Hi to our FIRST Tech Challenge Teams and Volunteers,
There are two very important subjects to this email both surrounding our upcoming Qualification Tournaments commencing on January 15th; Team Registrations and Call for Volunteers for all roles to support the Traditional event Qualification tournaments.
Team Registrations:
As of this writing we have over 120 FTC Teams registered with FIRST and cleared to compete in Pennsylvania, however there are just under 70 who have registered for Qualifiers and/or the Remote League. All that have registered earlier have received their P1 requests and are on Waitlists for their other selected events. There are at least four but mostly 8 or more slots still open for a Priority 1 selection in all of the scheduled events for those teams who have not yet registered, so it is time for those remaining teams to make their selections. Our Tournament season is approaching very fast!
Of particular significance is that there are currently 26 open P1 Registration slots for the Keystone League Meet #1 on January 11th and 15 open, P1 Registration slots for the Southwestern Pennsylvania Qualifier on January 15th, 2022. Per our procedure for processing registration requests, any open slots are offered to teams on Waitlists starting 6 weeks before the Qualifier date. The Priority 1 List is processed first, then the Priority 2 Waitlist, and so on until all slots at the event are filled. So, the clock starts for offering open slots to teams that are on the Waitlists for these specific events starting on Tuesday, Nov 30th for the Keystone League and Saturday, Dec 4th for the Southwestern Qualifier.
As such, we strongly encourage teams to commit and register for these and other events as soon as possible (in the next week or so) so as to not miss open windows for your preferred events. It is also a good time for teams that have already registered to review your selections in context to your team’s readiness and assess whether priority updates are in order. Please check out all of the individual event Registration status’ as well as the Registration and Waitlist Summary page for guidance and decision making:
https://www.ftcpenn.org/ftc-events/2021-2022-season
https://www.ftcpenn.org/registration-and-waitlist-summary
Call for Volunteers:
As most all of you are aware, volunteers are what make our Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics events so successful and fun for all. We obviously had a limited call for volunteers last season as there were no ‘live’, traditional events, however this season we need to quickly ramp back up to fulfill the needs and roles of all events. We welcome back our awesome volunteers who participated with us in past years but especially welcome new volunteers from family, friends, the community and businesses alike. Please know that this is also a great opportunity for coaches, mentors and parents to get an insider’s perspective of how FTC events are conducted in our State and region. The perspectives and guidance gained may also translate into helping your own team and students be successful. Just be aware that for key roles such as Judge and Referee it is necessary that you volunteer at an event other than the one your team is competing in to avoid any conflicts of interest. Please RECRUIT and widely to assist us in expanding our reach. Volunteer opportunities abound, and our schedule of events can be found on our website as cited above.
Volunteer roles are defined in the link provided below. We welcome volunteers in all capacities but especially in key roles such as Judging, Referees and Inspectors.
https://www.ftcpenn.org/volunteer/volunteer-roles
For guidance on volunteering at a PA FTC Event please got to the following link or see instructions below. https://www.ftcpenn.org/volunteer
We use the FIRST Event Volunteer Registration system for all of our events. Volunteering for an event is one of the options on your personal FIRST Dashboard on the http://www.firstinspires.org website.
To access the FIRST Event Volunteer Registration system:
Browse to http://www.firstinspires.org
Click Log In in the upper right-hand corner
If you already have a FIRST account, enter your FIRST username and password, and click LOG IN
If you do not have a FIRST account, click Register in the upper right-hand corner, then fill out the account form
Once on your personal DASHBOARD, select VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION and then EVENT VOLUNTEERING
To narrow the available events to Pennsylvania FTC events, under Event Filters select FTC, United States, Pennsylvania, optionally enter dates and/or event name information, and then click APPLY FILTERS. Select an event on the right-hand side and click Volunteer. Follow the prompts to select the roles you are interested in.
https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/volunteer/general-volunteer-resources has several good resources, including a Volunteer Registration Step by Step Guide if you have further questions about the Volunteer Registration system.
Please let us know if you have any questions. We are excited for his season and to see all of our teams and friends once again.
Best Regards,
Tom Zawislak and Dave Hackett
Pennsylvania FIRST® Robotics
FIRST Tech Challenge® Program Delivery Partner
phone: (302) 383-9925
email: ftc@pennfirst.org
Website: www.FTCPenn.org