2022 Power Play

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

Welcome to the eighteenth (18) Florida FIRST Tech Challenge season (2022-23) and the game POWERPLAYSM presented by Raytheon Technologies. FIRST team registration is currently open and by the middle of September we will start posting league events that you can register to attend by going to the www.flfirst.org website.  The POWERPLAYSM game reveal will be on September 10, 2022. As part of the FIRST ENERGISE season, the FIRST Tech Challenge game will be about reimagining the future of sustainable energy and power. You can see the season teaser by watching the following video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-qwsMmkFwg 

We are also happy to announce that the current plan is that all league events will be traditional, in person events.  Florida is NOT planning to host any Remote events. The leadership of the 8 Florida leagues (AeroCoast, Gulf Coast, North East, OneClay, ROBOT, Orlando Robotics (formally Tesla), Space Coast, and South Florida) are busy working to finalize league meet locations and dates.  Starting in September, expect to see update emails from me and your league leader about event dates and locations. We will also post the season event schedule on the following Florida FTC web page: Events (flfirst.org)

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.

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

1. Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 10, 2022 at 12:00 noon EDT

2. Season Schedule

3. Team Grant Information

4. Game Manual Part 1 Available

5. Team Registration Cost Increase

Newsletter Details:

1. Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 10, 2020 at 12:00 noon EDT – The Bob & Sid show as well as AJ Foster’s Tech Think Time sessions are back by popular demand.  The Florida FTC 2022-23 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 12:00noon EDT.  During the kick-off event, we will provide an update on the season plans as well as perform a walk-through of the POWERPLAYSM game elements and rules. A more detailed agenda will be available a week before the kick-off event.

2. Season Schedule: The 2002-23 Florida FTC season will end with the Florida Championship on March 3-4, 2023 and will again be hosted at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL. The following is the overall event schedule for the 2022-23 season:

September 10, 2022 – Season Kick-off and game reveal

October, 2022 – Leagues hosting Scrimmages, Training, and Workshops

October, 2022 to January, 2023 – League Meets

February 5, 2023 – Deadline for all leagues to complete the League Tournament/Championship.  The League Tournament determines which teams qualify to attend the Florida Championship

March 3-4, 2023 – Florida Championship at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven Florida

April 19-22, 2023 – World Championship at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX

3. Team Grant Information – The DEKA Foundation rookie team grant is back again this season. 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.

4. 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. Check out the FIRST blog post  for a summary of rules changes for the upcoming 2022-2023 season.   

Part 2 will be released on September 10, 2022 and will contain all of the POWERPLAYSM 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.

5. Team Registration Cost Increase -- FIRST has implemented a team registration increase. The team registration fee has increased by $20 and is now $295.  The following the link to the announcement: This announcement and FAQ

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

The two-week count down to the 2022-23 FTC season kick-off has officially started.  I encourage teams to attend the Online Florida FTC Kick-off event at noon EDT on September 10, 2022. This will be your opportunity to learn about the plan for the Florida FTC season and the game rules for POWERPLAYSM presented by Raytheon Technologies.

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

1. Pitsco Education Grant and Discounts

2. Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 10, 2022 at 12:00 noon EDT

3. (Repeat) Season Schedule

Newsletter Details:

Pitsco Education Grant and Discounts -- Pitsco Education is offering a number of $150 team grants and TETRIX® spare parts giveaways throughout the season. Teams need to enter only once to be considered eligible (super easy!) and they can sign up at https://offers.pitsco.com/ftc22.

Pitsco Education has created a short video promoting the planned giveaways and letting teams know they can use promo code TX22FTC to get 25% off TETRIX spare parts all season long! You can check out the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqoARsfJX0s.

Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 10, 2020 at 12:00 noon EDT – The Bob & Sid show as well as AJ Foster’s Tech Think Time sessions are back by popular demand.  The Florida FTC 2022-23 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 12:00noon EDT.  During the kick-off event, we will provide an update on the season plans as well as perform a walk-through of the POWERPLAYSM game elements and rules. A more detailed agenda will be available a week before the kick-off event.

(Repeat) Season Schedule: The 2002-23 Florida FTC season will end with the Florida Championship on March 3-4, 2023 and will again be hosted at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL. The following is the overall event schedule for the 2022-23 season:

• September 10, 2022 – Season Kick-off and game reveal

• October, 2022 – Leagues hosting Scrimmages, Training, and Workshops

• October, 2022 to January, 2023 – League Meets

• February 5, 2023 – Deadline for all leagues to complete the League Tournament/Championship.  The League Tournament determines which teams qualify to attend the Florida Championship

• March 3-4, 2023 – Florida Championship at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven Florida

• April 19-22, 2023 – World Championship at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX

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

Only 5-days remaining until POWERPLAY game reveal on September 10, 2022 and the Florida league leadership is busy finalizing league event dates and locations. The following topics in this email newsletter provide an update on the plan for the Kick-off event and progress leagues have made in finalizing events:

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

1. Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 10, 2022 at 12:00 noon EDT

2. League Event Dates & Locations

3. Rev Robotics Control Hub and Expansion Hubs Needed

Newsletter Details:

1. Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 10, 2022 at 12:00 noon EDT – The Florida FTC 2022-23 season kick-off event will again be hosted on the FIRST in Florida YouTube channel.  The Florida FIRST Tech Challenge Kick-off will start at 12noon EDT and will be available through the following URL link: https://youtu.be/Tr1B8WBvFOQ . The following are the planned topics that will be covered:

• Initial FIRST Tech Challenge season introduction videos will start at 11:45am EDT.

• Welcome and Florida FTC Season Overview will start at 12:00noon EDT including the announcement of an exciting new contest and the winner will receive a guaranteed invitation to the Florida Championship on March 3-4, 2023.

• FIRST Tech Challenge update from Senor Director Ken Johnson

• Tech Think Time by AJ Foster with an important message on how teams can still use phones as a control module on your robot

• POWERPLAYSM Game Animation Video

• Bob & Sid Show Explaining Additional Game Rules

• Field Walk-through and Game Rule Q&A

2. League Event Dates & Locations – In the coming weeks we will be able to officially submit event dates/locations to FIRST and we will start officially publishing league meet details on the Florida FTC website event management system (www.flfirst.org).  However, leagues have made progress on finalizing events and I have a preview below of some of the league meet dates and locations:

• North East Florida League Events:

  • • October 1, 2022 – Volunteer Training and Team Workday at San Jose Preparatory School

    • October 29, 2022 – Meet #1 at Bolles Bartram Campus

    • November 19, 2022 – Meet #2 at Bolles Bartram Campus

    • December 10, 2022 – Meet #3 at Bolles Bartram Campus

    • January 14, 2023 – Meet #4 at Bolles Bartram Campus

    • February 4, 2023 – League Tournament at Bolles Bartram Campus

• ROBOT League Events:

  • • November 5, 2022 – McKeel Acadamy Robotics Spectacular at McKeel Academy of Science & Technology

    • December 10, 202 – Seven Rivers Shenanigans at Seven Rivers Christian School

    • February 4, 2023 – ROBOT League Championship at McKeel Academy of Science & Technology

• Gulf Coast League Events:

  • • October 10, 2022 – Gulf Coast League Scrimmage at Hollins High School

    • November 12, 2022 – Meet #1 at Seminole High School

    • December 10, 2022 – Meet #2 at Meadowlawn Middle School

    • January 14, 2023 – Meet #3 at Cypress Lake High School

• Stay tuned for more events dates and locations to be finalized in the coming weeks.

3. Rev Robotics Control Hubs and Expansion Hubs Needed – As most of you are aware supply chain challenges have impacted the availability of electronic components and the Rev Robotics Control Hub and Expansion Hubs are no exception. We will provide the latest status of the Rev Robotics Control Hub availability during the Florida FTC Kick-off Event. We would like to start collecting information from teams that might have unused Control or Expansion Hubs that your team is willing to lend, donate or sell.  If your team has an extra Rev Robotics Control Hub and/or Expansion Hub, please reply to this email with your team number and a description of the specific Rev Robotics electronics equipment you can make available to be used by other teams.

Dear South Florida FTC Coaches, Mentors, and Volunteers,

Welcome to the 2022-2023 FTC season!  To our veteran members, welcome back and to our new rookie teams, welcome to our league!  As you may already know, Florida operates in a league system, where teams are assigned geographically so that most of your competition events will be relatively close to home.  Given that our league spans from Miami to Port St. Lucie, we are more spread out than others, and we are larger than many of the other leagues in the state, usually boasting a team count of 30-40 teams each year.  

We are still finalizing our event calendar, but here is what we know, as of now:

October 15th - Scrimmage and Volunteer Training (St. Anthony's Catholic School)

November 12th - League Meet #1 (Coral Springs Charter School)

December 10th - League Meet #2 (South Fork High School)

January ??? - League Meet #3 (Location TBD)

February 4th - League Championship (St. Thomas Aquinas High School)

I will have finalized event information in my next blast as well as instructions on how to register for events.  The hope is that all teams can attend 1-2 meets and the league championship, however, many teams do attend every event.

Since the league receives no financial or volunteer assistance from FIRST, we charge registered teams in our league a fee for participating.  This is in addition to the $295 registration fee you paid to FIRST, as that is used primarily to fund the World Championship.  This year we will be charging all participating teams $250.  If you have completed your FIRST registration, you will soon receive an email from Alice Miller, our league treasurer, with an invoice for the league fee.  Ideally this fee will be paid by October 1st, since our events start that month and the fee primarily goes to subsidizing our league event costs.  Additionally, this year, we will be issuing a $100 additional fee to veteran teams that DO NOT provide an official league volunteer for the season.  (I will include more about this in my next blast.)

I hope you and your students are excited for the season kick-off this Saturday (9/10) at 12pm.  The Florida FTC 2022-23 season kick-off event will be hosted on the FIRST in Florida YouTube channel and you can access the event through the following URL link: https://youtu.be/Tr1B8WBvFOQ

Additionally, if interested, we have been invited to participate in the Marlins Maker Day this Saturday (9/10) at Marlins Park (see attached information).  If your FTC team is interested in attending and demo-ing a robot, please contact Allyn Bernstein (abernstein@firstinspires.org) ASAP!  

Finally, if you are looking for more information about our league, please visit our website: southfloridaftc.com.

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

Looking forward to a great season!

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

The 2022-23 FIRST Tech Challenge season has officially started with the game announcement last Saturday, September 10, 2022.  If you were not able to attend the Florida FTC Season Kick-off event, it is available on the FIRST in Florida YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/Tr1B8WBvFOQ). The following topics in this email newsletter provide you with information on how to learn more about the season:

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

1.  How to Find POWERPLAYSM Game Information

2.  Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest

3.  League Event Dates & Locations

Newsletter Details:

1. How to Find POWERPLAYSM Game Information – The best place to find the POWERPLAYSM game information is by going to the “FIRST Tech Challenge>>Game & Season Material” web page: https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/ftc/game-and-season-info.  Game Manual Part 1 & 2 and the game animation video are located on this page as well as all documentation related to the POWERPLAYSM game.  Please review the “Traditional Events” version of the document as we will only be hosting in-person traditional events throughout all of the 8 Florida leagues.  The web page also has all of the information you need to build and setup the POWERPLAYSM field.  My final recommendation is that I also encourage all teams to also review Game Manual Part 1 as there are several important changes to the robot rules such as including your team number on your red and blue alliance markers.

Teams that would like to order a POWERPLAYSM field, please go to the FIRST Tech Challenge part of the AndyMark website (https://www.andymark.com/pages/first-tech-challenge)

2. Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest – This is your opportunity to get a guaranteed invitation to the Florida Championship on March 3-4, 2023.  All Florida FTC teams are eligible to submit a volunteer t-shirt design no later than November 30, 2022 and the winner will be announced on by December 30, 2022.  The following are the detailed requirements for the t-shirt design:

• Design must be emailed to hans.wolf@verizon.net no later than midnight November 30, 2022.

• The design must be a high-resolution JPG file

• The JPG design file must be a two-color design only

• The t-shirt must include the following: “Florida Championship 2023”

• The t-shirt design should include the official POWERPLAYSM presented by Raytheon Technologies game logo.

 The winner of the Florida Championship volunteer t-shirt design content will receive an automatic invitation to the Florida Championship (if your team also received an invitation from your league championship than the team will receive a $200 credit to cover the registration fee) and two Rev Robotics t-shirts.

3. League Event Dates & Locations – We will start officially publishing league meet details on the Florida FTC website event management system (www.flfirst.org) in the coming weeks.  The following are some additional league meets that have now been finalized (please refer to previous Florida FTC email newsletter for previously announced league event dates).

• Orlando Robotics League Events:

  • October 29, 2022 –Team Workday and Scrimmage at Lake Highland Preparatory School

  • November 5, 2022 – League Meet #1 at Lake Highland Preparatory School

  • December 10, 2022 – League Meet #2 at Lake Highland Preparatory School

  • January 14, 2023 – League Meet #3 at Lake Highland Preparatory School

  • February 4, 2023 – League Tournament/Championship at Lake Highland Preparatory School

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

I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s robots navigating the POWERPLAY field at events starting in about a month.  The leagues have scheduled more events and some of the events are available for volunteers to register in the FIRST Volunteer Management System and available in the event registration system on the www.flfirst.org website. I am also still looking for teams that are interested in selling or loaning any spare Rev Control Hubs or Rev Expansion Hubs.  This email newsletter has additional information about each of these topics.

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

1. League Event Dates & Locations

2. How to Register to Attend League Events

3. Rev Control Hubs and Expansion Hubs Needed

Newsletter Details:

1. League Event Dates & Locations – The following are some additional league meets that have now been finalized (please refer to previous Florida FTC email newsletter for previously announced league event dates).

South Florida League Events:

• October 15, 2022 –Scrimmage, Volunteer Training, and Workshop at St. Anthony Catholic School

• November 12, 2022 – League Meet #1 at Coral Springs Charter School

• December 10, 2022 – League Meet #2 at South Fork High School

• February 4, 2023 – League Tournament/Championship at St. Thomas Aquinas High School

AeroCoast League Events:

• October 22, 2022 – League Meet #1 at Swift Creek Middle School

• November 5, 2022 – League Meet #2 at Montford Middle School

• December 10, 2022 – League Meet #3 at Shoal River Middle School

2. How to Register to Attend League Meets -- League meet dates and locations have been published to the www.flfirst.org website for the ROBOT, South Florida, North East Florida, Orlando Robotics, 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 date, time, and location.

It is important that teams register to attend league events to help the event organizers prepare the venue and the 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 www.flfirst.org website with your passcode. Please keep this email in safe place as you will use the same passcode throughout the 2022-23 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://www.flfirst.org/Registration_System/resend_passcode.php

3. Rev Control Hubs and Expansion Hubs Needed -- As most of you are aware supply chain challenges have impacted the availability of electronic components and the Rev Robotics Control Hub and Expansion Hubs are no exception. We would like to start collecting information from teams that might have unused Control or Expansion Hubs that your team is willing to lend, donate or sell.  If your team has an extra Rev Robotics Control Hub and/or Expansion Hub, please reply to this email with your team number and a description of the specific Rev Robotics electronics equipment you can make available to be used by other teams.

Teams that are retiring or not planning to compete this season, please reply to this email if you are willing to sell your Rev Control or Expansion Hubs.

Dear South Florida FTC Coaches, Mentors, and Volunteers,

It is hard to believe October is already coming this week and soon we will be one month into FTC season!  Welcome to all the new coaches and teams to our league!  

I. League Fee/Events

For those that don't already know, after paying your FIRST registration fee of $295, you are assigned a league fee to participate in events during the competition season.  Teams have already been invoiced or will soon be invoiced by our league treasurer for our league fee of $250.  This is to offset the costs associated with hosting our league events or purchasing league equipment.  At this point, we plan to have one scrimmage event, three league meets, and one league championship.  The events that have already been scheduled are:

Scrimmage - 10/15 (St. Anthony's Catholic School)

League Meet #1 - 11/12 (Coral Springs Charter School)

League Meet #2 - 12/10 (South Fork High School)

League Championship - 2/4 (St. Thomas Aquinas High School)

We will have at least one more meet in January and perhaps another scrimmage, so stay tuned for details on those.  All of the above events are now open on firstinspires.org for volunteer registration and on flfirst.org for team participation registration.  (New teams/coaches, please see the most recent newsletter from Hans Wolf regarding how to register for events.  You will need a passcode that should have been emailed to you from webmaster@flfirst.org.)

II. League Scrimmage Workshops - volunteers?

The scrimmage event on October 15th will have team workshops and volunteer training in addition to the scrimmage matches.  We are looking for two veteran teams to lead workshops: one called "Tips for Remote Judging/Engineering Portfolio" that will aim to help teams prepare for judging that occurs before the League Championship; the other will be called "Alternatives to Robot Control" and will be focused on controlling your robot without a Control Hub, since teams will likely be without those at start of the competition season.  Reply to this email if your team wants to help!

Please don't hesitate to email if you have any questions.  Thank you for all you do!

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

It has been a challenging week for Florida, and it is painful to watch the video showing the destruction in southwest Florida.  I have heard from a few of our FTC teams located in Charlotte, Lee, Collier, and Manatee counties and I hope everyone is safe.  I have also heard from several FTC teams across Florida that are willing to help. Please do let us know if there is anything you need, and I will get the word out to our FTC teams.

This email newsletter has additional information about each of these topics.

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

1.  Rev Control Hub Shipping Status

2.  League Event Dates & Locations

3.  How to Register to Attend League Events (repeat)

Newsletter Details:

1.  Rev Control Hub Shipping Status – I received some great news from FIRST this week. FIRST has confirmed that they have received a large supply of Rev Control Hubs and shipping to rookie teams has started.  The specific message I received is that all rookie teams that have completed the registration process will receive their Rev Control Hubs within the next couple of weeks.

2.  League Event Dates & Locations – The following are some additional league meets that have now been finalized (please refer to previous Florida FTC email newsletter for previously announced league event dates).

Space League Events:

December 3, 2022 –Continuous Charge league meet #3 at Deltona Middle School

December 17, 2022 – Wild Voltz league meet #4 at T Dewitt Taylor Middle High School

AeroCoast League Event Location Change:

October 22, 2022 -- The location of League Meet #1 has been changed to the Gadsden County High School

3.  How to Register to Attend League Meets -- League meet dates and locations have been published to the www.flfirst.org website for the ROBOT, South Florida, North East Florida, Orlando Robotics, 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 date, time, and location.

It is important that teams register to attend league events to help the event organizers prepare the venue and the 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 www.flfirst.org website with your passcode. Please keep this email in safe place as you will use the same passcode throughout the 2022-23 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://www.flfirst.org/Registration_System/resend_passcode.php 

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

It has been a challenging week for Florida, and it is painful to watch the video showing the destruction in southwest Florida.  I have heard from a few of our FTC teams located in Charlotte, Lee, Collier, and Manatee counties and I hope everyone is safe.  I have also heard from several FTC teams across Florida that are willing to help. Please do let us know if there is anything you need, and I will get the word out to our FTC teams.

This email newsletter has additional information about each of these topics.

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

1.            League Event Dates & Locations

2.            Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest (repeat)

3.            Dean’s List Student Nominations

Newsletter Details:

1. League Event Dates & Locations – The following are some additional league meets that have now been finalized.  This email only contains new events that have recently been added to the schedule (please refer to previous Florida FTC email newsletter for previously announced league event dates or the event page on the www.flfirst.org website to see the full list of available events).

• Space League Events:

• November 5, 2022 –Space Coast League Meet #1 at Oviedo High School

• January 28, 2023 – Space Coast League Tournament at Hagerty High School

• OneClay League Event Location Change:

• October 29, 2022 – ONECLAY League Meet #1 at Wilkinson Junior High

• November 12, 2022 – ONECLAY League Meet #2 at Orange Park Junior High

• December 3, 2022 – ONECLAY League Meet #3 at Lake Asbury Junior High

• January 14, 2023 – ONECLAY League meet #4 at Orange Park Junior High

• February 4, 2023 – ONECLAY League Tournament at Orange Park High School

2.  Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest (repeat) – This is your opportunity to get a guaranteed invitation to the Florida Championship on March 3-4, 2023.  All Florida FTC teams are eligible to submit a volunteer t-shirt design no later than November 30, 2022 and the winner will be announced by December 30, 2022.  The following are the detailed requirements for the t-shirt design

• Design must be emailed to hans.wolf@verizon.net no later than midnight November 30, 2022.

• The design must be a high-resolution JPG file

• The JPG design file must be a two-color design only (foreground logo color and a background t-shirt color)

• The t-shirt must include the following: “Florida Championship 2023”

• The t-shirt design should include the official POWERPLAYSM presented by Raytheon Technologies game logo.

The winner of the Florida Championship volunteer t-shirt design content will receive an automatic invitation to the Florida Championship (if your team also received an invitation from your league championship than the team will receive a $200 credit to cover the registration fee) and two Rev Robotics t-shirts.

3. Dean’s List Student Nomination –  The deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations is January 15, 2023.  Coaches can submit the nomination essay through your FIRST dashboard.  All nominations across all of the Florida leagues will be submitted to a single “Interview Only” event called the “Florida Dean’s List Interview” event. Coaches should select the event called “Florida Dean’s List Interview” when submitting your student 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 four Florida Finalist will be announced on March 4, 2023 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, 2023.

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 Colleagues,

Hope you are all doing well!  For those coaches and mentors that are new to our league this year (and since Blast #2), welcome!  I wanted to send some important information and reminders, now that we are only 2 weeks from our first official event.  Please read through all of the following information and don't hesitate to reply if you have any questions.  Here is an outline of the topics contained in this email:

1) Scrimmage Event on 10/15 - Workshop presentations (attached)

2) League Meet #1 on 11/12 - Registration reminder

3) League Event Calendar - Survey about January events

4) League Fee Reminder - No volunteer, additional fee

First, let me introduce myself for those that don't know me.  I am the League Chairperson for the South Florida FTC League.  I am part of the League Advisory Board that handles running our local events, with the goal of preparing our South Florida teams for advancement to the State Championship.  If you are interested in more information about our league, please visit our league website and check out the resources posted there.

1) Scrimmage Event on 10/15

This event was a great success!  Thank you to Saint Anthony Catholic School and Team 16484 (the ROBOCANES) for hosting!  We have never had ~15 robots run at our league scrimmage, usually held in mid-October!  Thank you to the teams and coaches that attended and participated!  Also, thank you to Team 14431, the Pyrites, and Team 18619, the BuccaNEERS, for presenting workshops at the Scrimmage also.  The presentations from the workshops are attached to this email, as is the presentation from the Coaches/Volunteer Meetings.

2) League Meet #1 on Saturday 11/12/22 at Coral Springs Charter School

Our first league meet is only two weeks away!  This is a reminder that to attend and participate in that meet, you need to register for the event on the Florida FIRST website.  Once there, click on the tab that says "Season" and then scroll down to "Events".  There you will find a list of all the FTC events for the 2022-2023 season in Florida.  Scroll to the bottom of the page to Register for Events.  You will need a passcode for your team in order to register, and you should have received that by email from webmaster@flfirst.org.  All teams planning on participating on 11/12 must be registered by midnight on 11/5 to guarantee their spot.  Teams that register after that deadline will be considered waitlisted and allowed in on a case by case basis, depending on event capacity.  Additionally, you may be contacted by Suzette Fasciani (our league's Vice Chair, and the event host for Meet #1) regarding your team not being EVENT READY...this could be because you are missing information in your team profile on firstinspires.org.  Teams must be EVENT READY to compete in any event this season!

3) League Event Calendar

Here is our league calendar of events scheduled for the 2022-2023 competition season:

11/12/22: League Meet #1 - Coral Springs Charter School

12/10/22: League Meet #2 - South Fork High School

1/21/23: League Meet #3 - North Broward Preparatory School

2/4/23: League Championship - St. Thomas Aquinas High School

We have the opportunity to schedule a fourth league meet in January, which might help rookie/veteran teams that have to wait on parts during the early months of the competition season.  Please fill out this survey by 11/1 at midnight, so I can determine the interest in adding a fourth event.  The hope is that all teams in the South Florida League can go to at least one meet before the league championship.  While this is not a requirement to attend the League Championship, it is recommended.

4) League Fee Reminder

In addition to teams paying the $295 Registration fee to FIRST to be EVENT READY, teams also need to pay a league fee in order to participate in the South Florida League events.  You should have received a league fee invoice from our league treasurer, Alice Miller.  These fees need to be paid ideally before our first event, but definitely by January 1st, in order to be considered in good standing with the league and to be invited to participate in the League Championship on 2/4.  The fee is $250 per team.  Additionally, each Veteran team is required to provide a key league volunteer this season, as this will help make our events run more successfully (information on this is contained in the first attached presentation as well).  Veteran teams that do not provide a volunteer will be charged an additional $100 fee that must be paid before the League Championship.

I look forward to seeing those teams registered for League Meet #1 in a couple of weeks!  Meet #1 is scheduled to run from 7am-5pm, and coaches will soon receive an email from Suzette with a more detailed schedule and additional information.

My best,

Erin  

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

We have now completed a couple of league meets with the AeroCoast leading the way by completing their first event of the season on October 22nd. In the coming weeks, all leagues will have completed their first meet.  As teams prepare for the upcoming meets and as we make are our way through the main part of the Florida FTC season, this email newsletter will focus on topics to help coaches and teams prepare for these events. In early January, I will start providing tips on how to prepare for your league tournament and the Florida Championship.The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Tip: Preparing for League Meets – Inspection

2. Dean’s List Student Nominations (Repeat)

3. League Event Dates & Locations

Newsletter Details:

1. Tip: Preparing for League Meets – Inspection

The start of league meet part of the season, means teams must start preparing to go through the robot and field inspection process.  The first step of any league meet is for teams to complete the inspection process and I encourage all coaches and team members to read the following sections in Game Manual Part 1: (1) section 4.3 Robot and Field Inspection, (2) section 7.3 Robot Rules, and chapter 8.0 Robot Inspection.

A recommended best practice is during the week prior to your team attending a league meet is to have the team perform a robot self-inspection by reviewing the checklist in Appendix B – Robot Inspection Checklist and Appendix C – Field Inspection Checklist. My final recommendation is to make sure your team uses the “Self Inspect” feature available in the control system.  The Self Inspect feature is available from the main menu of the Driver Station and the Robot Controller.  Review the checklist and make sure everything is highlighted green. Any red X’s are highlighting problem areas that you should correct prior to attending an event.  You can find information about each of the self-inspect items by going to the following github location: https://github.com/FIRST-Tech-Challenge/FtcRobotController/wiki/FTC-Self-Inspect

2. Dean’s List Student Nomination (Repeat) – The deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations is January 15, 2023.  Coaches can submit the nomination essay through your FIRST dashboard.  All nominations across all of the Florida leagues will be submitted to a single “Interview Only” event called the “Florida Dean’s List Interview” event. Coaches should select the event called “Florida Dean’s List Interview” when submitting your student 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 four Florida Finalist will be announced on March 4, 2023 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, 2023.

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).

3. League Event Dates & Locations – The following are some additional league meets that have now been finalized.  This email only contains new events that have recently been added to the schedule (please refer to previous Florida FTC email newsletter for previously announced league event dates or the event page on the www.flfirst.org website to see the full list of available events).

Space League Events:

November 19, 2022 –Space Coast Cone Wars—May the Power be with You at Seminole High School

January 14, 2023 – Space Coast Pink Pac Rat Party at Rockledge High School

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

November is a busy month for the Florida FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) program as we host 9 league meets between November 5 through November 19. Also, the next couple of weeks is your finally opportunity for you to enter the Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest to win an automatic invitation to participate in the Florida Championship. The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Definition of “Event Ready”

2. Florida Championship Volunteer T-shirt Design Contest (Final Reminder)

3. Dean’s List Student Nominations (Repeat)

 Newsletter Details:

1. Definition of “Event Ready” – In the next couple of months many of our Florida teams will be attending one or more league meets and I am sure some of you are at an event as I am sending out this Florida newsletter. Therefore, I wanted to remind everyone of about the FIRST requirements that all leagues must following related to which teams can participate in a meet.  All of the following criteria must be completed prior to any Florida FTC team participating in a league meet:

Team must complete the FIRST registration process that includes receipt of the $295 season registration fee.

Team must have two coaches registered for the team through their FIRST dashboard.

Both coaches must sign the FIRST consent and release form. The best way to accomplish this task is through your FIRST Dashboard.

Both coaches must complete and pass the FIRST YPP screening process.

Student team members must sign the FIRST consent and release form. The best way to accomplish this is online by have each student create a FIRST Dashboard account.

This is a requirement defined by FIRST that will be enforced by each of the Florida leagues.

2. Florida Championship Volunteer T-shirt Design Contest (Final Reminder) – This will be the final announcement about the Florida Championship Volunteer T-shirt Design Contest. This is your opportunity to get a guaranteed invitation to the Florida Championship on March 3-4, 2023.  All Florida FTC teams are eligible to submit a volunteer t-shirt design no later than November 30, 2022 and the winner will be announced by December 30, 2022.  The following are the detailed requirements for the t-shirt design:

Design must be emailed to hans.wolf@verizon.net no later than midnight November 30, 2022.

The design must be a high-resolution JPG file

The JPG design file must be a two-color design only (foreground logo color and a background t-shirt color)

The t-shirt must include the following: “Florida Championship 2023”

The t-shirt design should include the official POWERPLAYSM presented by Raytheon Technologies game logo.

The winner of the Florida Championship volunteer t-shirt design content will receive an automatic invitation to the Florida Championship (if your team also receives an invitation from your league championship than the team will receive a $200 credit to cover the registration fee) and two Rev Robotics t-shirts.

3. Dean’s List Student Nomination (Repeat) – The deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations is January 15, 2023.  Coaches can submit the nomination essay through your FIRST dashboard.  All nominations across all of the Florida leagues will be submitted to a single “Interview Only” event called the “Florida Dean’s List Interview” event. Coaches should select the event called “Florida Dean’s List Interview” when submitting your student 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 four Florida Finalist will be announced on March 4, 2023 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, 2023.

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 Colleagues,

Hope you are all doing well!  For those coaches and mentors that are new to our league this year (and since Blast #3), welcome!  I wanted to send some important information and reminders, now that we have completed our first league meet and we are only a few weeks away from Meet #2.  Please read through all of the following information and don't hesitate to reply if you have any questions.  Here is an outline of the topics contained in this email:

1) League Meet #1 Recap

2) League Meet #2 - Registration Reminder

3) League Event Calendar and results from survey about January events

4) League Fee Reminder - No volunteer, additional fee

1) League Meet #1 Recap

Thank you to Suzette Fasciani and her teams for hosting a very successful first league meet on Saturday (11/12)!  I think 30 teams competing at our first event is a record and again gives us an idea of how large our tournaments will be for the remainder of the season.  A few reactions/tips from Jason, our head referee, and Pete, our head FTA:

A. Per the Field Inspection Checklist:  "Team understands that software changes are not allowed in the Queue Area." 

  i. Software changes in queueing can result in safety issues if code has not been tested

  ii. Can result in robot not working at all.

  iii. While there are no specific penalties listed in the Game Manuals, FTA's for future meets should remind teams that violating this rule - especially after they've been told by event staff - may and will result in a Yellow/Red card and a Major Penalty for repeated/egregious behavior.

B. Teams are not to bring tools to the field to work on their robots.  This can cause unnecessary delays in the match schedule and will be penalized accordingly.

C. Teams need to work on their communications between Drivers/Coaches and Human Players.  There were many GS13 violations for Human/Robot interactions at the substations.  This can easily be avoided with practice and communication.

D. Mentors need to reach out to parents directly for event volunteers. If they throw out a general "Anybody want to volunteer?", all they will hear are crickets.

E. Reminder to teams to perform a self inspection before coming to the tournament to make for smoother inspections and avoid long time consuming updates and corrections during the inspection period. The Self Inspect option in the application, as well as the inspection form are excellent ways to make for an easy inspection process.

F. Reminder that robots must be inside their sizing envelope at the start of the game. Some who have mechanisms that can move outside the envelope arrived to matches outside the size envelope and had to be advised to put things back in place.

G. Wire management: Good wire management can make the difference between a good day and a long / difficult day. This guide is a helpful resource on this : https://www.firstinspires.org/sites/default/files/uploads/resource_library/ftc/robot-wiring-guide.pdf 

H. End of Match Reminders: Leave our cones and take your sleeves. Some teams exited the field with field elements, while others forgot their sleeves.

I. Safety Glasses - Several folks came up to the field and were in the pits without safety glass and had to be reminded.

2) League Meet #2 - Registration Reminder

Our next league meet is only a few weeks away, and it will come faster than you think because of the Thanksgiving Holiday!  This is a reminder that to attend and participate in that meet, you need to register for the event on the Florida FIRST website.  Once there, click on the tab that says "Season" and then scroll down to "Events".  Click on South Florida FTC League Meet #2 and it will take you to a registration form.  You will need a passcode for your team in order to register, and you should have received that by email from webmaster@flfirst.org.  All teams planning on participating on 12/10 must be registered by midnight on 12/2 to guarantee their spot.  Teams that register after that deadline will be considered waitlisted and allowed in on a case by case basis, depending on event capacity.  

3) League Event Calendar

Here is our league calendar of events remaining for the 2022-2023 competition season:

12/10/22: League Meet #2 - South Fork High School

1/21/23: League Meet #3 - North Broward Preparatory School

2/4/23: League Championship - St. Thomas Aquinas High School

The survey sent out in the last League Blast showed that most people were not interested in attending a second event in January, so the list above is a complete list for our events this season.  We have been asked to provide a demo/scrimmage on Sunday (1/22) at the South Florida Fair, so be thinking if your team wants to participate in that outreach.  More details to come...

4) League Fee Reminder and Veteran Team Volunteer Requirement

In addition to teams paying the $295 Registration fee to FIRST to be EVENT READY, teams also need to pay a league fee in order to participate in the South Florida League events.  You should have received a league fee invoice from our league treasurer, Alice Miller.  These fees need to be paid ASAP, but definitely by January 1st, in order to be considered in good standing with the league and to be allowed to participate in the League Championship on 2/4.  The fee is $250 per team.  Additionally, each Veteran team is required to provide a key league volunteer (referee, scorer, inspector, fta) this season, or they will be charged an additional fee of $100, billed in January.  Based on the volunteer pool at Meet #1, many veteran teams can expect to be charged this additional $100 if they do not supply a volunteer at our future events.  Please get your parents and school personnel involved.  We NEED help!.

I look forward to seeing those teams registered for League Meet #2 in a few weeks!  Meet #2 is scheduled to run from 7am-5pm, and coaches will soon receive an email from Stacey Jones with a more detailed schedule and additional information.

Best wishes to all for a Happy Thanksgiving!

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

As we near the end of 2022, I would like to send a special thank you to all of the Florida FIRST Tech Challenge volunteers that have helped us complete 26 events.  The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Dean’s List Student Nominations Update

2. Florida Championship T-Shirt Design Contest Winner

3. Florida Championship Lottery

4. Florida Championship Volunteers Needed

Newsletter Details:

1. Dean’s List Student Nomination Update – I apologize for the recent confusion about the deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations.  You should have received an email from FIRST correcting the deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations to January 15, 2023.  Coaches can submit the nomination essay through your FIRST dashboard.  All nominations across all of the Florida leagues will be submitted to a single “Interview Only” event called the “Florida Dean’s List Interview” event. Coaches should select the event called “Florida Dean’s List Interview” when submitting your student 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 four Florida Finalist will be announced on March 4, 2023 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, 2023.

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).

2. Florida Championship T-Shirt Design Contest Winner – It was not an easy task to select the winner of the Florida Championship t-shirt design contest. We receive 41 different submissions that highlighted the creativity of the Florida FTC teams.  We had a panel of 6 judges that reviewed the 41 designs that was narrowed down to a short list of 10.  After significant debate, I am happy to announce that the winner of the t-shirt design content is team 3101 Boombots from the Gulf Coast league and the runner-up is team 9277Hazmat Robotics Explosives from the Orlando Robotics league.  You can see the two t-shirt designs by going to the following web page: https://www.flfirst.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16&catid=9 

3. Florida Championship Lottery – The Florida Championship lottery is back again this year. 56 teams will receive invitations to participate in the Florida Championship on March 3-4, 2023.  53 of the teams will come from teams progressing from the league tournaments and one team will be the winner of the volunteer t-shirt design contents.  This means that we will have a lottery for two (2) additional teams.  This is an outstanding opportunity for teams that have not recently attended the Florida Championship to receive a lottery invitation.  To qualify for the lottery, the team head coach must send an email to hans.wolf@verizon.net with the following in the Subject line of the email: “Florida Championship Lottery: Team # xxxxx”.  Please replace xxxxx with your FTC team number.  This email must be received no later than January 27, 2023. As a reminder, teams that receive an invitation to the Florida Championship are required to pay a $200 event registration fee and teams must be able to arrive at the event venue by 1:30pm Friday, March 3, 2023 to complete your robot inspection process.

4. Florida Championship Volunteers Needed -- The final event of the Florida 2022-23 FTC season will be March 3 & 4, 2023 at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL.  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.

Dear South Florida FTC Colleagues,

Hope you are all doing well!  For those coaches and mentors that are new to our league this year (and since Blast #4), welcome!  I wanted to send some important information and reminders, now that we have completed our second league meet and we are only a few weeks away from Meet #3 and the League Championship.  Please read through all of the following information and don't hesitate to reply if you have any questions.  Here is an outline of the topics contained in this email:

1) League Meet #2 Recap

2) League Meet #3 - Registration Reminder

3) League Championship - 2/3-4/2023

4) Save the Date - Zoom Meeting for Coaches on Thursday 1/12 at 7pm (Rookie teams strongly encouraged to attend)

5) League Fee Reminder - No volunteer, additional fee

1) League Meet #2 Recap

Thank you to Stacey Jones and FRC team 180 (SPAM) for hosting Meet #2.  I definitely think our first meet ran so smoothly, all the hiccups were saved for this meet.  Thank you to the teams that participated, for your patience as we worked through the issues!  A few notes from our head referee, Jason:

1. I thought all of the teams performed admirably when faced with all of the issues with the game sounds. Their patience, understanding and GP was on point and much appreciated.

2. Human players were much improved, though there were still plenty of infractions. At Meet 3, there will be no more warnings. All substation penalties will be called.

3. Stay away from opposing alliance cone stacks. Just moving the stacks (without knocking them over) is considered controlling the stack, and will be penalized. This is different than plowing for all other game elements.

4. From Rule <S3>: "All members of the Drive Team are required to wear approved eye protection and shoes with closed toed and a closed back."  This means that Crocs are not acceptable footwear.  I've confirmed this with our State Head Referee, and Crocs will not be acceptable in the competition area, nor in the pits.

2) League Meet #3 - Registration Reminder

Our next league meet is only a few weeks away (Saturday, 1/21 at North Broward Preparatory School), and it will come faster than you think because of the Winter Break!  This is a reminder that to attend and participate in that meet, you need to register for the event on the Florida FIRST website.  Once there, click on the tab that says "Season" and then scroll down to "Events".  Click on South Florida FTC League Meet #3 and it will take you to a registration form.  You will need a passcode for your team in order to register, and you should have received that by email from webmaster@flfirst.org.  All teams planning on participating on 1/21 must be registered by midnight on 1/13 to guarantee their spot.  Teams that register after that deadline will be considered waitlisted and allowed in on a case by case basis, depending on event capacity.  

3) League Championship - 2/3-4/2023

Planning is underway already for the League Championship on 2/4/2023 at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.  Since all 44 teams currently registered in our league are invited to participate in the League Championship, we will need most teams to complete Robot and Field Inspections on Friday 2/3/2023, so that we can start our Opening Ceremony at 8am on Saturday, with qualifying matches starting by 8:30am.  As most of you know, the league championship includes the normal schedule of a league meet (5 qualifying matches per team), as well as alliance selection, and semi-finals/finals matches, followed by awards.  It will make for a long day even with the early start time, so please mark your calendars now for getting your inspections done on Friday (2/3), if possible.  A detailed inspection schedule will be sent out by Saturday (1/14).

4) Save the Date - ZOOM Meeting on Thursday (1/12) at 7pm

In an effort to make sure all of our teams (Rookie teams, especially) are prepared for the League Championship, we will have an informational meeting for Coaches over Zoom on Thursday (1/12) at 7pm.  Please plan on tuning in.

Meeting info:

Topic: South Florida FTC League Informational Meeting - Planning for the League Championship

Time: Jan 12, 2023 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82133875019?pwd=VkhvN0hsMDB0aUxwWm1oa2M3dnNqZz09

Meeting ID: 821 3387 5019

Passcode: 926104

5) League Fee Reminder and Veteran Team Volunteer Requirement

In addition to teams paying the $295 Registration fee to FIRST to be EVENT READY, teams also need to pay a league fee in order to participate in the South Florida League events.  You should have already received a league fee invoice from our league treasurer, Alice Miller.  Thank you to those teams that have already paid!  These need to be paid ASAP, but definitely by January 1st, in order to be considered in good standing with the league and to be allowed to participate in the League Championship on 2/4.  The fee is $250 per team.  Additionally, each Veteran team is required to provide a key league volunteer (referee, scorer, inspector, fta) this season, or they will be charged an additional fee of $100, billed in January.  Based on the volunteer pools at Meet #1 and #2, many veteran teams can expect to be charged this additional $100 if they do not supply a volunteer at League Meet #3.  Please get your parents and school personnel involved.  We NEED help!

NOTE:  The current South Florida FTC League Leadership Committee will be undergoing lots of changes after this year, as many of the leaders plan on stepping down.  Please get involved and help to ensure this transition is smooth!

Best wishes to all for a Happy Holiday, a blessed New Year, and a restful Winter Break!

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

Happy New Year and welcome to the final moth of the Florida FIRST Tech Challenge 2022-23 league events. We have 8 more league meets followed 8 league tournaments on January 28th and February 4th. For those coaches and team members that have not attended a league tournament these events will include three additional activities: (1) Dean’s List interviews, (2) alliance matches to determine the Winning and Finalist alliances, and (3) judge awards.  The final step in the league tournament is to announce the teams that will receive invitations to attend the Florida Championship on March 2-3, 2023 at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL. Please review section 4.9 and chapters 5, 6, and 9 in Game Manual part 1 to help your team prepare for the League Tournament. 

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

1. Dean’s List Student Nominations (repeat)

2. Florida Championship Lottery (repeat)

3. Teams Receiving Bids to the Florida Championship

Newsletter Details:

1. Dean’s List Student Nomination (repeat) – The next two weeks is your final opportunity to submit your student Dean’s List nominations. The deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations is January 15, 2023.  Coaches can submit the nomination essay through your FIRST dashboard.  All nominations across all of the Florida leagues will be submitted to a single “Interview Only” event called the “Florida Dean’s List Interview” event. Coaches should select the event called “Florida Dean’s List Interview” when submitting your student 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 four Florida Finalist will be announced on March 4, 2023 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, 2023.

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).

2. Florida Championship Lottery (repeat)– The Florida Championship lottery is back again this year. 56 teams will receive invitations to participate in the Florida Championship on March 3-4, 2023.  53 of the teams will come from teams progressing from the league tournaments and one team will be the winner of the volunteer t-shirt design contents.  This means that we will have a lottery for two (2) additional teams.  This is an outstanding opportunity for teams that have not recently attended the Florida Championship to receive a lottery invitation.  To qualify for the lottery, the team head coach must send an email to hans.wolf@verizon.net with the following in the Subject line of the email: “Florida Championship Lottery: Team # xxxxx”.  Please replace xxxxx with your FTC team number.  This email must be received no later than January 27, 2023. As a reminder, teams that receive an invitation to the Florida Championship are required to pay a $200 event registration fee and teams must be able to arrive at the event venue by 1:30pm Friday, March 3, 2023 to complete your robot inspection process.

3. Teams Receiving Bids to the Florida Championship – The last thing that will happen at your League Tournaments is the announcement of teams that will be receive a bid to attend the Florida Championship on March 3-4, 2023 at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL.  The teams advancing to the Florida Championship are selected based on the Order of Advancement requirements defined in section 6.2 in Game Manual Part 1.  I encourage teams and coaches to review this part of the Game Manual to understand the team advancement process.  Below is the number of teams that will be advancing from each of the leagues. If your team is selected to attend the Florida Championship, you will receive an email requesting confirmation that you will be attending the championship and you must respond to that email within 48 hours.  Teams attending the Florida Championship are required to pay a $200 team registration fee to help cover a small part of the cost to host this event and teams must be able to arrive in Winter Haven, FL by 1:00pm on Friday, March 3, 2023 to complete our robot inspection and field inspection.

Fifty-six (56) Florida FTC teams will receive an invitation to the state championship. Two (2) teams will be selected from the lottery submissions, one (1) team is the winner of the volunteer t-shirt design content, and fifty-three (53) will come from the League Championship Tournaments as follows

• AeroCoast League – 3 teams

• Gulf Coast League – 7 teams

• ONECLAY League – 3 teams

• Orlando Robotics League – 5 teams

• North East Florida League – 9 teams

• ROBOT League – 7 teams

• South Florida League – 11 teams

• Space Coast League – 8 teams

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

Coaches this is your last chance to submit your student Dean’s List nominations and it is time to start preparing for your league tournament.

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

1. Dean’s List Student Nominations (repeat)

2. Judge Interview Process for League Tournaments

Newsletter Details:

1.  Dean’s List Student Nomination (repeat) – Today (January 15, 2023) at midnight is you’re the deadline for submitting student Dean’s List nominations.  Coaches can submit the nomination essay through your FIRST dashboard.  All nominations across all of the Florida leagues will be submitted to a single “Interview Only” event called the “Florida Dean’s List Interview” event. Coaches should select the event called “Florida Dean’s List Interview” when submitting your student 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 four Florida Finalist will be announced on March 4, 2023 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, 2023.

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).

2. Judge Interview Process for League Tournaments – A reminder to all of the teams and coaches that the league tournaments includes three additional activities: Elimination/Alliance matches, judge interviews, and an award ceremony.  Most of the Florida leagues will be following a hybrid style league tournament which means that the 10-minute judge interview will be conducted online prior to the day of the league tournament robot matches.  This also means that teams will need to upload your Engineering Portfolio, Control Award form, and your request for judge feedback to the remote scoring software platform.  Therefore, I encourage all coaches to as soon as possible ensure you are able to login to the Remote Scoring Software and are able to access these features within your league tournament.  You can access the scoring software from within your FIRST dashboard or you can go directly to the scoring software by clicking on the following web page link: https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/region/USFL/.  Team coaches can user your FIRST dashboard userid and password to login to the scoring software.

Dear South Florida FTC Colleagues,

Good luck to your teams as they are preparing for League Meet #3 this Saturday (1/21)!  

In an effort to begin preparing for the League Championship on 2/4, this Blast has important information for your team regarding the Judging Interviews, the League Championship Event itself, as well as Dean's List Judging information.  Please read all the way to the end of this email, and don't hesitate to reply if you have questions.  Here are the topics included in this Blast:

1) Engineering Portfolio and Control Award Deadline

2) Judging schedule (tentative)

3) League Championship Event

4) Dean's List Judging Information

****Powerpoint Presentation from Zoom Meeting on Thursday (1/12) is attached, for your information.  The recording of the meeting will soon be posted to our league website (southfloridaftc.com).****

1) Engineering Portfolio and Control Award Form Submission Deadline

In an effort to give our judges time to review the content, teams are expected to submit their Engineering Portfolio and their Control Award Form to the online scoring website (https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/) by Monday (1/23) at 11:59pm.  All teams must submit an Engineering Portfolio to be eligible to win any of the judged awards.  The Control Award Form (found in Game Manual 1) is required to be eligible for the Control Award and teams are recommended to include a link to a video of their robot performing their described autonomous program on the form.  The most recent Newsletter from Hans Wolf (Newsletter #12) includes more detailed information on how to submit these.  

2) Judging Schedule

All judging interviews will be conducted over Zoom, as we have done the past couple of years.  After the portfolio deadline, a judging schedule will be sent out to all teams that submit portfolios.  Interviews will be conducted on Saturday (1/28) from 9am-12pm, tentatively.  Different from last year, all teams will also have a follow-up interview in the pit area at the League Championship, from 9am-10:30am on Saturday (2/4).  Our league will give out all judged awards listed in Game Manual 1 at the League Championship, with the exception of the Promote and Compass Awards, which require videos to be submitted and judged.  We are still in need of judges...please email me if you have a volunteer to recommend for this!

3) League Championship Event

Due to the large number of teams in our league, we hope to have most teams go through robot and field inspection on Friday (2/3) from 4-8pm.  This way, we hope to have the Opening Ceremony at the League Championship start at 8am, with qualification matches starting at 8:30am.  All teams attending will participate in five qualification matches, which we have done at every meet this year.  Following the qualification matches, we will do alliance selection, semi-finals and finals, followed by awards.  We hope to wrap up around 7pm.  A detailed inspection schedule will be sent out by the end of next week.

4) Dean's List

Thank you to all the coaches that submitted candidates for the Dean's List Award!  Those students that have been nominated will be contacted early this week to schedule their online interview with Dean's List judges.  The judges then submit their comments and evaluations after the interviews, and the State panel reviews all the nominees to determine the Dean's List Finalists for the State of Florida.  Finalists are announced at the State Championship.

There will be much more communication next week regarding the League Championship.  

Looking forward to a great Meet #3 this weekend!

Dear South Florida FTC Colleagues,

Thank you to North Broward Preparatory School and the Eaglebotics teams for hosting League Meet #3!  Thank you to all the volunteers that helped make the day run so smoothly!   And thank you to all the teams that participated!

Now, we move on to our last South Florida FTC event this season, the League Championship scheduled for Saturday (2/4) at St. Thomas Aquinas High School.  The first phase of the League Championship is the judging, which will be happening remotely for the interview portion again this year.  Interviews will be scheduled for this Saturday (1/28) from 9am-12pm.  

In order to be scheduled for an interview, your team needs to submit their Engineering Portfolio by 11:59pm TONIGHT (1/23).  A quick reminder on how to do this:

=> you need to go https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/ and login with your FIRST credentials

=> find the event called "FL South Florida League Tournament" and click on the Judging Tab

=> there you will see you can upload your team's portfolio, your Control Award form, and submit a judging feedback form if you would like to receive feedback from the judges regarding your notebook or interview

***only the Lead Contact/Mentor 1 or 2 can submit these items***

If you have questions or need help with this, please email me or Suzette Fasciani (sfasciani@coralspringscharter.org) for assistance.  You can also reach out to me by phone at 614-425-6616 for immediate help.

After the submission deadline has passed, I will email a schedule for the judging interviews (by end of day Tuesday 1/24), but remember, in order to receive an interview slot (and to be considered for a judged award), you must submit an Engineering Portfolio.  

Lastly, the Control Award form is attached and must be completed and uploaded in the same way, to be eligible for the Control Award.  In previous years, this form required a video link to demonstrate your robot performing the Autonomous program described in the form.  However, with the judging this year being hybrid, the judges will be able to observe the Autonomous programs at the League Championship on 2/4.  Therefore, A VIDEO IS NOT REQUIRED.  However, if teams still want to include a video link, they can do so.

Good luck to your teams as we prepare to conclude the regular season.  You will receive an email with more information regarding the League Championship event this week.

Dear South Florida FTC Colleagues,

Thank you to North Broward Preparatory School and the Eaglebotics teams for hosting League Meet #3!  Thank you to all the volunteers that helped make the day run so smoothly!   And thank you to all the teams that participated!

Now, we move on to our last South Florida FTC event this season, the League Championship scheduled for Saturday (2/4) at St. Thomas Aquinas High School.  The first phase of the League Championship is the judging, which will be happening remotely for the interview portion again this year.  Interviews will be scheduled for this Saturday (1/28) from 9am-12pm.  

In order to be scheduled for an interview, your team needs to submit their Engineering Portfolio by 11:59pm TONIGHT (1/23).  A quick reminder on how to do this:

=> you need to go https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/ and login with your FIRST credentials

=> find the event called "FL South Florida League Tournament" and click on the Judging Tab

=> there you will see you can upload your team's portfolio, your Control Award form, and submit a judging feedback form if you would like to receive feedback from the judges regarding your notebook or interview

***only the Lead Contact/Mentor 1 or 2 can submit these items***

If you have questions or need help with this, please email me or Suzette Fasciani (sfasciani@coralspringscharter.org) for assistance.  You can also reach out to me by phone at 614-425-6616 for immediate help.

After the submission deadline has passed, I will email a schedule for the judging interviews (by end of day Tuesday 1/24), but remember, in order to receive an interview slot (and to be considered for a judged award), you must submit an Engineering Portfolio.  

Lastly, the Control Award form is attached and must be completed and uploaded in the same way, to be eligible for the Control Award.  In previous years, this form required a video link to demonstrate your robot performing the Autonomous program described in the form.  However, with the judging this year being hybrid, the judges will be able to observe the Autonomous programs at the League Championship on 2/4.  Therefore, A VIDEO IS NOT REQUIRED.  However, if teams still want to include a video link, they can do so.

Good luck to your teams as we prepare to conclude the regular season.  You will receive an email with more information regarding the League Championship event this week.

Dear South Florida FTC Colleagues,

Thank you to North Broward Preparatory School and the Eaglebotics teams for hosting League Meet #3!  Thank you to all the volunteers that helped make the day run so smoothly!   And thank you to all the teams that participated!

Now, we move on to our last South Florida FTC event this season, the League Championship scheduled for Saturday (2/4) at St. Thomas Aquinas High School.  The first phase of the League Championship is the judging, which will be happening remotely for the interview portion again this year.  Interviews will be scheduled for this Saturday (1/28) from 9am-12pm.  

In order to be scheduled for an interview, your team needs to submit their Engineering Portfolio by 11:59pm TONIGHT (1/23).  A quick reminder on how to do this:

=> you need to go https://ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org/ and login with your FIRST credentials

=> find the event called "FL South Florida League Tournament" and click on the Judging Tab

=> there you will see you can upload your team's portfolio, your Control Award form, and submit a judging feedback form if you would like to receive feedback from the judges regarding your notebook or interview

***only the Lead Contact/Mentor 1 or 2 can submit these items***

If you have questions or need help with this, please email me or Suzette Fasciani (sfasciani@coralspringscharter.org) for assistance.  You can also reach out to me by phone at 614-425-6616 for immediate help.

After the submission deadline has passed, I will email a schedule for the judging interviews (by end of day Tuesday 1/24), but remember, in order to receive an interview slot (and to be considered for a judged award), you must submit an Engineering Portfolio.  

Lastly, the Control Award form is attached and must be completed and uploaded in the same way, to be eligible for the Control Award.  In previous years, this form required a video link to demonstrate your robot performing the Autonomous program described in the form.  However, with the judging this year being hybrid, the judges will be able to observe the Autonomous programs at the League Championship on 2/4.  Therefore, A VIDEO IS NOT REQUIRED.  However, if teams still want to include a video link, they can do so.

Good luck to your teams as we prepare to conclude the regular season.  You will receive an email with more information regarding the League Championship event this week.

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

The 2022-23 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 3-4, 2023 at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL. The event is open to spectators and the opening ceremony will start at 8:30am on Saturday, March 4th. The primary purpose of this newsletter is to provide information about the Florida Championship and recommendation for teams to connect with their sponsors:

1. Keep Your Sponsors Involved

2. Raytheon Support for FIRST Tech Challenge Program

3. Robo Vision On Demand – Florida FTC Championship Webcast

4. Florida FTC Championship Team List

Newsletter Details:

Keep Your Sponsors Involved – As the 2022-23 Florida FIRST Tech Challenge season closes in on the final event, it does not mean your team should not continue to meet and plan for next year. Most importantly, I encourage all the teams 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.

Raytheon Support for FIRST Tech Challenge Program - Raytheon Technologies is the sponsor of the PowerPlay game and a major employer in Florida. Many of the volunteers supporting the Florida leagues are Raytheon employees and I am encouraging teams to show your support for Raytheon Technologies. While sponsors love receiving handwritten physical and electronic thank you notes and updates directly from sponsored teams, the greatest and most effective thank you is through the Raytheon Technologies social media channels. This social form of gratitude reaches more of the employees across the enterprise involved in the partnership with FIRST. It also happens to be more cost and time effective for our FIRST teams. Please make sure to tag Raytheon Technologies with the below social media channels as much as possible “Raytheon Technologies”:

https://www.linkedin.com/company/raytheontechnologies/

https://twitter.com/raytheontech

https://www.facebook.com/RaytheonTechnologies/

https://www.instagram.com/raytheontechnologies/

Robo Vision On Demand – Florida FTC Championship Webcast –  Robo Vision On Demand will again be webcasting the Florida FTC Championship on their YouTube channel.  The webcast will start at 8:30am on Saturday, March 4 and qualification matches are expected to start at 9:00am. 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. The following is the final list of teams that will be participating in the Florida Championship (good luck to all of the teams):

League Team # Team Name

Gulf Coast 516 Gears of Fire

ROBOT 2845 Team Duct Tape

Gulf Coast 3101 Boom Bots

Gulf Coast 3123 Spontaneous Combustion

South Florida 3888 Greased Lightning

Space Coast 4228 Gears Of Other Dimensions

Space Coast 4717 Mechromancers

South Florida 6322 WiredCats Origin

ROBOT 6433 Neutrinos

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

Space Coast 7477 Super 7

Space Coast 7592 Roarbots

ROBOT 7719 RISE

Space Coast 8617 Techno Tigers

ONECLAY 8798 Aluminati Industries

ROBOT 9175 Warrior Bots

ONECLAY 9214 R2

Orlando Robotics 9277 Hazmat Robotics Explosives

Orlando Robotics 9930 Robo-Knights

North East 9944 SATURN #9944

South Florida 9986 Eaglebotics Navy

South Florida 9987 Eaglebotics Gold

South Florida 10022 WiredCats Gen 3

AeroCoast 10179 Tech Turtles

North East 10276 Storm Troopers

ONECLAY 10583 The Robotics Fladiators

Orlando Robotics 10650 Hazmat Robotics

South Florida 10830 AJAX

North East 11172 Static Discharge

ROBOT 12600 Hadron Knights

Gulf Coast 13093 Golden Fish

South Florida 13233 Cyber Knights

North East 14384 Patent Pending

South Florida 14431 Pyrites

AeroCoast 14708 Short Circuits

Gulf Coast 14725 Java the Hutts

Gulf Coast 15006 Nerdvana

North East 15052 Space Engineers

Space Coast 16290 Z.I.P Ties

South Florida 16484 ROBOCANES

AeroCoast 16626 Radical Raiders

ROBOT 16716 IvyWarriors

South Florida 17156 scotsOverflow

North East 18145 Men in Black Jax

Space Coast 18172 Uplift Robotics

North East 18317 Steel Eels

North East 18385 SHIVA Atomatrons

South Florida 18619 BuccaNEERS

North East 19388 Metal Mavericks

ROBOT 19895 Dragomight

Gulf Coast 20012 Cadastrophe

South Florida 20022 RoBOCAts

Orlando Robotics 20344 Cattlebots

ROBOT 21477 KRAK3N

Orlando Robotics 22012 OSS Loose Screws

Gulf Coast 22690 Quantum Bots