NorCal FTC Regional Championship Summary and a little bit more
Mark Edelman
All,
a couple of quick updates for everyone:
- Graduating Seniors Featured on Playing at Learning Social Media
- Supporting FLL Challenge Events
- Reflections on the DECODE NorCal FTC Regional Championship
Graduation Seniors on Playing at Learning Social Media
Supporting FLL Challenge Events
From our FLL staff -
Hello FTC Teams,
We’re reaching out to see if any FTC teams would be interested in
supporting FLL Qualifier events this upcoming season. We’re
expecting strong participation and are looking for FTC teams who
can help with coordination and event support.
Qualifier events will take place during the first three weekends
in November, and we’re currently working to secure support across
multiple locations.
Supporting an FLL Qualifier is a great opportunity to strengthen
your Outreach Award portfolio and support younger FIRST teams in
your community.
If your team is interested or would like more information, please
email Cecilia (ceci...@playingatlearning.org) and CC Jill Wilker
(ji...@playingatlearning.org).
Thank you so much for considering supporting our FLL community —
we truly appreciate it!
Reflections on the DECODE NorCal FTC Regional Championship
event summary
As a whole we are pleased with the way the championship ran. Match play was good, the spaces were sufficient and the location was relatively convenient for most teams. We have several observations about the event that we want to share and hopefully will help our events run better in the future!
delays
There were several points in the day where the delays in activities were created by teams ignoring the need to:
- queue for their matches in a timely way
- setup of their robots for matches in a timely way
- show up for alliance selection on time
- show up for opening ceremony on time
- show up for the drivers' meeting on time
Sunday as a whole ran about 1-2 hours late - almost exclusively due to delays created by waiting for teams!
Teams should be aware of the schedule of the event and the flow of activities. As we continue to grow, teams should be aware that not being on time will likely lead to being skipped for activities (matches, alliance selection, etc)
At all our qualifying tournaments, we have the option to run either 5 or 6 qualifying matches per team. At the regional championship, we can petition to run up to as many as 9 matches per team. Until our community can address the delays, we are likely stuck running just the 5 matches that are required as the minimum.
volunteers vs. staff
Over the last couple of years, we have struggled to fill all the volunteer roles at our each of our events. There are a couple of primary factors that we have identified that all of our teams can help with!
- our teams and team parents are not helping with providing as many volunteers for events as much as in prior years. Without volunteers being at least partially sourced via teams, we will find it harder and harder to support the number events needed for a season and the large events. We won't be able to continue to grow to support the new teams that register each year!
- fewer volunteers are returning as "repeat volunteers" - treatment of volunteers by teams and parents has been highlighted as a reason some are declining to return. This is particularly painful for our "skilled" volunteers; referee, judges, etc.
Teams, think about the impact of your actions next time you decide to yell at the volunteers around the playing field. Parents think about the impact on the judges and referees when you accost them after the events or are impolite or demanding
If we can't source enough volunteers to fully staff our events, we have only a couple of options; don't hold the events or pay some portion of the "volunteers" as temporary staff.
The championship event this season needed approximately 200 volunteers. If we had to pay them all minimum wage, it would add nearly $750/team to the costs of running the event, bringing the team registration costs to $1200 or more!!!
The FTC program can only continue to grow if everyone recognizes that we need to be kind and gracious to our volunteers and thank them for their time and energies!
pit/power issues
we were caught unaware of the power limitation in the pits.
that said, in the last couple of years, teams have started bringing MANY more high current-draw items to have with them in the pits. If this trend continues, we would likely need to rent generators, adding to the costs of the events. Don't bring more that is absolutely necessary!
we had reports that the pits were too warm and too crowded. Teams need to remember that the pits are not intended to be an "all-day" hangout space for teams/friends/families. The pits are a workspace for teams that are competing. The stands/bleachers are the appropriate area for the public/friends/families.
campus issues
We had reports from the campus that students were wandering into spaces that were designated for our use. This type of behavior is likely to end up causing us to lose access to the various schools we use. Be respectful of the campuses and remember that we are guests.
We had teams leaving garbage in many places. Teams need to realize that in the end, we pay for the garbage removal. Please plan on ALWAYS packing out what you bring to the event. We were assessed extra venue charges to cover time required for the custodians to cleanup the masses of garbage left behind. Again, if this continues as a recurring trend, we will end up needing to increase our costs to cover the expenses
-- Playing At Learning Northern California Partner for FIRST LEGO League Jr, FIRST LEGO League and FIRST Tech Challenge ma...@playingatlearning.org (844)752-9576 x700