Event Participation Policy

Youth Protection

This section applies to all Coaches, Mentors and other Adults affiliated with a Team participating in Pennsylvania FTC events.

Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law

In 2014, 23 pieces of legislation were enacted including Act 153 of 2014 and Act 15 of 2015, changing how Pennsylvania responds to child abuse. These changes significantly affect the reporting, investigation, assessment, prosecution and judicial handling of child abuse and neglect cases. Beginning August 25, 2015, many adult volunteers are required to obtain background checks, including the Child Abuse History Clearance, issued by the Department of Human Services, and the Criminal History Record Check, issued by the Pennsylvania State Police. More information may be found on the keep kids safe website http://keepkidssafe.pa.gov, including frequently asked questions.

The compliance of these new Pennsylvania laws is the responsibility of each individual team and their School or Organization.

FIRST Youth Protection Program

The FIRST Youth Protection Program is an important part of the protection of our youth. Although the overall goals of the Pennsylvania Child Protection Services Law and the FIRST Youth Protection Program may be similar, the background checks required by each are different and both sets are required.

Adults working with FIRST Teams are required to follow the requirements outlined in FIRST Youth Protection Program.

Tournament Eligibility

Qualifying Tournament

To be eligible to participate in a Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament:

1. the team must have participated in less than three Qualifiers across all states/regions
2. the team must not have already advanced to a FIRST Championship Tournament (aka “Worlds”)

Teams may forfeit their Event Registration Fee if they are on the Registered List for a Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament and they become ineligible to participate in a Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament. If the team is removed from a Registered List with less than two (2) weeks before the Tournament date AND the slot vacated by the team cannot be filled, the team is still responsible for the Event Registration Fee.

Championship Tournament

To be eligible to participate in the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament:

1. the team must have advanced from a Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament
2. the team must not have already advanced to a FIRST Championship Tournament (aka “Worlds”).

Teams may forfeit their Event Registration Fee if they are on the Registered List for the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament and they become ineligible to participate in the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament. If the team is removed from a Registered List with less than two (2) weeks before the Tournament date AND the slot vacated by the team cannot be filled, the team is still responsible for the Event Registration Fee.

Exceptions

Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics may offer an open slot at a Qualifying Tournament or Championship Tournament to a team who is not eligible to compete based on the sections above. This would generally occur after all eligible teams have declined the slot. This team will compete for fun and is not eligible for awards or advancement.

Meets and Tournaments

This section applies to Meets, League Championships, Qualifying Tournaments, and the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament. In this section these events are collectively referred to as a Tournament.

Tournament Participation

Only FTC teams in good standing with FIRST and with Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics may participate in Pennsylvania FTC Tournaments. Good standing with FIRST or with Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics does not guarantee participation in a Pennsylvania FTC Tournament. 

Teams must comply with Tournament registration procedures that include, but are not limited to:

• Registration request deadlines
• Tournament registration fee deadlines

Participants are required to follow all the tournament and game rules specified in the current season’s FTC Competition Manual.

Qualifying Tournament Participation Limits

A Pennsylvania team may participate in no more than a total of three (3) Pennsylvania Qualifying Tournaments and Pennsylvania League Championship Tournaments. If Pennsylvania Qualifying Tournaments and/or League events are open to out-of-state teams, out-of-state teams may participate in no more than one (1) Pennsylvania Qualifying Tournament or one (1) Pennsylvania League Championship Tournament. A Tournament where a Registered team No Shows or Withdraws without an approved exception will count as if the team had participated in that Tournament.

Participation in League Championships and the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament is by invitation only, based on advancement requirements.

Tournament Registration Fees

Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics must receive the Tournament registration fee as follows:

Qualifying Tournaments

The Event Registration Fee is due either three (3) weeks after the event registration confirmation email date or four (4) days before the Tournament date, whichever is earlier. If the Event Registration Fee is not received by the Due Date, the team will be removed from the Registered list and the open slot will then be offered to the next eligible team. If the team is removed from a Registered List with less than two (2) weeks before the Tournament date and the slot vacated by the team cannot be filled, the team is still responsible for the Event Registration Fee.

Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament

The Event Registration Fee is due either three (3) weeks after the event registration confirmation email date or four (4) days before the Tournament date, whichever is earlier. If the Event Registration Fee is not received by the Due Date, the team will be removed from the Registered list and the open slot will then be offered to the next eligible team. If the team is removed from a Registered List with less than two (2) weeks before the Tournament date and the slot vacated by the team cannot be filled, the team is still responsible for the Event Registration Fee.

Tournament Team No-Shows

No-shows are not in the spirit of Gracious Professionalism and are not permitted. Teams that cannot participate due to circumstances beyond the control of the team (e.g. school closings, severe weather, etc.) will not be considered no-shows if the Pennsylvania FTC Program Delivery Partner is notified prior to the start of the Tournament.  Consequences of no-shows include, but are not limited to the following:

• loss of eligibility to attend the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament
• reduced registration priority for future Tournaments
• forfeiture of Tournament registration fees

Tournament Team Withdrawals

A Withdrawal is a team initiated request resulting in that team being removed from the Registered List of an event. These team initiated requests include:

• a Registration System removal request resulting in the team being removed from a Tournament Registered List
• a Registration System update/change request resulting in the team being removed from a Tournament Registered List
• any similar requests, written or verbal, resulting in the team being removed from a Tournament Registered List

The Pennsylvania FTC Program Delivery Partner or delegate will review and approve/deny all Withdrawal requests.  Withdrawal requests must be directed to ftc.events@pennfirst.org. The consequences of a Withdrawal include, but are not limited to the following:

• reduced registration priority for future Tournaments
• forfeiture of Tournament registration fees

Tournament Team Withdrawal Exception

A team may be approved for a Tournament Withdrawal without penalty under the following conditions:

1. the team is permitted only one (1) Tournament Withdrawal Exception per season
2. the Withdrawal request must be directed to ftc.events@pennfirst.org
3. the Withdrawal request must be received at least three (3) weeks prior to Tournament date

If the team has been approved for a Tournament Withdrawal six (6) weeks or less before the Tournament date and the team requests to re-register for that same Tournament, then team will be added to the Priority 10 Waitlist (P10 Waitlist) of that Tournament regardless of the Preference used. The registration request will then be processed according to our standard processes. Note that this applies whether the Withdrawal and re-register requests are part of a single change request or resulting from multiple removal/change requests.

See Processing Event Registration Requests for a discussion of Preferences, Registered Lists, and Waitlists.