Tournament Participation Policy

2015-2016 Season Tournament Participation Policy

Applicability

The Tournament Participation Policy applies to all Pennsylvania FTC Tournaments and Meets. A Meet is considered a Tournament under this policy. The Tournament Registration Requests section does not apply to Meets.

In the event of a conflict between this Policy and other webpages on this site, the Tournament Participation Policy applies.  Certain Tournaments may have additional participation criteria as defined on the Tournament webpage.  For example a "rookie tournament" may restrict participation to teams newly established this season.


Tournament Participation

Only FTC teams in good standing with FIRST may participate in Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournaments and the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament. Good standing with FIRST does not guarantee participation in an Tournament. 

Teams must comply with Tournament registration procedures that include, but are not limited to:
  • Registration request deadlines
  • Tournament registration fee deadlines
Participants are required to follow all the tournament and game rules specified in the current season’s FTC Game Manual.

A team may participate in no more than a total of three (3) Pennsylvania Qualifying Tournaments and Pennsylvania League Championship Tournaments in a season per FIRST FTC policy.  A Tournament where a Registered team No Shows or Withdraws will count as if the team had participated in that Tournament.

Participation in the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament is by invitation only, based on advancement requirements.


Tournament Registration Requests

The Tournament Registration Requests section does not apply to Meets.

Tournament registration requests are entered using an online registration system located on the Pennsylvania FTC website, http://www.ftcpenn.org.  Tournament registration for the 2015-2016 Season opens for all Pennsylvania and non-Pennsylvania teams on September 12, 2015.  

In order to assist us in providing equitable team access to Pennsylvania Qualifying Tournaments, we will use several lists to assist with processing registration requests. These lists are the Registration List and several Priority Wait Lists (Priority 1-n).  The processing of Tournament registration requests and the use of these lists are described in the sections below.   

Please note:
  • Registration requests are time-stamped at submission.  We process the requests in time-stamp order unless noted otherwise.
  • A team that is on a Wait List may be offered a spot on Registered List.   The team has three (3) business days to respond to the offer after which the offer is rescinded without further notice.

Registration Requests

Pennsylvania teams may submit registration requests for the number of Tournaments they wish to participate in (3 max) and their preference order - 1st Preference, 2nd Preference, etc. Registration requests processed per the criteria below and teams will be placed on the Registered List or one of the Wait Lists accordingly.

Non-Pennsylvania teams may also submit registration requests  for the number of Tournaments they wish to participate in (3 max) and their preference order.  Registration requests processed per the criteria below and teams will be placed on the Registered List or one of the Wait Lists accordingly.

Pennsylvania and non-Pennsylvania teams may change the number of Tournaments they wish to participate in and their preference order.  When a change is submitted, all of that team's Tournament Preferences will be re-evaluated at that time per the criteria below; this may result in changes in multiple Tournament Registration Lists and Wait Lists. Changes will be applied to the to Registration Lists and Wait Lists in time-stamp order.


Priority Registration Period - Registration requests received six (6) weeks or more before a Tournament date

Pennsylvania teams are placed on the Tournament Registered List or one of the Wait Lists based on the following criteria:
  • Pennsylvania team's 1st Preference Tournament
    • The team is added to the Registered List if their 1st Preference Tournament is under capacity
    • The team is added to the Priority 1 Wait List if their 1st Preference Tournament is at capacity
  • For subsequent Tournament preferences, Pennsylvania teams will be added to the Priority Wait Lists in their preference order
    • 2nd / 3rd / etc. Preference will be added to the Priority 2 / 3 / etc. Wait Lists respectively
    • If the team is not registered for or has not played in at least one (1) Tournament, Tournaments will be evaluated in the team's preference order and the team will be added to the Registered List for the first under capacity Tournament
Non-Pennsylvania teams are placed on the one of the Wait Lists based on the following criteria:
  • Non-Pennsylvania teams will be added to the Wait List one priority low than their preference - 1st / 2nd / 3rd / etc. Preference will be added to the Priority 2 / 3 / 4 / etc. Wait List

At six (6) weeks prior to the Tournament date
If the Tournament is under capacity, teams are offered spots on the Registered List  by processing the Priority 1 / 2 / etc. Wait Lists.

The Team Contacts identified in the Tournament registration request will receive an email offer to move to the Registered List.  The Team Contacts have three (3) business days to respond to the offer, after which the offer is rescinded and the team is removed from the Wait List.  The Team Contacts will receive an email confirming their choice or indicating the the offer has been rescinded.


Registration requests received between six (6) weeks and two (2) weeks prior to the Tournament date
All (Pennsylvania and non-Pennsylvania) teams are placed on the Registered List or a Priority Wait List in the following criteria until Registration closes:
  • If the Tournament is under capacity, teams are added to the Registered List
  • If the Tournament is at capacity, teams are added to the lowest Priority Wait List

Registration closes two (2) weeks prior to the Tournament date
Registration requests will be accepted up to two (2) weeks prior to the Tournament date. The Pennsylvania FTC Affiliate Partner at his discretion may accept registration requests after the registration period is closed.


Tournament Registration Fees

Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics must receive the Tournament registration fee at least two (2) weeks prior to the Tournament.  Requests for exceptions must be submitted to ftc.events@pennfirst.org


Team No-Shows

No-shows are not in the spirit of Gracious Professionalism and are not permitted. Teams that cannot participate due to circumstances beyond the control of the team (e.g. school closings, severe weather, etc.) will not be considered no-shows if the Pennsylvania FTC Affiliate Partner is notified prior to the start of the Tournament.  Consequences of no-shows include, but are not limited to the following:
  • Loss of eligibility to attend the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament
  • Reduced registration priority for future Tournaments
  • Forfeiture of Tournament registration fees.

Team Withdrawals

Withdrawals are not in the spirit of Gracious Professionalism Professionalism and are generally not permitted. The consequences for withdrawing from a Tournament are the same as for No-Shows, with the exceptions as noted below.  The Pennsylvania FTC Affiliate Partner or delegate reserves the right to review and approve/deny withdrawal requests.  Withdrawal requests must be directed to  ftc.events@pennfirst.org.

Withdrawal Exceptions:
  • A team on a Tournament Registered List may withdraw from the Tournament without penalty under the following conditions:
  1. A team is permitted one (1) Withdrawal from a Tournament Registered List per season 
  2. The Withdrawal request must be directed to ftc.events@pennfirst.org
  3. The Withdrawal request must be received at least three (3) weeks prior to Tournament date
A team on one of the Tournament 


Tournament Rescheduling and Cancellation

The decision to reschedule or cancel a Tournament is not undertaken lightly. The situations most likely to cause this include, but are not limited to:
  • Severe weather conditions.
  • Exceptional circumstances including extended power outage, loss of heating/air conditioning, loss of water, fire, natural disaster, etc.
  • Significant illness that might involve the closing of a facility prior to a Tournament.
The Pennsylvania FTC Affiliate Partner and Tournament Host will determine if there will be a delay, early dismissal, rescheduling, or cancellation of the Tournament.  If the Tournament has to be rescheduled or canceled before the Tournament day, teams will be notified by an email sent to the team’s main and alternate contacts as designated in the team’s registration with FIRST and the contact information provided during Tournament registration. The information will also be displayed on the Pennsylvania FTC website, http://www.ftcpenn.org.


Revision History
9/1/2014 - Original Release for 2014-2015 Season
9/15/2014 - Fixed issue for out-of-state teams registering during vs. after the Priority Registration Period.
10/11/2014 - Changed the Priority Registration Period from a fixed date (10/13/14) to six (6) weeks before a given Tournament date.
6/5/2015 - Updated Tournament registration date for the 2015-2016 Season
8/21/2015 - Updated the Preference and Wait List assignments process for the 2015-2016 Season