Hello Los Angeles FTC Teams, Mentors and Volunteers!
Thanks to all of you who could make our 2020 Los Angeles FTC Kickoff! While I would have preferred to see all your great faces in person, I was so pleased to see we had over 400 people join our on-line event! A big hats off to the dozen presenters, dozen moderators, my moderator Erin Rehard and to Patrick Brophy and Ellen McIsaac for giving us an up close look at the field. Most importantly, a giant thank you to Amanda Sullivan, the key planner for the 12 presentation topics, the brains behind enabling us on the Discord platform and our Tech point person for our broadcast. THANK YOU!
If you missed the events and broadcast – not to worry! We will be posting the recordings of each session on our YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/socalftc) and listing the Q+A on our website (www.firsttechsocal.org). (Check the links in the next few days). We will be leaving the Discord Server up to broadcast additional workshops through the season. Stay tuned!
The format for LAFTC this year will be Remote Play. That means individual performances (no alliances or team play) and scores uploaded to the Cloud. Please read the Game Manual 1 and 2 / Remote Play on the FIRST website for more details on Remote Play (https://www.firstinspires.org/resource-library/ftc/game-and-season-info)
The format will be Scrimmages and Qualifier Tournaments (instead of Leagues and ILTs) to buy as much time as possible before competitive play so teams who cannot meet until the second semester have time to build. Please refer to the PowerPoint slides for LAFTC kickoff and remote events.
If you think you might play this year but are not yet sure, go ahead and start the registration process anyway so we know you are considering it. If you know for sure, you can register now with FIRST (https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc/cost-and-registration) and with LAFTC (https://cvent.me/ebZy7G)
Here is our timeline (subject to change):
| September 13 | LAFTC Virtual Kickoff and Registration Opens |
| November & December (exact dates TBD) | Remote Scrimmage #1, #2 (for teams who are back in operation) |
| December 5 | Kickoff Reboot (Refresher for teams that waited to register or missed KO) |
| January & February (exact dates TBD) | Remote Scrimmage #3, #4 (for teams who are back in operation) |
| January 20 | Last day to register and pay for your Qualifier |
| March 6, 14, 21, 27 | Qualifying Tournaments – planned for remote events 7 day window prior to QT day to submit scores Judging and awards on QT day May add one more QT week in April depending on registration |
| April 17 (Saturday) | Championship – planning for a remote event |
| July (exact date TBD) | Worlds – planning for an in-person event in Houston |
If you have questions, feel free to reach out to community@firsttechsocal.org.
Thank you and we look forward to ‘seeing’ you this year!
Theresa Klemme and Patrick Brophy, Program Delivery Partners for the Los Angeles FTC Region
