Hope everything is going well with you and your team! You are receiving the e-mail because you are a coach or an assistant coach for an FTC team in Iowa.
Please keep in mind, this is team blast for Week #7. There was not a team blast for Week #6.
(Have you missed a FTC-Iowa Team Blast? An archive of these messages are located on our blog: http://ftc-iowa.blogspot.com/)
1. October Monthly Status Report
2. Coaches Contact List
3. "FTC Robotics: Tips, Tricks, Strategies, and Secrets"
4. FTC-Iowa Events
**LabView Workshop on Nov. 13**
5. FTC-Iowa Championship Details & Registration
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1. October Monthly Status Reports
As a reminder, teams are "highly encouraged" to completed a monthly status report. The one for October can be found at: https://spreadsheets.google.
This report will be active for one week, until Wednesday, Nov. 3. These reports are a way for us to know how your team is doing during the season. We find it beneficial to get feedback from the teams, so we can use our resources efficiently. If you are a coach for multiple teams please complete a report for each team.
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2. Coaches Contact List
Several coaches have requested the e-mail addresses of other coaches, and this is GREAT! If it is ok with all of you, we'd like to distribute a "coaches contact" document with the names and e-mail addresses of each coach, as well as the team # and team location. If you don't want your name or e-mail address shared, then please let us know. The contact list will be sent out by the end of next week, target date of Nov. 5th. Remember: Communication between teams helps everyone succeed.
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3. "FTC Robotics: Tips, Tricks, Strategies, and Secrets"
The Pope John Robotics Team in Sparta, NJ has written a book titled "FTC Robotics: Tips, Tricks, Strategies, and Secrets." This book contains hundreds of short "tips" from several different area champion teams that will help improve any team's performance. It covers every aspect of FTC, including building, programming, design, game strategy, scouting, tournaments, and fund raising. Early reactions to the book have been extremely positive. The book is available on Amazon.com and a full description is here: http://www.amazon.com/FTC-
As an outreach project, Pope John is offering one free copy of the book to every rookie FTC team in the USA. To claim their free book, they simply send email to pj.ftc.tips@gmail.com and include your team number, adult mentor name, and shipping address. Must reserve your copy by November 15.
Veteran teams will also find the book extremely useful for bringing new team members up to speed as well as learning the techniques that several champion teams use. It is only $8.60 on Amazon and qualifies for "Prime" and other free shipping type offers there. All profits are used to fund the "Free rookie book" program and other community service activities and is not used for general team funding.
In addition, all teams are invited to email us their own tips for future editions of the book. Simply email suggestions to pj.ftc.tips@gmail.com. If we use their material, those teams will get free copies of the editions in which their material is used as well as attribution in the book!
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4. FTC-Iowa EventsRecently, we have had to cancel one of our events because no teams registered. What a bummer! Please keep in mind, we encourage teams to participate in as many events as possible.
A listing of events can be found at: https://sites.google.com/site/
**LabView Workshop on Nov. 13**
National Instruments, the makers of LabView, will be hosting a workshop about LabView prior and after the Des Moines Build Event on Saturday, Nov. 13. (Huge thank you to Emmaly, from team #3550 and Chad E from NI, for coordinating this workshop!)
10:30am-12:30pm - Introduction to LabView
1:00pm-4:00pm - FTC Build Event
4:00pm-5:30pm - LabView and FTC program: How to use the templates
Please let us know if you'll be attending a LabView Sessions.
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5. FTC-Iowa Championship Details & Registration
- The FTC-Iowa Championship is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 at the Iowa Memorial Union, the heart of the University of Iowa campus, in Iowa City.
- All robot inspections will be on Friday, Feb. 25th. If you will be competing with a robot, then your robot will need to be inspected on Friday, we will be assigning inspection times.
- Limited capacity - please make sure to register early!
- Registration procedure: Teams must register via the online system. After a team has registered online, the registration will be considered "pending". Within a week, your team will receive an electronic invoice for the registration fee, $275. After payment has been received, the registration will switch to "confirmed". If payment has not been received within 30 days of the invoice, then you will forfeit your spot at the tournament. For those of you who have school boards who approve your invoices, please make sure you know these procedures and put a "rush" on the invoice.
- First priority will go to teams within Iowa. However, if during late January, if there are open slots, then we will allow out-of-Iowa teams to register. (We've already been contacted by several out-of-Iowa teams.) Please remember, if you received a Rockwell Collins grant, you agreed to compete in a tournament.
- Registration for the FTC-Iowa Championship event will open on Monday, Nov. 1 at 5:00pm. The link to register, and a listing of registered/confirmed/pending teams, will be located: https://sites.google.com/site/
ftciowacoaches/project- definition/ftc-iowa- championship/2011- championship-registrations
Please do not hesitate to ask if you need help. If your team needs help "getting started", here is a good website from FIRST: http://usfirst.org/
Thank you all, and keep up the good work!
Rebecca Whitaker & FTC-Iowa team
