Oklahoma FTC weekly newsletter

[Mary Jo Othon]

Hello FTC teams!

A huge shout out toKingfisher High School and Bishop Kelley High School for hosting our final League Tournaments this past weekend.  The list of teams that advanced to the State Qualifier can be found below!   To see tournament results, please go to this website.   We are still in need of help with judges for the State championship.  If you are a coach who did not advance, come judge to get an inside track on next year’s competition.

📅  UPCOMING OKLAHOMA EVENTS:

• 2/9/2026 - OKLAHOMA FTC COACHES MEETING - meeting link, agenda
• 2/14/2026 - Oklahoma Regional Championship Tournament volunteer link

👨🏻‍🏫 OKLAHOMA FTC COACHES MEETING

• In years past, we have held a coaches meeting at the State competition.  However, many coaches were missing and with our state competition moving to one day, we have decided to make this meeting virtual
• Please join us in an open coaches meeting to discuss the past and upcoming season.  agenda
• February 9th, 7:30 pm video link

🏆 TEAMS INVITED TO STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

• Please remember to accept your invitation by tomorrow.

5141	Warrior Bots
7242	BC Robocats
19563	Boise City BattleCats
21951	TeamOKC Cyber Seals
23703	Bob-Bots
23842	TeamOKC Awesome Possums
23931	Under the Radar
26949	Royal Society of Robotics
31537	Non-Applicable
31538	Applicable
4155	M.I.T (Muskogee's Innovative Team)
5553	RoboComets
10355	Project Peacock
11354	The Midnight Ostrich Runners
11572	Mouse Spit
18274	Project Paradox
18802	Robo Renegades
19668	Hivemind
23533	AstroBots
30555	Veritas

      DECODE COMPETION MATERIALS

• Competion Manual
• Competition Manual AI Chatbot
• Team Q&A System
• Game animation
• Combined Team Updates

❓POST OK CHAMPIONSHIP EVENT PREFERENCING

• For those teams advancing to the OK Championship on February 14th, you will see a new process for advancement out of the championship.  Oklahoma has been alocated eleven advancement spots out of the championship.  Rather than naming four teams for FIRST Championship and seven teams for Premier Events, teams will be ranked based on the advancement points they earn through their overall performance at the event. 
• Advancement points are calculated as described in section 4.1 of the competition manual.
• After the event, those eleven teams plus up to three alternates will receive an email from FIRST asking them to set their event preferences within 48 hours.  FIRST will then assign post championship events to each team based on their preferences and ranks.  
• Teams assigned to FIRST Championship will have two weeks to pay for the slot.  If they do not pay within the time frame, that slot is lost by Oklahoma and it is returned to the general pool for assignment.  
• Event preferencing can be set today on FTC Scores for each of your teams.  It can be changed as necessary.  FIRST is encouraging all teams to do this in advance of their regional tournament.  

🧭 COMPASS AWARD SUBMISSION

• The Regional Championship will be here before you know it and there is one additional award to hand out: the Compass Award!
• Teams, this is your chance to tell us about one amazing, adult coach or mentor who is a Gracious Professional! This award asks teams to create a 60 second or less video and allows you to be creative to shout out a coach or mentor!
• Click the link for more information in the 2026 FTC OK Regional Championship Compass Award Submission Form.
• The deadline is Thursday, February 12, 2026 at 10 PM Central. This is the Thursday before the Regional Championship.

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🤔 QUESTION BOX FOR TEAMS

• You can use this form and one of the state leads will address your concern below.

🏁 BR’s BREAKDOWNS

• Nothing new this week.  Stay tuned!

👨🏻‍⚖️CHRIS’s CORNER

• Last week, a team had a great question (Q195) in the FTC Q&A about the Compass Award. On Friday, FIRST gave a response to their question.  Summarizing the response: While STUDENTS need to be the one nominating the coach or mentor, other mentors or non-students can be in the video.  That being said (in my opinion): JUDGES would like to hear from the STUDENTS as much as possible!
• As a reminder: You have until Thursday night to submit for the award. Please let me know if you have any question at okftcj...@gmail.com.  Good luck this week!

📋EMILY’s EXPLANATIONS

• Nothing new this week.  Stay tuned!

Mary Jo Othon

    Oklahoma FTC PDP