Updates for Friday Jan 16, 2026!
Mark Edelman
All,
important news and updates below:
- NorCal FTC Regional Championship Status
- Qualifying Tournament Wait List Updates
- Dean's List Interviews
- Possible Additional Qualifying Tournament
- Starting to Look Ahead To Next Year
- Some Statistics on The Current Season
NorCal Regional Championship Status
We are excited to share that we are confirmed for a date and location for our regional championship - Feb 28 - Mar 1 at Palo Alto High School in Palo Alto.
We are currently scheduling a final walk-through to get more detailed measurements of the gyms at the school. We believe we will be able to increase the number of teams from our currently planned 48 to 56 ... and if the layouts look good, maybe as many as 64!
The rough schedule of the event will follow the pattern we have used the past many years:
Saturday Noon/Afternoon - setup
Saturday afternoon/evening - Judging and Inspection for as many
teams as possible
Sunday morning - finish remaining judging and inspection with
opening ceremonies by 10:00am
Stay tuned for additional information as we get closer to the event. There will be MANY opportunities to help with making the event a success!
Qualifying Tournament Wait List Status
We currently have more than 25 teams in the wait list, with a group of 8-10 that have not had a chance to participate in any events yet. There are an additional 15-20 teams without events that may be seeking opportunities as well - they just aren't on the wait list yet!
We are processing swaps as soon as we get notice of a team withdrawing from a tournament. Openings typically have popped up early in the week of the event (i.e. on Monday for a Saturday/Sunday event)
Remember that the wait list is not a first-come, first-served list; we bias the available space to teams without events and then process based on number of events to date.
We believe that it is highly unlikely that any team will get an opportunity for a 3rd event this year.
If you are a team that has already advanced and your team is willing to give up its spot at an upcoming tournament, you would greatly help those teams that currently don't have events!! We have had one team already offer their spot (Thank you MK II - 26216!!)
To add your team to the wait list, please send an email to "ftc...@playingatlearning.org"
Dean's List Interviews
Coaches, if your team nominated a Dean's List Semi-Finalist, you should be receiving an email shortly with information on scheduling interviews.
The interviews will take place from 7-9pm across 5 evenings; 2/4, 2/5, 2/11, 2/12 and 2/13. Make sure to remind your nominee to maximize the number sessions they are available for. We have more than 70 nominees to interview!!!
Our Dean's List Finalists will be announced as part of the NorCal FTC Regional Championship awards ceremony on Sunday 3/1
Possible Additional Qualifying Tournament
With the shift in date of the NorCal Regional Championship, we have the possibility of adding one additional qualifying tournament. The folks in Oakland Unified School District believe they have a site identified, but need a veteran team willing to be the organizers. If your team is willing to help create additional opportunities for the teams without events, please let us know as soon as possible! Send an email to f...@playingatlearning.org
Starting to Look Ahead To Next Year
We know that event capacity has been challenging this season. We grew 15% for 2 consecutive years and are now the 3rd largest North American region!
There are several things your team can do to help with capacity for next season:
- plan on playing in November - we lost approximately 80 spots through cancellations of November events!!!
- find a way to host an event - we need more venues
- find a way to support an existing event - next year, we will likely need multiple events a day to support the volume of events needed!
- consider joining a league and/or starting a new league! Teams moving to league play reduces the pressure on qualifying tournaments.
- learn the skills to support existing tournament infrastructure; equipment logistics, event setup and management, scoring system operation
We would love to provide all teams the play opportunities that they want. We'd like to get back to the 2.5 plays per team average that we used to be able to support, but we cannot do it without the community supporting the effort.
If we grow 15% again next year, we will be at approx 325 teams. We would need around 28 16-team tournaments to support 2 plays per team! The calendar for 2026-2027 looks like there are 21-23 viable tournament dates in Nov-early Feb - supporting 28 tournaments would mean at least 6-7 days that would need multiple events!!!
What are you planning to do to help???
Some Current Season Statistics
284 registered teams - 3rd largest North American region (behind Texas and Michigan)
97 teams playing in 6 leagues (Central Valley, East Bay, East Bay
Hills, North East, Peninsula and South Bay)
qualifying tournament breakdown:
- 17 tournaments scheduled - 3 cancelled due to low registration (all in November)
- 4-5 potential tournament dates not schedule/used. (mostly in November)
- 118 teams - 2 events
- 39 teams - 1 event
- 30 teams - no events
Historically, around 5-10% of the teams that register with FIRST each season opt not to play. 30 no-play teams is higher than normal.
Based on the above, we averaged less than 1.5 plays per team this year. If we had managed to include all the November spaces, we would have averaged approx 1.9 plays per team, still below our target, but closer.
-- 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