Dean's List Nomination Deadline, Advancement Numbers and Tips from Head Referees!

Congrats to the teams that have advanced to the Arizona Championship from the Roadrunner, Red Rock, and Prickly Pear Events! Good luck to the teams competing this weekend at Turquoise and Painted Desert!!

• 10111 Herberger Javalinas
• 10523 The Dragons
• 14254 Trivium Knightlights
• 15058 Robo-Jags
• 15461 Nutz & Bolts Robotics
• 18420 Metal Masters
• 18625 Trivium Knightmares
• 24431 Sedona Scorpions
• 25620 Hexadecimal Nibble
• 26037 Cyber Tigers
• 26128 Wrightly Reconfigured Robots

Congrats also to the 16 Four Corners Teams that have competed (and advanced!) so far! 

Dean's List Deadline - 10 days away (December 15!)

You have a student on your team, who above all others, demonstrates leadership, has an entrepreneurial spirit, and is dedicated to increasing awareness of FIRST.
FIRST^® Tech Challenge students are changing the world – help the changemaker on your team further their potential – nominate them for the Dean’s List Award. The Dean’s List Award recognizes the leaders and ambassadors from each FIRST Tech Challenge team. This recognition helps these inspiring students attract recruiters and stand out on their college applications and resumes. Read the nomination guide and start your nomination today.
Dean's List Award nominations are open and will close on Monday, December 15, 2025, for all FIRST Tech Challenge regions.

Read more about the changes to the Dean's List Award deadlines for the 2025-2026 season, and review the nomination guide for requirements and instructions on how to nominate a deserving student on your team!

ADVANCEMENT - FIRST Championship & Premier Events!

We are excited to announce the advancement numbers for FIRST Championship and Premier Events for the 2025/2026 season!!! Advancement from these events is from the region Championships (Arizona and Four Corners). Read more details at this blog post from FTC leadership HERE!

• ARIZONA
• 4 teams to FIRST Championship
• 7 teams to Premier Events
• FOUR CORNERS
• 2 teams to FIRST Championship
• 4 teams to Premier Events

Premier events take place all over the USA and internationally from April to July. If a team receives an invitation to a Premier event, they will have the opportunity to choose from the different event options! Find out more about Premier events HERE!

From the Head Referees:

Great Job on a fantastic start to the DECODE Season (presented by RTX)! Qualifiers are going well and we want to just remind teams to review several rules that seem to be cropping up:

SAFETY:  We CONTINUE to see some team being negligent in safety glasses protocols (including COACHES).  Everyone on the Team is Responsible to wear safety glasses per E010.  Please re-read Rule E101 on page 27 of the Competition Manual and abide by the rule during the competition.  Teams are reminded that any tournament official observing teams disregarding E101 are expected to report to the Tournament Director or Head Referee, and we are moving forward with 1 verbal Warning to the team then escalating to a Yellow Card for G211 - Egregious or exceptional violations.  Remember that the Head Referee has the option of presenting a Yellow OR RED card, it is an option to go immediately to the RED card, (especially in cases where we continually see a team that does not follow the rules in subsequent tournaments).  Here is the bottom line:  We treat Safety Issues as critical to the success of FIRST Robotics and if teams continue to ignore E101, our next level of action is reporting to FIRST Headquarters and discussions about “removal from award consideration” per G211 paragraph 3.  This action is likely to move forward if Coaches disregard E101 warnings. 

 

MOVEMENT (After a period ends):  Please review Rules G403 and G404 about stopping motion at the end of the Periods…  Specifically,  “G403…Any powered movement of the ROBOT or any of its MECHANISMS is not allowed during the transition period between AUTO and TELEOP.”  And “G404… ROBOTS must no longer have powered movement after the end of TELEOP…” Also be sure to review the Orange Box notes… Remember this applies to all “Powered movement” to any parts or mechanisms including intake wheel, launching mechanisms, armatures…  but gravity or the inertia following shutdown is allowed.  This all goes back to what we have mentioned before about making actions “obvious to the referee”.  If we see a wheel spinning and not slowing down as it bleeds off inertia, we may assume it is still powered and penalize the alliance.

 

HUMAN PLAYERS (HP):  Here is a reminder on G431 A and B which are important rules to know and understand.

 

• The HP is the responsible party when it comes to robot interaction within the loading zone. Ensure that you are communicating clearly (and loudly if necessary) with the rest of your drive team to prevent contact. If the robot is crowding the artifacts in the loading zone that you need to access, communicate with the drive team that you need more space instead of reaching close to the robot and risking G431 fouls. 
• And a valuable Tip from the referees, the human players can hold artifacts above the field ready to load robots as they come into the loading zone as long as there are not more than 6 artifacts out of play at a time (G434).
• For G431B, ensure that it is obvious that the artifact is being dropped into the robot and do not reposition artifacts once placed in the robot. Once the artifacts is in contact with a robot, leave it and communicate with the drive team what needs to happen next.  Another tip: if you are acting as the only human player for your alliance, make sure to review where to place artifacts in your alliance partners robot. 

 

Enjoy the Holidays that are upon us and stay safe out there!

Rich, Robert, Samuel and Demian