[FTC MA] Happy Kickoff!
Updated: 2 days ago
Hi Coaches!
Happy Kickoff! It was so exciting to see many of you in person again, hear about your experiences at the live kickoff events on Saturday, and watch everyone take in BIOBUZZ. This morning I wanted to pass along a couple reminders.
Competition Integrity Contract
Please take a few moments and review the entirety of Section 1 of the Competition Manual which includes the ethos of the game rules and the Competition Integrity Contract with your coaches and with your team. The goal of these changes to the ethos of the document is to make the game more accessible to newer teams and teams whose season goals do not include the word "championship", while still providing a high integrity competitive experience for the teams which treat FIRST Tech Challenge as a Varsity Sport. Please keep an eye out for team updates which will include escalation guidelines for when team members or teams are violating the Competition Integrity Contract and Sporting Ethics Code. Rule G205 is a tool that allows Head Referees to penalize egregious behavior, which includes, but is not limited to, deliberately violating a rule because the benefit outweighs the penalty.
Hive Cell Calibration
As teams start receiving their fields, please follow all the directions in the Initial Assembly Guide and the Event Field Setup Guide, especially Section 12 of the Event Field Setup Guide, which is the cell calibration, and make sure to test the calibration every couple of practice sessions to make sure your hives (or simulant) behave as closely as possible to competition conditions.
Kickoff Pre-Show Slides
Here are the Pre-Kickoff Slides I had which includes some handy QR codes for Key Season Dates and Team Update Notifications for Coaches.
MathWorks Workshop
YT from MathWorks (ytli@mathworks.com) was so impressed by all of you, and wanted to share the slides and the FTC Fast Lane Demo with you. If you have any feedback or questions for YT, do not hesitate to reach out.
Events
Next week I will send out a form for teams to ask to have a scrimmage posted on FTC Events, and allow teams to make the sign up for their scrimmage publicly available. MA FTC is happy to help with a field for a scrimmage event if it is open to any team to attend (up to a reasonable venue capacity limitation), and published on FTC Events. If you are interested in hosting an early scrimmage (early October), please let me know ASAP so we can coordinate.
I am still looking for Qualifier Hosts, most especially in February. If you are interested in hosting a qualifier event, this season, or in the future, please reach out and we can discuss the possibilities. Connections to Universities, especially in Engineering or Admissions departments, where it's possible we could have an event, would be welcome as well.
FIRST FTC Professional Development
FIRST is offering Professional Development for FLL Challenge Founders Edition and FIRST Tech Challenge at FIRST in Manchester on September 25/26, and is offering a great deal. Please see the attached flyer for registration information. FIRST is offering a buy-one-get-one package; Register one attendee and bring a guest at no additional registration cost. (Please email FIRSTprofessionalservices@firstinspires.org with the name and email address of the second attendee.) If you would need financial assistance to attend this Professional Development Opportunity, let me know and I can provide information on a grant supported registration.
Thank you all for all you do for our future, and I look forward to the robots your teams will create.
—Jacob, FTC Massachussetts Partner
Comments