IO5: Preparing for Tournament Registration TOMORROW

Greetings FIRST LEGO League Oregon,

In today's FIRST LEGO League Oregon Update we will cover these topics:

1. How to Register for an Oregon Qualifying Tournament
2. How to Pay for an Oregon Qualifying Tournament
3. What is in a Name? - A MUST READ FOR NEW COACHES
4. Team Checkpoint - What you should be working on, right now.

Use this link to read this update as a blog post

  If you are new to this email or blog this is the place where you will find all of the OREGON specific FIRST LEGO League information. If you are in the FIRST Dashboard as a team coach of a registered team for INTO ORBIT you will be added to this list every week for the rest of the competition season. Every update this season begins with IO (Into Orbit) and a number, that number lets you know which update it is, if you miss an update you can find it on our blog.

1) How to Register for an Oregon Qualifying Tournament

Both Lead Coaches who are affiliated with teams registered with FIRST in the Oregon region (this is done on your team profile page in the Dashboard - more below) Will receive an email at 5 PM TOMORROW - Wednesday, October 10 with the link to register their team for an Oregon Qualifying Tournament. To be ready, we strongly recommend you download this sample guide so you have all of your answers handy when the system launches tomorrow.  We WILL NOT accept this paper application for your team. You must register electronically starting tomorrow.

Information about Registration (and Payments) can be found here.

If your team is in Washington or California and you plan to ONLY* participate in Oregon this year. Your Lead Coaches or Team Admin need to:

• Log in to your account at www.firstinspires.org. 
• Select Team Information -> Team Profile
• Directly below City, State you have the option for REGION - this dropdown should be set to Oregon. 

*FIRST LEGO League teams may only participate in one region (typically Oregon for teams on this list), even if the seasons are not at the same time (like the Adventist League. 

2) How to Pay for an Oregon Qualifying Tournament

ORTOP FIRST LEGO League Qualifying Tournament Application Fees are $200 with a sliding option of up to $100 in discount automatically matched by ORTOP's sponsors.

You may pay for multiple teams at once. The official FIRST Team number and coach’s name are required for each team. All requests for discounts are automatically granted, please only pay the amount you are able by requesting a discount up to $100 per team. A reason for the needed discount is REQUIRED. Your team may pay using a credit card online, check, or purchase order. If your team is using a check or purchase order please attach the ORTOP payment forms!  

If your team received their Qualifying Tournament application fee as part of their ORTOP Team Support Award, you do not need to pay for this process. Please check your award letter to verify. 

3) What is in a Name? - A MUST READ FOR NEW COACHES

Your team's name is a key component of their identity. The Qualifying Tournament Application is where we get the name your team will be using at the tournament. THIS NAME WILL BE USED ON ALL OREGON PRINTED MATERIALS. Even if you change it in the FIRST Dashboard, we will not be changing it at the tournament. The tournament directors do not have access to the FIRST system and they will use the name you enter in the survey monkey application for all tournament materials.

Your team name must meet the following criteria:

• It must be a name that meets the intent of Gracious Professionalism. Terms like "killer" (when used as a noun), "murder", references to violent video games, violent TV shows, or violent music groups, references to alcohol, racial slurs, etc will not be accepted. We have young people who check our team names, and we know how to use Google. If the name raises a red flag, we will ask your team to change it or I will rename your team "WE LUV ORTOP" 
• Your team name should be relatively short, please note if you have a long team name we may have to use a microscopic font in programs and your full team name may not appear on all material.
• Your team name will be printed EXACTLY how you spell it, including capitalization. 
• Our system will not let you enter superscripts or subscripts easily, you may use them, but please accept that it may not appear as you intended.
• "Battle Bots" is a trademark and can not be used by teams, sorry.
• LEGO (if used) must be in all caps and should never be plural. (I may change your name if this is not followed)

4) Team Checkpoint - What you should be working on, right now.

We are just starting the Oregon INTO ORBIT season. Your team should have or be close to having the following things:

• An Official FIRST team number! This must be done by tomorrow. Please call ORTOP if you can't find this.  It's critically important.
• Your team should have 2 ADULT coaches who are in the FIRST system and have completed their background check with Verified Volunteers.
• Your team should have a Team Name that is Gracious and FUN!
• Your team should be starting to work together using the FIRST Core Values. Bonus if they can name all of the reworded Core Values!
• You should have the Challenge Guide, Judging Rubrics (remember we are using a pilot Core Values Rubric, and Game Updates downloaded and easy to reference with your team.
• Your team should have a Project Challenge problem IDENTIFIED. They do not need to have it solved yet, but your team will want to be close to a solution by the start of November. If you have spent all your time on the robot, put that away until next month and get this project challenge under control. 
• You should know if your team will be attending the Expert Night on October 17 &18 at OMSI at either 5pm or 7pm.  We will be doing our best to live stream one of the 7pm events (probably Wednesday).
• You should have your INTO ORBIT kit on the way, it does not need to be built yet - the Project should be your early priority.

If your team has accomplished all of these things you are ahead for this season, so far! Great job Coaches!

Thank you for your patience and support while I'm still on modified medical leave. I know this is especially hard on our new coaches. I encourage all coaches to make use of the blog comment space and our Facebook page to pose questions and get support.  Experienced coaches, please check these spaces and help as you are able.

Thank you all for being a fabulous community! 

Best Wishes,

Loridee