Season FAQ’s
October Update 2023
Q: Order of Advancement:
1. Quick question: so the South State Champion is being offered the first right of refusal for invitational and then if they don’t go to that, they have the invitation to the World Championship for this season?
Then that will alternate to the North for the next season?
2. I would like to understand what the protocol is for the Worlds ticket in the event that the North Idaho Champion chooses not to attend. It would be beneficial to have a clear understanding of the alternatives or contingencies in such a scenario.
3. I am curious about the process for offering Invitational tickets if there happen to be two Southern Idaho State Competitions. It would be helpful to know how the allocation of these tickets (Worlds and Invitationals) will be handled to ensure fairness and equal opportunities for all participants.
A: This is the plan for the 2023-24 FLL Challenge Season.
North State Champion team will be given the invitation to go to World Championships in Houston this year since the last 2 teams have been from the South State event. In the spirit of FIRST and the “Share the Love” where everyone has an opportunity, we’re reverting back to that plan for this season.
Order of Advancement:
If the North State Champion team chooses to not accept the opportunity to compete at the World Championships in Houston in April, the North Runner-up Champion will be given the option to attend Worlds to represent Idaho this season.
South team will be offered the “Invitational” opportunity. If the South State Champion chooses to not attend, the South Runner-Up Champion will be given the option to attend.
Should additional invitations be shared from other locations, these will be offered to Runner Up for North, followed by Runner Up for South.
Scenario where we have One North and One South State Championship:
World Championship in Houston: Offered to North State Champion.
In the event they decline: Offered to North State Champion Runner Up.
Invitational A: Offered to South State Champion.
Invitational B: Offered to North State Champion Runner Up (slightly possible)
Invitational C: Offered to South State Champion Runner Up. (unlikely but we wanted a plan “just in case”).
Scenario for if we have One North and Two South State Champions:
World Championship in Houston: Offered to North State Champion.
In the event they decline: Offered to North State Champion Runner Up.
Invitational A: Offered to South State Champion with the highest rankings from both events from the Awards and Allocation document supplied by FIRST and used in the algorithm for Championship Rank.
Beginning with rankings from the Official Judging Sheet in Event Hub, from each event, in order of awards:
- Core Values;
- Innovation Project;
- Robot Design; and
- Robot Performance
Invitational B: Offered to South State Champion from the other event.
Invitational C: Offered to the North State Champion Runner Up.
Next season will be determined at a later date by the members of the FIRST Idaho Board of Directors who are the contracted entity and Program Delivery Organization (PDO) for FIRST in Idaho.
Q. I just want to double check your terminology of “feedback sheets” for FLL. Teams will still get their full rubrics, right? I don’t remember if feedback sheets in FLL include them or not, but I find them very important to the teaching of FLL to kids.
A. Yes, the teams will receive the official 2023-24 Masterpiece Season FIRST LEGO League Challenge Rubric sheets that they have been receiving at Qualifiers and State competitions. FIRST Idaho will email these documents to the host team for printing prior to the event. As stated in the plan email:
Host team will:
- Print enough copies of scoring sheets for each team for each match (emailed from FIRST Idaho). 4 per team plus 10;
- Print enough copies of judging rubrics for each team and each judge (emailed from FIRST Idaho). 1 set per team plus 4;
Host teams will be required to group and stack them, by team number, on a table near the competition fields at the end of the event. Coaches can pick them up and use them for practice and improvement prior to the State competitions. It is the Coach’s responsibility to collect these or designate a parent to do so at the close of the event. None will be mailed if not picked up at the event.
Q. Now, this is where I have a large concern. Your email states “All Idaho FTC and FRC teams will be sent a link to apply to host a FIRST Idaho-Sanctioned Scrimmage later next week. It is first-come, first-served. If there are multiple requests for a day, those requests will be offered an opportunity to share the event hosting duties.” However, at a recent event, a team announced that they would be hosting a valley scrimmage on a specified date. If this is their own thing and not one of these FIRST Idaho sanctioned events then that’s great and very proactive of them, but if this is one of these FIRST Idaho sanctioned scrimmages then that looks really really bad.
A. FIRST Idaho does not dictate, require, nor discourage any teams from organizing or hosting any events. These are entirely up to the teams and what they can manage or support. If a team chooses to hold an unofficial scrimmage, then they can certainly do so. However, this season plan is to provide exact competitions with opportunities to practice, meet others and improve before attending the State Championship events. We do ask that hosting teams keep to the script, the plan and the schedule that will be set forth for the FIRST Idaho-Sanctioned Scrimmages. Instructions and a checklist will be sent to each hosting team. All FIRST Idaho-Sanctioned Scrimmages MUST be held on a Saturday and MUST begin at 9:00 a.m. local time.
The link to the sign up for the FIRST Idaho-Sanctioned Scrimmages will go out by Monday, July 10th, at the very same time to ALL FRC and FTC teams in a “bcc:” fashion to protect PII (Personally Identifiable Information). The google form will show the date and time of each response. This cell will be used to determine the “first-come-first-served” promise. No teams and no dates have been scheduled until that form goes out, gets responses, and are granted by FIRST Idaho.
Our Organization’s goal is to bring together ALL of the FIRST programs and participants in Idaho as ONE BIG FIRST FAMILY filled will support, love, gracious professionalism, collaboration, and encouragement. ALL TEAMS, from ALL areas of Idaho are one FIRST family in Idaho.
Quite simply: Be kind to each other, respect each other, and make your grandmothers proud!
FIRST IDAHO ROBOTICS 