2010 Qualifying Tournament Registration Process

[Jill Wilker]

Welcome to the NorCal 2010 Body Forward FLL Season! 

Note that this information is also posted on the norcalfll.org site!

We will NOT be using FIRST's  Event Registration system this year, so it is important that you know your correct team number and understand how the process will work.  If your team is not planning on competing at a Nor Cal tournament this year, please send an email to ji...@playingatlearning.org so that a space is not held open for your team.  Your timely notification will also save the registration team time and effort.

The list of confirmed tournaments is here.  We hope to have all tournament sites confirmed within the next couple of weeks.  If you can help find additional locations, please let us know.   Based on current expected registration, we still need to confirm at least 5 (possibly more) sites..


Before you can register for a tournament in Nor Cal, you must pay the tournament fee and Playing at Learning must have received physical copies of liability WAIVERS for all team members, coaches, and mentors.  More Details were sent out on Sunday 9/5 about sending in the waiver forms.   All teams that expect to compete this season should get payment and waivers completed as soon as possible and absolutely no later than by 10/8  - please develop a plan for completing these now.  Your cooperation with this necessarily complex process is appreciated.  



There are three qualifying tournament registration phases:

Special-Case Registration - 9/9 - 10/1 (*)
During this phase, we’ll handle restricted tournament registrations, and other special situations.  There are no guarantees that we will be able to honor your special request.  Specifically, this registration period covers: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

• Restricted Tournaments - Google (diversity) and Girl Scouts (girls)
• One coach for multiple teams that must attend the same event.
• Transportation issues - travel of more than 2 hours; shared/rental/school bus; etc.

The restricted tournament application form will be available later this week on 9/9  - this is not a first come, first served process but instead teams will be selected based on the criteria for each of the restricted tournaments.   For the special cases, in situations where more than one team must attend the same event and/or you have truly significant transportation issue(s), one coach should apply via email after 9/9 but before FIRST closes team registration to ji...@playingatlearning.org.   Clearly explain the reason for your request to attend the same tournament, including any specific location and/or day/date restrictions.  

This phase will close one day after FIRST FLL team registration closes.   A few days later, teams will be notified if accepted into the requested tournament.  After we’ve sorted out the special case registrations, we’ll publish how many slots are left at the tournaments.
 

First-Come-First-Served Registration - 10/5 - 10/8
Teams whose payment and waivers have been received by Playing at Learning by 10/1 will be able to register for a qualifying tournament - first come, first served.  For best results, you should have a prioritized list of tournaments as well as any dates that your team can’t make when you begin this online registration process as we expect that some tournaments will fill rapidly.


Open Registration - 10/11 - 10/18
Teams who didn’t get forms and payment to us by 10/1 can register into a tournament that has open slots during the open registration (assuming that your forms and payment are in place prior to registration).   

After you have registered your team into a tournament, changes to registrations really can’t be accepted  - it will mean finding a team willing to trade with you.  Given the planning that teams put into choosing tournaments, it is unlikely that another team would be able to trade with you.  The Community site group, “Tournament Trades” exists for coaches to requests trades.  

Please communicate with  your team, plan ahead, and observe the various dates.  This schedule was put into place in order to best serve the needs of our entire  NorCal FLL community and to ensure that all teams have an opportunity to compete.  It will work most smoothly if everyone participates in a thoughtful and considerate manner.



(*) The 10/1 date is intended to be 1 day after FIRST FLL National team registration is closed.  If FIRST changes their date, we’ll change the close date for special-case registration accordingly.

Thank you ahead of time for your gracious professionalism!

Regards,
Jill & Mark This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it