Event Participation Policy


Applicability

Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics Managed Events

The Event Participation Policy applies to all Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics Managed FIRST Tech Challenge events, including Kickoffs, Workshops, Scrimmages, Meets, and Tournaments. All FTC events listed on this website are Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics Managed Events unless otherwise noted.

Team Powered Events

The Event Participation Policy applies to all events marked as “Team Powered“. Team Powered Events are hosted and managed by a Pennsylvania FIRST Tech Challenge Team. In addition to this policy, teams and their school/organization hosting Team Powered Events may have their own policies. Please contact the Event Coordinator for full details.

Conflicting Statements

In the event of a conflicting statement between this Policy and other webpages or forms on this site, this Event Participation Policy applies. Certain events may have additional participation criteria as defined on that event webpage which augment this policy.  For example a “rookie tournament” may limit participation to teams newly established this season.

Youth Protection

This section applies to all Coaches, Mentors and other Adults affiliated with a Team participating in Pennsylvania FTC events.

Pennsylvania Child Protective Services Law

In 2014, 23 pieces of legislation were enacted including Act 153 of 2014 and Act 15 of 2015, changing how Pennsylvania responds to child abuse. These changes significantly affect the reporting, investigation, assessment, prosecution and judicial handling of child abuse and neglect cases. Beginning August 25, 2015, many adult volunteers are required to obtain background checks, including the Child Abuse History Clearance, issued by the Department of Human Services, and the Criminal History Record Check, issued by the Pennsylvania State Police. More information may be found on the keep kids safe website http://keepkidssafe.pa.gov, including frequently asked questions.

The compliance of these new Pennsylvania laws is the responsibility of each individual team and their School or Organization.

FIRST Youth Protection Program

The FIRST Youth Protection Program is an important part of the protection of our youth. Although the overall goals of the Pennsylvania Child Protection Services Law and the FIRST Youth Protection Program may be similar, the background checks required by each are different and both sets are required.

Adults working with FIRST Teams are required to follow the requirements outlined in FIRST Youth Protection Program.

Consent and Release

A completed and signed FIRST Consent and Release Form for each student, coach, and mentor participating at all Workshops, Scrimmages, Meets and Tournaments.
Each student must have a signed FIRST Consent and Release Form completed by a parent or legal guardian. Students, coaches, and mentors cannot participate  in the event without a signed Consent and Release form. These forms can be filled out electronically or by hard copy.

  • Electronically – A printed FIRST Team Roster showing that each students parent or guardian has electronically filled out the Consent and Release form online. This is shown on the roster with a green checkmark.
  • Hard copy – The Coach or Mentor must bring a signed hard copy of the form signed by the student’s parent or legal guardian. 

The FIRST Team Roster from the FIRST Dashboard / Team Registration System MUST be handed in at event check-in, regardless if the coach is handing in hard copies of each Consent and Release form. If the Roster from the Team Registration System is blank, the Coach should write in the names of each student competing at the event. 

Tournament Eligibility

Qualifying Tournament

To be eligible to participate in a Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament:

  1. the team must have participated in less than three Qualifiers across all states/regions
  2. the team must not have already advanced to a FIRST Championship Tournament (aka “Worlds”)

Teams may forfeit their Event Registration Fee if they are on the Registered List for a Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament and they become ineligible to participate in a Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament. If the team is removed from a Registered List with less than two (2) weeks before the Tournament date AND the slot vacated by the team cannot be filled, the team is still responsible for the Event Registration Fee.

Championship Tournament

To be eligible to participate in the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament:

  1. the team must have advanced from a Pennsylvania FTC Qualifying Tournament
  2. the team must not have already advanced to a FIRST Championship Tournament (aka “Worlds”).

Teams may forfeit their Event Registration Fee if they are on the Registered List for the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament and they become ineligible to participate in the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament. If the team is removed from a Registered List with less than two (2) weeks before the Tournament date AND the slot vacated by the team cannot be filled, the team is still responsible for the Event Registration Fee.

Exceptions

Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics may offer an open slot at a Qualifying Tournament or Championship Tournament to a team who is not eligible to compete based on the sections above. This would generally occur after all eligible teams have declined the slot. This team will compete for fun and is not eligible for awards or advancement.

Events

Event Registration

Team coaches enter event registration requests using an online registration system located on the Pennsylvania FTC website Events Registration page.  Advanced registration is required for all events by the stated deadlines. Pennsylvania FTC at its discretion may accept registration requests after the registration period is closed. Registration for Kickoff events is requested, but not required. Registration for Meets and Qualifying Tournaments opens after the Pennsylvania FTC Kickoff event. Event registration requests for League Championships and the Pennsylvania FTC State Championship is limited to qualified teams. 

Events have a limited capacity. Teams will be placed on a Registered List or a Wait List based on capacity availability. Only teams on the Registered List may participate in the event. Some events, such as workshops and scrimmages, allocate event space on first come first served basis. Other events, such as Qualifying Tournaments, use a specialized event space allocation process.

Event Rescheduling and Cancellation

The decision to reschedule or cancel an event 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 an event.

The Pennsylvania FTC Affiliate Partner and the Event Host will determine if there will be a delay, early dismissal, rescheduling, or cancellation of the event.  If the event has to be rescheduled or canceled before the event 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 event registration. The information will also be displayed on the Pennsylvania FTC website Communications page.

Meets and Tournaments

This section applies to Meets, League Championships, Qualifying Tournaments, and the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament. In this section these events are collectively referred to as a Tournament.

Tournament Participation

Only FTC teams in good standing with FIRST and with Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics may participate in Pennsylvania FTC Tournaments. Good standing with FIRST or with Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics does not guarantee participation in a Pennsylvania FTC 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.

Qualifying Tournament Participation Limits

A Pennsylvania team may participate in no more than a total of three (3) Pennsylvania Qualifying Tournaments and Pennsylvania League Championship Tournaments. If Pennsylvania Qualifying Tournaments and/or League events are open to out-of-state teams, out-of-state teams may participate in no more than one (1) Pennsylvania Qualifying Tournament or one (1) Pennsylvania League Championship Tournament. A Tournament where a Registered team No Shows or Withdraws without an approved exception will count as if the team had participated in that Tournament.

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

Tournament Registration Fees

Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics must receive the Tournament registration fee as follows:

Qualifying Tournaments

The Event Registration Fee is due either three (3) weeks after the event registration confirmation email date or four (4) days before the Tournament date, whichever is earlier. If the Event Registration Fee is not received by the Due Date, the team will be removed from the Registered list and the open slot will then be offered to the next eligible team. If the team is removed from a Registered List with less than two (2) weeks before the Tournament date and the slot vacated by the team cannot be filled, the team is still responsible for the Event Registration Fee.

Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament

The Event Registration Fee is due either three (3) weeks after the event registration confirmation email date or four (4) days before the Tournament date, whichever is earlier. If the Event Registration Fee is not received by the Due Date, the team will be removed from the Registered list and the open slot will then be offered to the next eligible team. If the team is removed from a Registered List with less than two (2) weeks before the Tournament date and the slot vacated by the team cannot be filled, the team is still responsible for the Event Registration Fee.

Tournament 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

Tournament Team Withdrawals

Withdrawal is a team initiated request resulting in that team being removed from the Registered List of an event. These team initiated requests include:

  • a Registration System removal request resulting in the team being removed from a Tournament Registered List
  • a Registration System update/change request resulting in the team being removed from a Tournament Registered List
  • any similar requests, written or verbal, resulting in the team being removed from a Tournament Registered List

The Pennsylvania FTC Affiliate Partner or delegate will review and approve/deny all Withdrawal requests.  Withdrawal requests must be directed to ftc.events@pennfirst.org. The consequences of a Withdrawal include, but are not limited to the following:

  • reduced registration priority for future Tournaments
  • forfeiture of Tournament registration fees

Tournament Team Withdrawal Exception

A team may be approved for a Tournament Withdrawal without penalty under the following conditions:

  1. the team is permitted only one (1) Tournament Withdrawal Exception 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

If the team has been approved for a Tournament Withdrawal six (6) weeks or less before the Tournament date and the team requests to re-register for that same Tournament, then team will be added to the Priority 10 Waitlist (P10 Waitlist) of that Tournament regardless of the Preference used. The registration request will then be processed according to our standard processes. Note that this applies whether the Withdrawal and re-register requests are part of a single change request or resulting from multiple removal/change requests.

See Processing Event Registration Requests for a discussion of Preferences, Registered Lists, and Waitlists.

Revision History

  • 10/16/2021 – Clarified out-of-state team participation in the Qualifying Tournament Participation Limits section.
  • 08/31/2021 – Ported web page to new website
  • 08/04/2019 – updated Meets and Tournaments / Tournament Participation section. Updated Tournament Team Withdrawals section.
  • 08/18/2018 – Removed Team Hosted Events and added Team Powered Events in Applicability section. Removed Super-Regional and clarified fee forfeiture in Tournament Eligibility section.
  • 12/20/2017 – Updated Tournament Registration Fees section
  • 09/10/2017 – Clarified Tournament Eligibility section
  • 09/09/2017 – Added Tournament Eligibility section
  • 08/27/2017 – Added Consent and Release section
  • 08/25/2017 – Tournament Registration Fees updated
  • 11/13/2016 – Defined policy applicability for Pennsylvania FIRST Robotics Hosted Events versus Team Hosted Events.
  • 08/22/2015 – Original Release for 2015-2016 Season

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