Advancement to AZ Championship

Advancement to the AZ Championship
Advancement from a qualifier to the AZ Championship or AZ Championship to the World Championship is based on the criteria set out by FIRST. Teams are eligible to advance to the next level and win awards at their first three events in a competition tier regardless of which region those events take place in. 

Qualifying Tournaments ----> Advance to ----> State Championship Tournaments
State Championships ------->Advance to -----> FIRST World Championship

The order of advancement is the same for all levels of competition, and is listed on page 23 of Game Manual Part 1. Many of the advancement spots are dependent on judged awards. The judging process, requirements for each award, and requirements for your team's engineering notebook can be found in Game Manual Part 1 starting on page 42. 

Teams are only eligible to compete in official FIRST events once they are registered and paid with FIRST for the new season, and two coaches have cleared Youth Protection screening. 

Advancement to the Arizona Championship must occur at one of our Arizona qualifying tournaments. The number of teams advancing to the Championship from a qualifier depends on the number of teams competing at that event. 

This year, the qualifying tournament hosts opted to earn their way to the Championship on merit, rather than receive an automatic bid for hosting a qualifier. 

Our target for the Championship is between 42 and 48 teams. Based on the number of spots available at the qualifying events, this means we plan to advance about 25% of the teams competing at each qualifier. 

Qualifiers with 12-14 teams competing..................Advance 3 teams
Qualifiers with 15-18 teams competing..................Advance 4 teams
Qualifiers with 19-22 teams competing..................Advance 5 teams
Qualifiers with 23 + teams competing....................Advance 6 teams

3rd Round Registration
Teams may now register for a 3rd event for the Skystone season. We encourage every team to play at least twice...believe us, once you go to your first event, your team will be eager to play again! But, we can't guarantee there will be space available in any event once the season starts, so sign up for any events you want to compete at NOW! 

Starting on October 13, teams may register for any remaining spots at the qualifiers. Out-of-region teams may also register for any open spots to compete in Arizona. While teams are only eligible to advance to a Championship event from their first three qualifiers, you are welcome to compete as many times as you like. 

AS OF OCTOBER 8....

Full events

• Chandler
• Downtown Phoenix (Bioscience)
• West Valley
• Queen Creek

Events with 5 or fewer spots 

• White Mountain
• Gilbert
• Tucson
• Glendale

Events with plenty of space

• Central Phoenix (MetroTech)

Teams will receive invoices the week of October 13 with what your team owes and instructions for making your payment. Payment for ALL qualifying tournaments is due by November 20. Payments made after that date will be assessed a late payment fee. Teams can use the cost estimator along with the confirmation emails sent to you from ftc.arizona@gmail.com to start purchase orders now if required by your school. 

FIRST Tech Challenge Dean's List

DEADLINE FOR NOVEMBER EVENTS IS TUESDAY OCTOBER 15

It's time to think about nominating your deserving students for the FIRST Tech Challenge Dean's List! The Dean's List Award recognizes the leaders and ambassadors from each FIRST Tech Challenge team. 10th and 11th grade students are eligible to be nominated by their team. Each team may nominate up to two students. 

The deadline for Dean's List submissions is 11:59 pm EASTERN TIME on the 15th of the month PRIOR to your qualifying tournament.

For Arizona Qualifiers, the deadlines are: 

October 15 - White Mountain and Gilbert

November 15 - Tucson, Downtown Phoenix, Central Phoenix, Glendale

December 15 - Queen Creek and Chandler

January 15 - West Valley

The students nominated from each team are Dean's List Semifinalists. Semifinalists will be interviewed at the chosen qualifying tournament by a panel of two judges. The Dean's List Finalists for Arizona will be chosen from the pool of Semifinalists from all qualifiers, and will be announced at the AZ Championship February 22. 

Visit the Dean's List website and read the Nomination Guide for more information on how to submit your nominations. 

Meet the Field Day

Wait, it's less than a month until Meet the Field Day?!? Meet the Field Day is a chance to practice on a full size field, get help from other teams with programming and design, collaborate with other teams, and build a network with teams in your area. 

We have six opportunities to Meet the Field:

*Oct. 26 - Gilbert

*Nov. 2 - White Mountain, West Valley, Chandler, Tucson, Flagstaff

Teams can RSVP for Meet the Field here.