FTCNJ (Almost) Tuesday Newsday - November 16 2022 ... (Sent via Google Group)
Vince Frascella
Greetings Newsletter Subscribers and FTCNJ Coaches
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As always, you can very easily opt-out from receiving it. (See that process at the bottom of this email.)
Remember that the updates are shown in blue bold text. If you are a weekly reader, you can just quickly scan the BLUE to see what is NEW.
The black text is included for completeness sake and for our new readers.
HEADLINES:
Results of the Past Weekend’s Competitions – 1st Southern League Meet (at Howell) …and return to Westfield (NE Edge League Meet)!
Upcoming Zoom Caucuses – Student Leaders on November 18th ; Coaches on December 2nd.
Period #2 Starting – Spectator Policy Update
Quick Links:
LEAGUES, CONFERENCES and TEAMS
FIRST NEWS
FTCNJ News
LEAGUES, CONFERENCES & TEAMS
Season Plan – Conferences
There 4 Leagues in FTCNJ with each comprised of 2 Conferences of 20-25 teams, organized by county. (Shown on attachment)
All teams in a League may compete at any Meet within that League, regardless of Conference.
Only in February’s League Tournaments must teams play only at their Conference’s season-ending tournament.
“Team (Pin) Map”
FTCNJ continues to update the Team Map on the website. Team Map - FIRST Tech Challenge - New Jersey (newjerseyftc.com)
It can now be used to view “who are the other teams in my League”!
POWERPLAY Season Team Registration
174 of the 180 have registered; six potential Rookie Registrations are pending.
160 of the 174 are returning teams … and 14 registered rookies.
WELCOME Rookie Teams!
· A big WELCOME to our 14 brand new teams, below.
o 22704 (Robo-Redwings) - Hoboken
o 22504 (STEM Robotics) – South Orange
o 22348 (Minds of Steel) - Robbinsville
o 22261 (Hornet Blue) - Holmdel
o 22219 (MORT JR) – Budd Lake
o 22062 (Cyber-Tigers) - Tenafly
o 22050 (Pirate Robotics) – Egg Harbor City
o 21995 (Aquinas Trojans) - Edison
o 21807 (Incinerators) – Edison
o 21767 (Quadra) - Edison
o 21630 (Argonauts) - Somerset
o 21505 (HHS Robotics FTC Raiders) - Hillsborough
o 21480 (C3 Loco-Motors) - Elmer
o 21226 (RoboRaiders) - Hillsborough
COMPETITION NEWS
First Southern League Meet of the Year – November 12th at Howell
Rich M, Claudine R, and all of the Blue Steel supporters did a great job of hosting the Meet!
The Pit Area in the adjacent Gym and the large Cafeteria for lunch made the day particularly comfortable.
Special thanks to the Enforcers for helping with 3-4 volunteers! At day’s end, here are League standings:
Southern League Rankings….
#1-12488 (Radiators)
#2-16139 (The Martians)
#3-19735 (Hornet Silver)
#4-17036 (Robotech Anomaly)
#5-7149 (Enforcers)
Return to Westfield High School – November 13th Northeast Edge League Meet.
FTCNJ was delighted to return to this perennial host, for the first time since the pandemic.
Westfield has not missed a beat. Another very comfortable venue …and super snacks.
The host did an outstanding job of providing pre-packaged, individually wrapped goodies. Great eats!
After teams played six Matches each, here are the League standings:
Northeast Edge League Rankings….
#1-11180 (Beaks n Bolts)
#1-18051 (Robotic Llamas)
#2-8405 (Millburn Robotics)
#3-11754 (EnergySmart FTC)
#4-10874 (ICHS Lions)
#5-10785 (Highlanders)
Coming Up (Period #2 Meets start) …
Saturday, November 19th, the “Wood-Chips” of Ridgewood HS are hosting their first competition.
Wishing this new host, and the ~20 participating teams of the Northern League, the best of luck!
Sunday, November 20th, an Upper-Central League Meet is being held at Dickerson School in Chester (another new site).
Our Co-Host Teams for this AM/PM Meet are Team #16367 “Krypton Warriors” and Team #10096 “Those Guys”.
Krypton Warriors hosted the Montville event last year; this is a first time hosting experience for “Those Guys”. Good luck!
Period #2 Starting
Congrats to all of the teams that participated in Period #1.
With the exception of Thanksgiving Weekend, all of the Period #1 Meets are now complete.
For Period #2, FTCNJ is reverting to 5 Matches per Team at each Meet.
Below, you will see the updated Spectator Policy … and below that, the Added Period #3 Features are again shown.
Go Teams!
Spectator Policy (Period #2)
Recall that last season, as FTCNJ returned to in-person competitions, spectators were not allowed.
This season, we will continue to livestream the competitions but do want to begin allowing spectators.
In Period #1, teams were allowed spectators based on team member count … one spectator per team member, generally speaking.
For Period #2, the spectator cap has been removed for large gym venues.
FTCNJ is asking for no more than 10 spectators per team when Meets are held in cafeterias or small gyms.
Venue sizes vary, of course. If a team has any question or is anticipating many spectators, contact FTCNJ for discussion and resolution.
Period #3 (January) Added Optional Features
· Teams participating in Saturday Meets in January may partake of optional in-person “Practice Judging”.
o While it does not affect advancement or earn a trophy, the face/face judge interview is very good practice for the February events.
· Teams participating in Sunday Meets in January may partake in optional “Elimination Matches”.
o Again, this added feature does not affect advancement but does provide teams with experience in Alliance Selection ….
· In both cases, the added features are strictly optional.
o Teams can opt out of the judge interview on January Saturdays, or depart prior to Alliance Selection on January Sundays.
· FTCNJ has been communicating with the venues (regarding judging rooms) and with volunteers.
o We thank all for helping us to organize and offer these added features in the January events.
Meet Registration
Meet Registration
AT THIS POINT, your team should really have submitted the Meet Requests including any Bonus Event requests.
If you are a coach who has not submitted the request yet, please do it now …or let FTCNJ know the nature of your problem.
Here is the Registration link that coaches can use. : Event Registration and Acceptance Criteria - FIRST Tech Challenge - New Jersey (newjerseyftc.com)
FIRST NEWS
World Championship Allocations
In case you have not heard, New Jersey has been allocated three advancements to the World Championships in April (Houston)
FIRST TECH CHALLENGE New Jersey News
Team Scrimmaging
FTCNJ is always delighted to hear great news about our team community.
One of the best ways for teams to help each other, and have a great time, is unofficial scrimmaging.
Check out the photo below. This is a recent Northern League scrimmage held at Blair Academy.
In addition to Blair FTC, the Jdroids (of Wayne) and both Pope John teams (Sparta) participated.
Four teams getting together to gain more PowerPlay experience and great comradery. Way to go!
Any more Scrimmaging Stories out there? You don’t need many teams to make it very worthwhile.
Follow this great example of Blair, Jdroids, Reboot and Fatal Error.
Mentor Request
One of our FTCNJ team organizations (Union County, Northeast Conference) is looking for additional mentoring assistance.
If you know of a technical mentor who is able to lend a hand, please contact FTCNJ and we will put you in touch with them.
There are two teams at this location …, and a lot of team spirit and energy. They just need a little more help.
Team Initiatives
From time to time, FTCNJ hears about some of the worthwhile initiatives being undertaken by various teams.
Recall that in previous issues of this newsletter, we had offered to include a short blurb regarding an Outreach, etc, that a team wanted to share.
We have recently received such a heads up …
South African FLL Initiative (Team #17036 RoboTech Anomaly)
Team 17036 will be collecting supplies on behalf of two South African FLL teams that have almost no supplies, and little funds to buy any.
They are looking for any of the following items: EV3s, NXTs, Raspberry Pies, Arduinos, Lego Motors and Sensors.
RoboTech Anomaly is setting up a donation page on their website (www.njres.org/southafrica ).
Additionally, any team can email 17...@njres.org to learn more about the initiative.
Captains Caucus (Nov 18th) ß 3rd Friday of the Month
Coaches should encourage student leaders to attend. Notes are distributed to attendees and their coaches following the sessions.
Oct 21st topics included: Competition Prep, Programming Robots, Judge Interview Tips, Robots Lifting Cones, Double-Revere Four Bars, and more!
Are you a Student Leader? You should join us on these 3rd Friday of the Month Zooms.
Coaches should really consider sending their captain(s)! There is a lot of very smart and very useful information exchanged.
The next Captains Caucus is 8pm on 11/18/22. Here’s the Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEtdeCspjkoHdxKWoDH3HJzRVM_UzfoCxX2
Coaches Caucus ß 1st Friday of the Month
New and veteran coaches met at 8pm on November 4th to discuss topics of mutual interest.
Thanks to all of the Coaches who attended and participated. Topics included PowerPlay Meet experiences, Judging, and Team Management issues.
Are you a coach who is missing out on these discussions? Join us next time and see what it’s like!
The next Coaches Caucus is 8pm on December 2nd. Registration Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwtf-6opzMtGNRyD0G15bMykgEi4sjetB99
Our next newsletter will be on November 22nd, 2022.
If you have any questions, comments, or needs as you read this newsletter, simply write back and we’ll be happy to assist.
Making that comment here, rather than embedding it throughout the long newsletter above.
Thanks again for the interest in FIRST Tech Challenge New Jersey and being part of our community
Thanks much, Vince Frascella
FIRST Tech Challenge New Jersey
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