League, Qualifier Tournament (QT), and Regional Championship Information
Our Span: SoCal FTC spans 230 mile from San Juan Capistrano, CA to Pismo Beach, and 125 miles from Santa Monica to Palm Springs, Palmdale and Perris. View our map here.
Event Structure Summary: League Scrimmage Play and Qualifier Competition: In order to give all teams across our eight counties opportunities to compete, iterate, and improve with their robots, we use the League Scrimmage model for pre-season and the Qualifier model for Competition to advance to SoCal FTC Championships. Each team plays 4 scrimmages in a League grouping of 10-20 teams, and each team progresses to one Qualifier tournament. Top teams (as determined by FIRST advancement criteria) will advance to the SoCal Regional Championship. The next advancing teams from each Qualifier advance to a Wildcard Qualifier — a second chance event to advance to the Regional Championship.
Please note: Leagues operate under a community model and teams are expected to contribute to its success. Therefore, each team is required to provide at least one volunteer per League Scrimmage (there are four: Scrimmage 0, 1, 2, 3) and potentially one or two volunteers for the Qualifier Tournament.
SoCal FTC Registration: The single payment to compete in the SoCal FTC Region League Scrimmage/Qualifier system is $300. Note: this is a separate fee from the $350.00 FIRST registration fee that is paid directly to FIRST. The $300 SoCal FTC registration fee covers up to four League events (Scrimmages 0-3), one Qualifier Tournament. Teams may be invited to one Wildcard Tournament, depending on advancement. There is an additional fee of $100 if a team is invited to the Wildcard Tournament. Your team is not required to attend all events but is strongly encouraged to do so. Each team must register and pay both FIRST and SoCal FTC to retain their League placement in order to play. Payment can be by credit card via PayPal, check, or a full PO (not just the number). When a team registers with FIRST, the team mentors will receive an email inviting them to register with SoCal FTC with the link provided to do so. If you have questions about registration details, please reach out to socalftcinfo@gmail.com.
SoCal FTC League Play: Leagues are communities of 10 to 20 teams that are located geographically close. The League plays 4 Scrimmages, with 5 matches in each half-day event, and runs approximately 2 weeks apart on either Saturdays or Sundays, determined by the host. This typically works out to one Scrimmage in October, one or two Scrimmages in November, and one or two in December and perhaps one in January. All Scrimmages are held on weekends to avoid impacts to after-school activities, homework, and weeknight traffic. Scrimmages run 3-4 hours. This is game play only, with no judging. If a team competes in Scrimmages 1, 2, and 3 – a team can accumulate 15 match results. The League Champion will be determined using the standard FTC calculations as described in Section 14 of the Game Manual. EVERY TEAM is invited to compete in one Qualifier Tournament. None of your League Scrimmage scores will follow you to your Qualifier Tournament. Your alliance ranking will only be based on that day’s tournament results.
SoCal FTC League Assignments: Once you have registered with FIRST, you will receive an email from SoCal FTC with a link to the League registration and payment, and assigning you to a League. If you are a veteran team, you will be assigned to the League you previously attended; if you are a new team, you will be assigned based on zip code and availability. If you wish to change Leagues, you may request to be switched. This, however, can only be done once, is subject to availability, and must be done before the first League Scrimmage. The Leagues can be found here. For any questions, please contact socalftcinfo@gmail.com.
Meet Volunteers: Even though there is a Host for each League, the SoCal FTC Region requires that all teams in that League provide a minimum of one volunteer for each of the four events (Scrimmage 0, 1, 2, 3). FIRST HQ has online training for positions. The volunteer doesn’t need to be the same person for all four Scrimmages. With fifteen Leagues and four Scrimmages over eight weekends, there will be three or four Scrimmages in different parts of SoCal on the same Saturday or Sunday. So, while the SoCal FTC Committee will help organize the events, we are part-time volunteers and cannot run all the events alone. We need each team to take an active role, so when your League Host calls your team, please provide a responsible volunteer(s) to help. Positions range from non-technical to technical, and include positions such as Volunteer Coordinator, Registration/Team Check-In, Robot Inspector, Field Inspector, Field Technical Advisor, Queuer, Scorekeeper, Referees, Game Resetter, Field Setup, and Field Teardown.
Qualifier Tournament (QT): Every team is invited to one Qualifier Tournament. There are no eliminations from League-level Scrimmages – everyone is invited to compete at a QT. The QT event is a full day event, complete with Alliance Selection and playoffs, as well as judging and an Awards Ceremony with trophies. It is labor-intensive to set up and tear down the full venue, so in some cases we have booked locations for the full weekend so as to minimize the time-consuming set-up and tear-down.
QT Structure: Each QT event has a range of 24-36 teams competing. Leagues are pre-assigned a QT date / location. Two to three Leagues could compete at one QT. There will be two competition fields with matches moving from one field to the other. The day starts for teams and volunteers at 7 am. Judging and Robot Inspection start promptly at 8 am, so teams need to check in and set up their table in the pit area before 8 am. Following the completion of judging interviews, the opening ceremony starts at approximately 10 am. For round robin play, teams typically play 6 matches. The points from these 6 matches are used to determine the order of Alliance Selection and Playoffs. Playoffs run from approximately 3 pm to 5 pm, with an Awards Ceremony immediately following completion of the final match. The goal is to finish by 6-7 pm, but that is dependent on the complexity of the game and any technical difficulties during the day.
The top 5 teams (based on FIRST criteria) from each of the seven QTs will proceed to the SoCal Championships. The next 4 teams (per award advancement order) from each of the 7 completed QTs will be invited to compete at the WILDCARD Tournament, a second chance to advance to the Championship. Also, the hosts from QT’s 1-7 will advance to the WILDCARD. This event will have judging, awards, and advancement, similar to QTs 1-7. The top 7 teams (based on FIRST criteria) will also advance to the SoCal Regional Championship.
QT Volunteers: Tournaments will be managed by a host, who is responsible for recruiting the 75+ volunteers needed to run the event. We ask the participating teams to help out an volunteer. Roles run from the high-touch people roles to high-tech robot interface roles, and there is a great role for people no matter what their background is. See FIRSTInspires.org for descriptions of volunteer roles and this link for manuals for a list of volunteer roles and their descriptions. All Volunteers must be registered within the FIRST VIMS Volunteer system and all adults (18 and older) must pass Youth Protection clearance, which may take up to 7 days. All volunteers and mentors must also complete California AB506 screening.
Regional Championship Structure: The Championship consists of the 48 top teams from the Qualifier Tournaments plus advancing teams from the Wildcard (number TBD). There will be two competition fields with matches moving from one field to the other. The day starts for teams and volunteers at 7am. Judging and Robot Inspection start promptly at 8am, so teams need to check in and set up their tables in the pit area from 7am to 8am. Following the competition and judging interviews, the opening ceremony starts at approximately 10am. For round robin play, teams typically play six matches. This is a clean slate and no points are brought forward from the Qualifier Tournaments. With 48 teams, Alliance selection will start later than in Qualifiers, approximately 4pm and Playoffs run from approximately 4pm to 6pm. The Awards Ceremony follows and depending on the complexity of the game or any technical issues, we will end at 7-8pm. The top percentage of teams (based on FIRST criteria, published in the Game Manuals) will proceed to the World Championship in Houston, Texas.
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