600 Hadron Knights

Motivate Award

Winner: 16290 Z.I.P Ties

Finalist: 7719 RISE and 14431 Pyrites

Judge Award Winner

Winner: 18317 Steel Eels

Promote Award

Winner: 4717 Mechromancers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTyODVdQBqI

Finalist: 14384 Patent Pending and 18145 Men in Black Jax

Compass Award Winner

Jim Olson of Team 506 Pandara

(463) Compass States 2022 - YouTube

Finalist: Jaynelle Miller of Team 4717 Mechromancers and Ruhi Lankalapalli of Team 16290 Z.I.P Ties

Florida Teams Advancing to the Houston World Championship

The final awards presentation of the Florida Championship was identifying the three (3) teams from Florida that will be advancing to the FTC World Championship in Houston, Texas. The following are the three teams that received bids:

14725 Java the Hutts

7592 Roarbots

4717 Mechromancers