2023 CENTERSTAGE

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

Welcome to the nineteenth (19) Florida FIRST Tech Challenge season (2023-24) and the game CENTERSTAGESM presented by Raytheon Technologies. The five-week countdown to the season kick-off has officially started. On September 9. 2023 we will get answers to questions like: Does the game include any new game elements that we have not seen before, why have sections 7.4 and 7.5 of game manual part 1 been updated to include not just a “Team Scoring Element” but also a “Team Game Element”, why are teams now allowed to user lasers.  What questions do you have?

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 CENTERSTAGESM game reveal will be on September 9, 2023. As part of the FIRST IN SHOW season, the FIRST Tech Challenge game will celebrate the roles our STEM skills play in the arts and design and build a world of endless possibilities. You can see the season teaser by watching the following video: https://youtu.be/pTvP165wi3E

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 9, 2023 at 11:45pm EDT

2.            Season Schedule

3.            Team Grant Information

4.            Game Manual Part 1 Available

Newsletter Details:

Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 9, 2023 at 11:45pm EDT – The Florida FTC season kick-off plans include combining our traditional online state-wide program with several local league hosted events. Stay tuned for more information in the coming weeks.

The agenda for the state-wide online kick-off event include the Bob & Sid show as well as AJ Foster’s Tech Think Time sessions back by popular demand.  The Florida FTC 2023-24 season will officially be started with a kick-off event hosted on the FIRST in Florida YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/FIRSTinFlorida). During the kick-off event, we will provide an update on the season plans as well as perform a walk-through of the CENTERSTAGESM game elements and rules. A more detailed agenda will be available a week before the kick-off event.

Season Schedule: The 2023-24 Florida FTC season will end with the Florida Championship on March 1-2, 2024 and will again be hosted at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL. The following is the overall event schedule for the 2023-24 season:

• September 9, 2023 – Season Kick-off and game reveal

• September and October 2023 – Leagues hosting Scrimmages, Training, and Workshops

• October 2023 to January 2024 – League Meets

• February 4, 2024 – Deadline for all leagues to complete the League Tournament/Championship.  The League Tournament determines which teams qualify to attend the Florida Championship

• March 1-2, 2024 – Florida Championship at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven Florida

• April 23-27, 2024 – World Championship at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX

Team Grant Information – The FTC Rookie Grant is back! This grant is meant for underserved/Underrepresented Rookie FTC teams. Teams can apply directly here: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/team-grants. Grants will be awarded weekly.

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. Please check out the recent blog post to see a summary of the rule updates.

Part 2 will be released on September 9, 2023 and will contain all of the CENTERSTAGESM 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, Mentors, and Volunteers,

Welcome back to a new school year and FTC season!  We will have our first meeting on Sunday, August 27th, at 4pm over Zoom.  Please plan on attending as we will discuss the upcoming season's events, the league leadership structure this year, and the need for volunteers.  Use the link below to join and/or access the meeting using the ID and passcode:

Topic: South Florida FTC 2023-24 Kick-off Meeting

Time: Aug 27, 2023 04:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

**SEE EMAIL FOR ZOOM LINK**

The agenda:

• League Leadership Roles - We are still looking for a Head Referee

• Schedule Events - We are still looking for an event host for the end of November/beginning of December for the second event.  The State is requesting that each league host 4 events.  We will discuss this and if we decide yes, then we will need two hosts, one for November and one for December.

• When registering your teams, what is necessary to be EVENT READY!

• Topics for Scrimmage sessions and possible Teams who could present.

Any suggestions or questions.

I look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday.  Don't worry if you are unable to attend, we will record the meeting and post it on the league website.

Regards,

Suzette Fasciani

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

Only two more weeks until the CENTERSTAGESM presented by Raytheon Technologies game reveal.  I hope that all of you join us at 11:45am EDT on September 9, 2023 to learn about the game rules and plans for the Florida FIRST Tech Challenge season.  I also have exciting news about the hard work all of the Florida league leadership teams have been doing to create this season event schedules.  The leagues are ahead of schedule, and I have included the preliminary league event schedules in this email newsletter below.

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

1. Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 9, 2023 at 11:45pm EDT (Repeat)

2. League Event Schedule

3. REV Team Sponsorship Opportunity

Newsletter Details:

Florida FTC Remote Kick-off – September 9, 2023 at 11:45pm EDT – The Florida FTC season kick-off plans include combining our traditional online state-wide program with several local league hosted events. The agenda for the state-wide online kick-off event include the Bob & Sid show as well as AJ Foster’s Tech Think Time sessions back by popular demand.  The Florida FTC 2023-24 season will officially be started with a kick-off event hosted on the FIRST in Florida YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/live/v1tGVmHzxWE?feature=share). During the kick-off event, we will provide an update on the season plans as well as perform a walk-through of the CENTERSTAGESM game elements and rules.  We will also be linking with four onsite kick-off events that are being hosted around the state of Florida.

Legue Event Schedule – The following is the current list of league event dates and locations:

AeroCoast League Events

• September 9, 2023        Season Kick-off and Game Reveal in the Sprint Theatre at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center in Niceville, FL

• October 21, 2023           Meet #1 at Riverside Elementary School in Crestview, FL

• November 18, 2023       Meet #2 at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee, FL

• December 16, 2023       Meet #3 at Riverside Elementary School in Crestview, FL

• January 6, 2024             Meet #4 at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee, FL

• January 27, 2024           League Tournament at Crestview High School in Crestview, FL

F.U.N. League Events

• September 30, 2023   Scrimmage at Boca Raton High School in West Palm Beach, FL

• November 4, 2023      Meet #1 at Treasure Coast High School in Port Saint Lucie, FL

• December 9, 2023      Meet #2 at Dr. David L. Anderson Middle School in Stuart, FL

• January 13, 2024        Meet #3 at Pahokee High School in Pahokee, FL

• February 2, 2024        League Tournament at Boca Raton High School in West Palm Beach, FL

Gulf Coast League Events

• September 9, 2023     Season Kick-off and Game Reveal at Seminole High School in Seminole, FL

North East Florida League Events

• September 9, 2023     Season Kick-off and Game Reveal at Betsy Lovett Arts Center Parker Auditorium in Jacksonville, FL

• October 14, 2023        Scrimmage at Bolles Conroy Athletic Center in Jacksonville, FL

• November 4, 2023      Meet #1 at Bolles Conroy Athletic Center in Jacksonville, FL

• December 9, 2023      Meet #2 at Bolles Conroy Athletic Center in Jacksonville, FL

• January 13, 2024        Meet #3 at Bolles Conroy Athletic Center in Jacksonville, FL

• February 3, 2024        League Tournament at Bolles Conroy Athletic Center in Jacksonville, FL

Orlando Robotics League Events

• October 14, 2023        Scrimmage at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, FL

• November 4, 2023      Meet #1 at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, FL

• December 16, 2023    Meet #2 at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, FL

• January 13, 2024        Meet #3 at Foundation Academy in Winter Garden, FL

• February 3, 2024        League Tournament at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, FL

ROBOT League Events

• October 7, 2023          Scrimmage at Brandon Academy in Brandon, FL

• November 11, 2023    Meet #1 at McKeel Academy of Technology in Lakeland, FL

• December 9, 2023      Meet #2 at Seven Rivers Christian School in Lecanto, FL

• January 13/20, 2024   Meet #3 at Lakeland Christian School in Lakeland, FL

• February 3, 2024        League Tournament at McKeel Academy of Technology in Lakeland, FL

Space Coast League Events

• October 14, 2023           Scrimmage at Rockledge High School in Rockledge, FL

• November 11, 2023       Meet #1 (CENTERSTAGE on Oviedo) at Oviedo High School in Oviedo, FL

• December 9, 2023         Meet #2 (CENTERSTAGE on Palm Bay) at Odyssey Jr/Sr High Schol in Palm Bay, FL

• January 6, 2024             Meet #X (CENTERSTAGE on Titusville) at St. Teresa Catholic Church & School in Titusville, FL

• February 3, 2024           League Tournament at Hagerty High School in Oviedo, FL

REV Team Sponsorship Opportunity (Repeat announcement from REV) – For the 2023-2024 FIRST IN SHOW season, REV Robotics is awarding $100,000 in total sponsorships for FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition teams! Visit our Sponsorship Page to fill out your team’s Sponsorship Application. Sponsorship applications are open NOW through September 12, 2023.

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

Only six days remaining until the CENTERSTAGE presented by RTX game reveal.  We have another information packed Florida FTC Kick-off planned and it is great opportunity for teams to learn about the new game elements and technology that will be used in the CENTERSTAGESM game.

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

1. Florida FTC Remote Kick-off Agenda – September 9, 2023 at 11:45am EDT

2. FIRST Kickoff Sweepstakes

3. Rookie Team Grants

Newsletter Details:

Florida FTC Remote Kick-off Agenda – September 9, 2023 at 11:45am EDT – The Florida FTC season kick-off plans include combining our traditional online state-wide program with several local league hosted events. Please join us and be prepared to ask questions about the game rules by going to FIRST in Florida YouTube channel (https://youtube.com/live/v1tGVmHzxWE?feature=share) at 11:45am EDT on September 9th. The following is the planned agenda:

• 11:45am – Welcome and Introduction to the Florida Season Theme – We will also tell you about our planned team video contest that will include gift card awards

• 11:50am – AJ’s Tech Time with a summary of the important technology updates

• 11:55am – Hello to all of the team’s attending a physical kick-off event around the state

• 12:00noon – FIRST Season Kick-off Video and Game Animation

• 12:20pm – Bob & Sid Show with a field and key game rule review

• 12:30pm – Live Game Q&A

FIRST Kickoff Sweepstakes -- Set the stage for your team’s success this season when you enter to win the 2023 Kickoff Sweepstakes. Four winners will receive a 2023-2024 CENTERSTAGE presented by RTX partial game set and scoring elements. Complete your 2023-2024 FIRST® Tech Challenge team season registration before September 14, 2023 for a chance to win the 2023 Kickoff Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes prize package includes one (1) 2023-2024 FIRST Tech Challenge season CENTERSTAGESM partial game set and scoring elements, a total approximate retail value of $350.00. The package does not include field perimeter or soft tiles. If your team has already completed your FIRST Tech Challenge season registration, you are already entered into the sweepstakes.

 Rookie Team Grants –  The FTC Rookie Grant is back! This grant is meant for underserved/underrepresented Rookie FTC teams. Teams can apply directly here: https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/team-grants. Grants will be awarded weekly.

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

CENTERSTAGE presented by Raytheon Technologies is here and it is time for teams to start designing your robots. The game manuals have been published on the FIRST website as well as the game animation video. Make sure that you also review the updates to Game Manual Part 1 as it includes the detailed build rules for the two team game elements.  I hope everyone is excited about scoring Pixels, creating Mosaics, and of course we cannot forget about scoring the Drone.  I cannot wait to see all of the different robot design ideas.

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://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1tGVmHzxWE). 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 CENTERSTAGESM Game Information

2. Important Change to Field Setup

3. Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest

4. Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest

Newsletter Details:

1. How to Find CENTERSTAGE Game Information – The best place to find the CENTERSTAGE 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, Field Assembly & Setup Guide, as well as the AprilTag images are located on this page as well as all documentation related to the CENTERSTAGE game.  You can find the game animation video that was shown during the kick-off event by going to the following FIRST web page:  https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc/game-and-season  Please review the “Traditional Events” version of the game manual documents as we will only be hosting in-person traditional events throughout all of the 8 Florida leagues. 

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

2. Important Change to Field Setup – FIRST announced the gaffer tape change several months ago but I want to remind everyone of a very important rule change this season. You will notice in the Field Assembly and Setup Guide that the part list now includes one (1) inch red, white, and blue gaffer tape.   We will no longer be using two (2) inch gaffer tape for FTC fields. Therefore, if you are ordering a field set from AndyMark, please make sure that you also order one inch gaffer tape.

3. Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest – This is your opportunity to get a guaranteed invitation to the Florida Championship on March 1-2, 2024.  All Florida FTC teams are eligible to submit a volunteer t-shirt design no later than November 30, 2023 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, 2023.

• The design must be a high-resolution JPG file

• The JPG logo design file must be a single color

• The t-shirt must include the following: “Florida Championship 2024”

• The t-shirt design should include the official CENTERSTAGE 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).

4. Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest – During the opening of the Florida Season Kick-off event, I announced that we are following in FIRST’s leadership by creating a season theme. The FIRST 2023-24 theme is FIRST IN SHOW (https://info.firstinspires.org/first-in-show?utm_source=first-inspires&utm_medium=promo&utm_campaign=fir-registration-024 ). The Florida FIRST Tech Challenge season theme will be Teams Helping Teams.   This means that throughout the season I would like to include examples of this theme in this newsletter.

For example, during the kick-off event we played a video from Ramsey McClure (team 18145 Men in Black Jax) about the Student Leadership Innovation Council (SLIC). I encourage everyone to go to the website (www.slicftc.com) and select “Join SLIC”.  Tell Ramsey about things you want to share with other teams.

Another example is the email that I received from Super 7 (team 7477) wanting to share information they created to help teams be successful.  Take a look at the “Tech Toolbox” for lots of great information on a wide range of technical topics ranging from motors to telemetry.  I encourage all teams to take a look at this informative website: https://ftc-code.gitbook.io/tech-toolbox/

I would also like to hear stories from teams that have been helped by other teams.  Send me an email and tell your story. Another great opportunity will be to create a video and enter into the Florida FTC Video contest.  During the remote event season of 2020-21, we provided cash prizes to teams that submitted creative videos after each of our remote events.  Please start thinking about creative ideas for a video as you will have until November 30, 2023 to create a video and potentially win a $250 or $100 gift card. I will provide more details about the video contest rules in a future email but below are a few examples of the creative videos form the 2020-21 season and a fantastic promote winner from a past season:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW7UXB_mEEA

https://youtu.be/-iAjjTm7NK8

https://youtu.be/KN3eFirNbPg

https://youtu.be/RJIXUXamSck

https://youtu.be/Svyi5BvhWBo

https://youtu.be/iBXi66IgZNc

Dear South Florida FTC Coaches, Mentors, and Volunteers,

It is hard to believe October is one week away and we are already two weeks 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, Alice Miller, 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.  All events have been scheduled: 

Scrimmage - 10/14/23 (St. Anthony's Catholic School, Ft. Lauderdale)

League Meet #1 - 11/18/23 (North Broward Prep, Coconut Creek)

League Meet #2 - 12/16/23 (Coral Springs Charter School, Coral Springs)

League Meet #3 - 1/13/24 (Belen, Miami)

Virtual Judging - 1/27/24 (ZOOM)

League Championship - 2/2 (inspections) - 2/3 (St. Thomas Aquinas High School)

All of the above events are or will be shortly open on firstinspires.org [firstinspires.org] for volunteer registration and on flfirst.org [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 14th will have team workshops and volunteer training in addition to the scrimmage matches.  We would like to make the team workshops useful for all teams so if you have suggestions on topics you would like covered, please let me know.  

The workshops are led by veteran teams so if your team is interested in presenting a topic, please reply to this email if your team wants to help!  I will pass the information on to the event host.

The league needs volunteers, so we are able to run the events.  All veteran teams must help out and provide volunteers.  I have attached a document from FIRST which describes the volunteer roles and their description.  Please encourage your volunteers to attend the scrimmage and I hope to see your teams there.

III. Event Ready

In order to compete in any of the FIRST events, your team must be documented in the FIRST database as EVENT READY.  This means:

1. Your team MUST be registered and has paid the FIRST Registration Fee

2. Your team MUST have 2 mentors.

3. Both mentors MUST have passed the YPP background check.

If these 3 things are not met, we are unable to enter your team in the scoring software so your team cannot compete.  Please check your team status in your FIRST dashboard and if your team has any outstanding issues, please resolve them so your teams will be eligible to participate in the league events.

The link to the FPL Grant Information:

https://www.fpl.com/community/robotics.html

See the emails for flyers to help recruit volunteers!

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

My best,

Suzette

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

I am looking forward to seeing everyone’s robots navigating the CENTERSTAGE field at events starting in about a month.  The leagues have scheduled more events and most 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. This Florida FTC newsletter includes information on how to register to attend your league events. Encourage all teams to attend your league scrimmage to help build on this season’s theme of “Teams Helping Teams”.  For all of the veteran teams, this is your chance to connect with rookie teams and help them make progress with their robot design.

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. Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest (Repeat)

4. Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest (Repeat)

Newsletter Details:

1. League Event Dates & Locations – The league leadership teams have made significant progress on identify event dates and locations.  The following is the current list of Florida FTC events available on the following event registration page: http://www.flfirst.org/index.php/season/events

AeroCoast League Events

October 21, 2023           Meet #1 at Riverside Elementary School in Crestview, FL

November 18, 2023       Meet #2 at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee, FL

December 16, 2023       Meet #3 at Riverside Elementary School in Crestview, FL

January 6, 2024             Meet #4 at FAMU-FSU College of Engineering in Tallahassee, FL

January 27, 2024           League Tournament at Crestview High School in Crestview, FL

F.U.N. League Events

            September 30, 2023   Scrimmage at Boca Raton High School in Boca Raton, FL

            November 4, 2023      Meet #1 at Treasure Coast High School in Port Saint Lucie, FL

            December 9, 2023      Meet #2 at Anderson Middle School in Stuart, FL

            January 13, 2024        Meet #3 at Pahokee High School in Pahokee, FL

            February 3, 2024        League Tournament at Boca Raton High School in Boca Raton, FL

Gulf Coast League Events

            October 21, 2023           Scrimmage at Hollins High School in Kenneth City, FL

            November 11, 2023       Meet #1 at Seminole High School in Seminole, FL

            December 9, 2023         Meet #2 at Arthrex in Naples, FL

            January 13, 2024           Meet #3 at Lakewood High School in St. Petersbrug, FL

North East Florida League Events

            October 14, 2023        Scrimmage at Bolles Conroy Athletic Center in Jacksonville, FL

            November 4, 2023      Meet #1 at Bolles Conroy Athletic Center in Jacksonville, FL

            December 9, 2023      Meet #2 at Bolles Conroy Athletic Center in Jacksonville, FL

            January 13, 2024        Meet #3 at Bolles Conroy Athletic Center in Jacksonville, FL

            February 3, 2024        League Tournament at Bolles Conroy Athletic Center in Jacksonville, FL

Orlando Robotics League Events

            October 14, 2023        Scrimmage at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, FL

            November 4, 2023      Meet #1 at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, FL

            December 16, 2023    Meet #2 at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, FL

            January 13, 2024        Meet #3 at Foundation Academy in Winter Garden, FL

            February 3, 2024        League Tournament at Lake Highland Prep in Orlando, FL

ROBOT League Event

            November 11, 2023    Meet #1 at McKeel Academy of Technology in Lakeland, FL

            December 9, 2023      Meet #2 at Seven Rivers Christian School in Lecanto, FL

            February 3, 2024        League Tournament at McKeel Academy of Technology in Lakeland, FL

South Florida League Events

            October 14, 2023        Scrimmage at St. Anthony Catholic School in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

            November 18, 2023    Meet #1 at North Broward High School in Coconut Creek, FL

            December 16, 2023    Meet #2 at Coral Springs Charter School in Coral Springs, FL

            January 13, 2023        Meet #4 at Belen Jesuit Preparatory School in Miami, FL

            February 3, 2023        League Tournament at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Space Coast League Events

October 14, 2023           Scrimmage at Rockledge High School in Rockledge, FL

November 11, 2023       Meet #1 (CENTERSTAGE on Oviedo) at Oviedo High School in Oviedo, FL

December 9, 2023         Meet #2 (CENTERSTAGE on Palm Bay) at Odyssey Jr/Sr High Schol in Palm Bay, FL

January 6, 2024             Meet #3 (CENTERSTAGE on Titusville) at St. Teresa Catholic Church & School in Titusville, FL

February 3, 2024           League Tournament at Hagerty High School in Oviedo, FL

2. How to Register to Attend League Meets -- League meet dates and locations have been published to the www.flfirst.org website for all of the Florida FTC 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 2023-24 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. Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest (Repeat) – This is your opportunity to get a guaranteed invitation to the Florida Championship on March 1-2, 2024.  All Florida FTC teams are eligible to submit a volunteer t-shirt design no later than November 30, 2023 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, 2023.

• The design must be a high-resolution JPG file

• The JPG logo design file must be a single color

• The t-shirt must include the following: “Florida Championship 2024”

• The t-shirt design should include the official CENTERSTAGE presented by RTX 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).

4.  Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest (Repeat) – During the opening of the Florida Season Kick-off event, I announced that we are following in FIRST’s leadership by creating a season theme. The FIRST 2023-24 theme is FIRST IN SHOW (https://info.firstinspires.org/first-in-show?utm_source=first-inspires&utm_medium=promo&utm_campaign=fir-registration-024 ). The Florida FIRST Tech Challenge season theme will be Teams Helping Teams.   This means that throughout the season I would like to include examples of this theme in this newsletter.

For example, during the kick-off event we played a video from Ramsey McClure (team 18145 Men in Black Jax) about the Student Leadership Innovation Council (SLIC). I encourage everyone to go to the website (www.slicftc.com) and select “Join SLIC”.  Tell Ramsey about things you want to share with other teams.

Another example is the email that I received from Super 7 (team 7477) wanting to share information they created to help teams be successful.  Take a look at the “Tech Toolbox” for lots of great information on a wide range of technical topics ranging from motors to telemetry.  I encourage all teams to take a look at this informative website: https://ftc-code.gitbook.io/tech-toolbox/

I would also like to hear stories from teams that have been helped by other teams.  Send me an email and tell your story. Another great opportunity will be to create a video and enter into the Florida FTC Video contest.  During the remote event season of 2020-21, we provided cash prizes to teams that submitted creative videos after each of our remote events.  Please start thinking about creative ideas for a video as you will have until November 30, 2023 to create a video and potentially win a $250 or $100 gift card. I will provide more details about the video contest rules in a future email but below are a few examples of the creative videos form the 2020-21 season and a fantastic promote winner from a past season:

i.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uW7UXB_mEEA

ii.    https://youtu.be/-iAjjTm7NK8

iii.    https://youtu.be/KN3eFirNbPg

iv.    https://youtu.be/RJIXUXamSck

v.    https://youtu.be/Svyi5BvhWBo

vi.    https://youtu.be/iBXi66IgZNc

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

In the next couple of weeks, we have several league scrimmages scheduled and later in the month the first league meets.  The eight (8) Florida FIRST Tech Challenge leagues will be hosting 14 scrimmages and league meeting in the next 6 weeks, and I am sure all of our volunteers and teams will be busy.  I encourage all rookie teams to attend a scrimmage even if you do not have a working robot as this will help your team learn about the event process and more importantly, I am sure you will get some help from other teams in your league. The primary purpose of this newsletter is to help everyone prepare to attend those events including our volunteers. The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Definition of “Event Ready”

2. League Event Dates/Locations Updates

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

4. Game Manual Part 1 Re-release and Inspection Checklists

5. Dean’s List Student Nominations

Newsletter Details:

1. Definition of “Event Ready” – Some of the team coaches have noticed that they are not able to register for a league meet and that is due to a change that has been implemented in the event registration system.   Specifically, you team must be defined as being “Event Ready”. “Event Ready” criteria is defined by FIRST and we are not able to add your team into the scoring software until these criteria is completed. You can determine if your team is currently defined as “Event Ready” by going to the following web page and finding your team number: http://www.flfirst.org/index.php/season/teams?view=teams.  If you see a “0” in the “Ready” column then your team will not be able to register for a league meet. 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 by FIRST.

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. League Event Dates/Locations Updates –

The following is an event date update: In Florida Newsletter #5, the League Tournament for the Orlando Robotics League was incorrect.  The Orlando Robotics League Tournament will be on January 27, 2024 at Lake Highland Preparatory School

The ROBOT league has added the following league meet:

January 13, 2024 League Meet #3 will be at the Lakeland Christian School in Lakeland, FL

3. How to Register to Attend League Events (Repeat) -- League meet dates and locations have been published to the www.flfirst.org website for all of the Florida FTC 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 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 2023-24 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

4. Game Manual Part 1 Re-release and Inspection Checklists – An update to Game Manual Part 1 was released by FIRST on October 4 and the updated manual can be found on the Game & Season Materials page.  The Revision History on page 3 includes a list of rule/sections that have been added/changed.  One of the primary purposes for Game Manual Part 1 is that it defines the Robot and Field Inspection rules that each team must complete prior to be able to participate in a league event. Therefore, I encourage teams to use the Robot Inspection Checklist located in Appendix B and the Field Inspection Checklist located in Appendix C prior to attending a league meet.  A good best practice is for your team to perform a self-inspection on Monday of the week of your league meet to ensure your robot conforms to the required rules.  Another important tip is that you should learn about the “Self Inspect” application that is available on your Driver Station because it will help guide to the current Field Inspection issues.

5. Dean’s List Student Nomination – The deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations is December 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 2, 2024 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, 2024.

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 Coaches, Mentors, and Volunteers,

The first event for the season is next weekend, Saturday, October 14 from 9am to 3pm at St. Anthony School.

Please see the attached document for complete details.

If you have not registered yet and are planning on attending, please register by Monday.  To register go to: https://www.flfirst.org/index.php/season/events.  You will need your team password from webmaster@flfirst.org.  If you have registered and need to cancel, please let us know.

Lunch: If your team wishes to pre-order pizza (cheese $10, pepperoni $11), please click here to complete the online order form by Tuesday, October 10th. Payment is due on Saturday morning at check-in. If you are paying by check please make it payable to St. Anthony School.  If your team does not want to order pizza, please see the attached document for food options near by.

If you are volunteering or have recruited volunteers, please have them register at https://www.firstinspires.org/ways-to-help/volunteer/how-to-register if they have not do so.  I have attached the volunteer registration user guide.  They will need to follow the guide for FTC events.

What to bring:

● Team Roster: Please remember to bring your team roster for check-in. Team members must register online and have their parents/guardians electronically sign the Youth Consent and Release on the FIRST website.

https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/youth-registration-system

If your students are not cleared on the team roster, please bring a completed Consent and Release form (paper copy attached).

● Safety Glasses: Everyone must wear safety glasses or side shields in the pit area, practice and competition fields.

● Closed-Toe Shoes: Please remind all of your team members and anyone visiting the pit area that they MUST have closed-toe shoes.

If you have any questions regarding the event, please contact Dani Jahnes at (954) 294-1880 or d.jahnes@stanthonyftl.org.

Regards,

Suzette Fasciani

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

The primary purpose of this newsletter is to help new coaches and rookie teams understand Florida FTC League System. The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

1. Rookie Teams and New Coaches -- Florida League System Background

2. League Fee

3. League Ranking

4. Florida Championship Advancement Criteria

5. Definition of “Event Ready”

Newsletter Details:

1.  Rookie Teams and New Coaches -- Florida League System Background – The primary objective of the league system is to allow teams to participate in regional events closer to their home city, minimize the administrative overhead by charging a single league fee instead of a fee per event, and increase the number of events teams can attend. The Florida FTC league system is structured similar to how school sports programs operate in that you will participate in local events against other League teams to determine which teams will advance to the Florida Championship.  Your team will get a chance to participate in all League Meets plus the League Tournament/Championship.  The main differences between the League Meets and League Tournament is that the League Tournament includes, an additional level of robot competition called the Alliance Matches and your team will also participate in the judge award process.   In early December, we will announce how many teams from each League will be advancing from each League Tournament to the Florida Championship.  You can learn more about the league structure by reviewing the FTC Game Manual Part 1 section 3.2.2 located on the following web page: https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/ftc/game-and-season-info

2. League Fee – In addition to the $295 season registration fee, each Florida FTC team is also required to pay a league fee between $150 and $350.  The specific dollar amount will vary by league and the league fee is used to cover the expenses associated with running a league. The league fee will allow your team to attend all League Meets and the League Tournament.  League fee expenses include items such as field game elements, field perimeter and matts, venue hosting fees, insurance coverage, lunch for volunteers at league events, electronics required to operate an event, and League Tournament awards.

3. League Ranking – The primary advantage of attending as many League Meets as possible is that it provides your team a chance to improve your league ranking going into the League Tournament. The FTC scoring software maintains a league ranking based on a combination of a teams Ranking Points and TieBreaker Points. Please review Game Manual Part 1 section 5.1 for a description of Ranking Points and TieBreaker Points. League Tournament rankings are based on the top ten Matches from all previous events.  Specifically, the scoring software will automatically select your team’s best 10 Matches. For example, if your team attends 3 League Meets and at each Meet has 6 matches; your team will have completed 18 Matches. However, the scoring software will only select your top 10 Matches with the highest Ranking Points/TieBreaker Points.

4. Florida Championship Advancement Criteria – In early December, 2023 we will announce how many teams will advance from each League Tournament to the Florida Championship.  The approach we follow is similar to how FIRST determines how many teams advance to the World Championship from each region.  All leagues will receive a minimum of 2 advancement slots and the specific number of advancement slots is based on the Relative Size of each league.  This means that larger leagues will receive a larger number of advancement slots. Last season, the smallest Florida leagues received 3 team advancement slots and our largest league had 11 advancement slots.  Team’s can receive an advancement invitation by winning a Judge award or being a part of a winning robot alliance.  Please review chapter 6.0 for the details of the Advancement Criteria.

5. Definition of “Event Ready” – Some of the team coaches have noticed that they are not able to register for a League Meet and that is due to a change that has been implemented in the event registration system.   Specifically, you team must be defined as being “Event Ready” to be able to register to attend a League Meet. “Event Ready” criteria is defined by FIRST and we are not able to add your team into the scoring software until these criteria is completed. You can determine if your team is currently defined as “Event Ready” by going to the following web page and finding your team number: http://www.flfirst.org/index.php/season/teams?view=teams.  If you see a “0” in the “Ready” column, then your team will not be able to register for a league meet. The following criteria must be completed prior to any Florida FTC team participating in a league meet:

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

   • 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.

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

We have now completed our first league Meet with the AeroCoast leading the way by completing their first event of the season on October 21st. In the coming weeks, all leagues will have completed the first league Meet of the 2023-24 season.  As teams prepare for the upcoming Meet 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 December and 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:

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

1. Tip: Preparing for League Meets – Inspection

2. How to Register to Attend League Events (Repeat)

3. Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest (Repeat)

4. Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest

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. How to Register to Attend League Meets -- League meet dates and locations have been published to the www.flfirst.org website for all of the Florida FTC Leagues. The league event schedule can be found Florida FTC 2023-24 Newsletter #8by 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 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 2023-24 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. Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest (Repeat) – This is your opportunity to get a guaranteed invitation to the Florida Championship on March 1-2, 2024.  All Florida FTC teams are eligible to submit a volunteer t-shirt design no later than November 30, 2023 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, 2023.

The design must be a high-resolution JPG file

The JPG logo design file must be a single color

The t-shirt must include the following: “Florida Championship 2024”

The t-shirt design should include the official CENTERSTAGESM 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).

4. Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest (Repeat) – I would like to hear stories from teams that have been helped by other teams.  Send me an email and tell your story. Another great opportunity will be to create a video and enter into the Florida FTC Video contest.  Please start thinking about creative ideas for a video as you will have until November 30, 2023 to create a video and potentially win a $250 or $100 gift card. The Florida FIRST Tech Challenge video competition is to celebrate Teams Helping Teams. The deadline to submit (Video Submission- Chose Season Competition as Video Type) a video is midnight (Eastern) on November 30th. The submitter will need to have the team passcode and the URL that is accessible to see the video. The video must be less than 1 minute and sufficient quality to be displayed on a large screen projection system. Teams must have permission from the copyright owners for music used in the video and indicate this in their video. The links for all submitted videos will be accessible on the website on December 2nd. You can submit multiple times but only the last submission will be available to be judged.  Your video will be played at the Florida Championship.

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

Three league meets were completed yesterday (Saturday, Nov 4th) and we have three more scheduled for next Saturday. The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

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

1. Event Results Published on FIRST Website

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

3. Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest (Repeat)

Newsletter Details:

Event Results Published on FIRST Website – 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/2023.  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.

Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest (Repeat) – This is your opportunity to get a guaranteed invitation to the Florida Championship on March 1-2, 2024.  All Florida FTC teams are eligible to submit a volunteer t-shirt design no later than November 30, 2023 and the winner will be announced by December 30, 2023.  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, 2023.

• The design must be a high-resolution JPG file

• The JPG logo design file must be a single color

• The t-shirt must include the following: “Florida Championship 2024”

• The t-shirt design should include the official CENTERSTAGE 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).

Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest (Repeat) – I would like to hear stories from teams that have been helped by other teams.  Send me an email and tell your story. Another great opportunity will be to create a video and enter into the Florida FTC Video contest.  Please start thinking about creative ideas for a video as you will have until November 30, 2023 to create a video and potentially win a $250 or $100 gift card. The Florida FIRST Tech Challenge video competition is to celebrate Teams Helping Teams. The deadline to submit (Video Submission- Chose Season Competition as Video Type) a video is midnight (Eastern) on November 30th. The submitter will need to have the team passcode and the URL that is accessible to see the video. The video must be less than 1 minute and sufficient quality to be displayed on a large screen projection system. Teams must have permission from the copyright owners for music used in the video and indicate this in their video. The links for all submitted videos will be accessible on the website on December 2nd. You can submit multiple times but only the last submission will be available to be judged.  Your video will be played at the Florida Championship.

Dear South Florida FTC Coaches, Mentors, and Volunteers,

This weekend is our first qualifying tournament at North Broward Prep.  There are 27 teams registered for this event.  Unfortunately, we may not be able to host this event unless we get more volunteers.  Currently we have no one in the league who has registered to be a referee and we are still in need of a Head Referee.  The people we were hoping to take that position are no longer available.  In addition to the referee, we need scores.  We have one or two who have signed up for robot inspector.  Many of these key positions require training and passing a test (which are untimed, and you can take as many times as you want).  Also, all adult volunteers must pass YPP which takes time to complete.

I would like to remind all veteran teams that you are required to provide at least one volunteer for a KEY VOLUNTER ROLE otherwise there is an additional fee of $200 for the season.

I have attached the information on how to register and a description of the different roles.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Regards,

Suzette

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

Less than 2 weeks remaining for teams to submit your state championship volunteer t-shirt design idea and your season theme video “Teams helping Teams”.  The winner of the volunteer t-shirt design contest will receive an automatic invitation to attend the Florida Championship and the top season theme video submissions will receive a $250 or $100 gift card that can be used to cover your teams’ expenses. The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

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

1. Example of “Teams Helping Teams”

2.  Tech Tip of the Week from FIRST Newsletter

3.  Event Results Published on FIRST Website (Repeat)

4.  Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest (Repeat)

5.  Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest (Repeat)

Newsletter Details:

Example of “Teams Helping Teams” – Please submit your examples of “Teams Helping Teams” so that I can include the examples in my future newsletter. The following is an example from team 17156 ScotRobotics with a shout out to team 20022 RoBOCAts:

I wanted to share how the Team #20022 RoBOCAts from Boca Raton High School has been helping our middle school rookie team #17156 ScotsRobotics. They visited the team a few weeks before our league's first tournament and helped us tremendously with the programming and gave us tips on what the team should focus on when it came to the robot build and structure.  During the F.U.N league tournament,  they took time to help us with our autonomous and fix some issues with our code. They have continued to provide support through google meets to our programmers. We just want to give a shout out of thanks and appreciation to Team #20022 RoBOCAts!

Tech Tip of the Week from FIRST Newsletter – The October 26, 2023 FIRST Tech Challenge newsletter included an important recommendation that I would like to highlight.  If you talk to any FTA or CSA, you will hear that the most common reason for robot failures during a match is loose wires and/or connections between components.  Therefore, I am repeating the following suggestion that enables redundancy in the wires between the Control and Expansion Hubs:

The RS485 data cable ports that provide data between Control and Expansion Hubs are redundant - you can use two data cables utilizing both ports to ensure that if one cable fails communications aren’t lost.

Event Results Published on FIRST Website (Repeat) – 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/2023.  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.

Florida Championship T-shirt Design Contest (Repeat) – This is your opportunity to get a guaranteed invitation to the Florida Championship on March 1-2, 2024.  All Florida FTC teams are eligible to submit a volunteer t-shirt design no later than November 30, 2023 and the winner will be announced by December 30, 2023.  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, 2023.

• The design must be a high-resolution JPG file

• The JPG logo design file must be a single color

• The t-shirt must include the following: “Florida Championship 2024”

• The t-shirt design should include the official CENTERSTAGESM 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).

Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest (Repeat) – I would like to hear stories from teams that have been helped by other teams.  Send me an email and tell your story. Another great opportunity will be to create a video and enter into the Florida FTC Video contest.  Please start thinking about creative ideas for a video as you will have until November 30, 2023 to create a video and potentially win a $250 or $100 gift card. The Florida FIRST Tech Challenge video competition is to celebrate Teams Helping Teams. The deadline to submit (Video Submission- Chose Season Competition as Video Type) a video is midnight (Eastern) on November 30th. The submitter will need to have the team passcode and the URL that is accessible to see the video. The video must be less than 1 minute and sufficient quality to be displayed on a large screen projection system. Teams must have permission from the copyright owners for music used in the video and indicate this in their video. The links for all submitted videos will be accessible on the website on December 2nd. You can submit multiple times but only the last submission will be available to be judged.  Your video will be played at the Florida Championship.

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

Happy Thanksgiving and I hope everyone is ready for a busy several weeks in December as we will complete 9 league meets. Coaches, the primary purpose for this newsletter is to remind you have some critical deadlines coming up in the next several weeks.  This week is your final opportunity to apply for a guaranteed invite to the Florida Championship on March 1-2, 2024 by submitting a volunteer t-shirt design content entry by November 30, 2023. The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

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

1. Dean’s List Student Nomination

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

3. Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest (Repeat)

Newsletter Details:

Dean’s List Student Nomination – The deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations is December 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 “FL Dean’s List Interview” event. Coaches should select the event called “FL 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 2, 2024 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, 2024.

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 Championship T-shirt Design Contest (Repeat) – This is your opportunity to get a guaranteed invitation to the Florida Championship on March 1-2, 2024.  All Florida FTC teams are eligible to submit a volunteer t-shirt design no later than November 30, 2023 and the winner will be announced by December 30, 2023.  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, 2023.

The design must be a high-resolution JPG file

The JPG logo design file must be a single color

The t-shirt must include the following: “Florida Championship 2024”

The t-shirt design should include the official CENTERSTAGESM 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).

Season Theme (Teams Helping Teams) and Video Contest (Repeat) – I would like to hear stories from teams that have been helped by other teams.  Send me an email and tell your story. Another great opportunity will be to create a video and enter into the Florida FTC Video contest.  Please start thinking about creative ideas for a video as you will have until November 30, 2023 to create a video and potentially win a $250 or $100 gift card. The Florida FIRST Tech Challenge video competition is to celebrate Teams Helping Teams. The deadline to submit (Video Submission- Chose Season Competition as Video Type) a video is midnight (Eastern) on November 30th. The submitter will need to have the team passcode and the URL that is accessible to see the video. The video must be less than 1 minute and sufficient quality to be displayed on a large screen projection system. Teams must have permission from the copyright owners for music used in the video and indicate this in their video. The links for all submitted videos will be accessible on the website on December 2nd. You can submit multiple times but only the last submission will be available to be judged.  Your video will be played at the Florida Championship.

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

I am sure that nine league meets in the first two weeks of December are keeping all of our teams and volunteer very busy. However, coaches this is your final reminder about the deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations and we need help with two events in Tallahassee in January. The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter:

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

1. FTC Alumni Needed in Tallahassee

2. Dean’s List Student Nomination Deadline December 15, 2023

Newsletter Details:

FTC Alumni Needed in Tallahassee – There are many Florida FIRST volunteers that are trying to get the attention of the Florida legislature and obtain potential team financial support from our Florida government. The FlRST in Florida team will be participating in the Florida Space Day and Florida STEM Day events in January and we are looking for FTC Alumni that are currently attending college at FSU or FAMU.  Coaches and volunteers, if you are aware of any of any FTC alumni currently in the Tallahassee area that might be attending FSU or FAMU, we have a great opportunity for them to help promote the FIRST programs within Florida.  Please reply to this email with the email contact information of any FTC Alumni in the Tallahassee area that would be willing to spend a few hours at the Florida capital in late January.

Dean’s List Student Nomination – The deadline for submitting Dean’s List nominations is December 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 “FL Dean’s List Interview” event. Coaches should select the event called “FL 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 2, 2024 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, 2024.

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,

Good luck to your teams as they are preparing for 3rd and final league qualifying meet on Saturday (1/13)!  If you have not registered and are planning on attending, please register by Monday 1/8.  We currently have 21 of the 29 teams registered.  If you are not sure if you are registered, you can check by checking: https://www.flfirst.org/Registration_System/search_form.php.

Additionally, if you are planning on participating in the League Championship, you need to register.  We also have 21 of the 29 teams registered.

We are still in need of judges for the League Championship and other key role volunteers for both events...please email me if you have a volunteer to recommend for this or if you are planning on volunteering please register on the FIRST website.

In an effort to begin preparing for the League Championship on 2/3, this Blast has important information for your team regarding the Engineering Portfolio and Control Award submission, 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 review the attached PowerPoint, 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

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/ [ftc-scoring.firstinspires.org]) by Saturday (1/20) 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.  Since this is a traditional event, teams are not to include a link to a video of their robot performance.  The judges will observe robot performance during the championship. In the attached PowerPoint, I have described how to upload a document.  I encourage you to not wait to the last minute to see if you can log into the scoring software as we are NOT accepting late documents.  

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 (1/27) from 9am-12pm, tentatively.  As we did 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 (2/3).  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.  

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 8:30 am, with qualification matches starting at 9:00 am.  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 as we get closer to the event.

4) Dean's List

Thank you to all the coaches that submitted candidates for the Dean's List Award!  You will be contacted to help coordinate with the students that have been nominated to help schedule their online interview with the 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 more communication within the next couple of weeks regarding the League Championship.  

Looking forward to a great Meet #3 next weekend!

Regards,

Suzette Fasciani

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

All of the league meets have been completed and that next step for each of the 8 Florida leagues is to conduct the League Tournament/Championship.  The League Tournament is the final celebration of the accomplishments of all of our teams and has three additional activities:

• Dean’s List student nomination will participate in an interview,

• alliance selection and elimination matches will be run immediately following the qualification matches, and

• teams will participate in judge interviews and the FIRST judge award will be presented at the end of the day. 

The final activity of the League Tournaments will be to announce the teams that will be attending the Florida Championship.

The following are the topics covered in this Florida FTC newsletter to help team’s prepare for your League Tournament:

1. Judge Interview Process for League Tournaments

2. Alliance Selection and Elimination Matches

3. Teams Receiving Bids to the Florida Championship

Newsletter Details:

1.  Judge Interview Process for League Tournaments – Chapter 9.0 of Game Manual Part 1—Traditional Events describes the judging process and section 9.5 described the seven required judge awards and the three optional judge awards.  A key part of the judging process is to that each team has the opportunity to participate in a judge interview and should submit two documents:  (1) Engineering Portfolio and (2) Control Award Form.  Many 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 and Control Award form 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/.  Team coaches can user your FIRST dashboard userid and password to login to the scoring software.

2. Alliance Selection and Elimination Matches – Sections 4.9 and 4.10 in Game Manual Part 1—Traditional Events describes the details about the Alliance Selection process and the Elimination Matches.  During the Alliance Selection process, the top four ranked teams become alliance captains and will ask other teams to join their alliance.  Once the alliance teams are selected, a series of double elimination matches are run to determine the League Tournament Winning Alliance. There is also an important rule change that was implemented last season in that the 3-minute time out rule has been removed and the scoring software now enforces a defined 8-minutes between matches. 

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 advance to the Florida Championship on March 1-2, 2024 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 eight Florida 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 or your spot will be given to another team.  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 1, 2024 to complete robot 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 – 4 teams

• Gulf Coast League – 8 teams

• F.U.N. League – 4 teams

• Orlando Robotics League – 6 teams

• North East Florida League – 11 teams

• ROBOT League – 6 teams

• South Florida League – 8 teams

• Space Coast League – 6 teams