Manchester Monarchs FIRST Night

The Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH is hosting a Manchester Monarchs FIRST Night on Saturday, April 18 at 7 p.m. This event will serve as an end-of-the-year party for FRC teams, coaches, families, and sponsors as well as the kickoff to a great partnership between the Monarchs and NH FIRST.

Tickets are $20, with $4 going to the FIRST team of the ticket buyer's choice.

Up to 6 FRC teams will have the option to bring their robots to the Verizon Wireless Arena to showcase FIRST Robotics and show over 7,000 Monarchs fans what they have worked so hard on this season. Participating teams will be determined by group size and a first-come, first-serve basis.

Interested coaches should call or email Ryan Leach at (603) 626-7825 x.6112 or RLeach@manchestermonarchs.com or Scott Heaton, the Regional Director for NH & VT, at sheaton@nefirst.org.

We hope to see you there!

Future FIRST Championship News

In response to continually increasing interest and participation in FIRST Championship, two Championship events will be hosted beginning in 2017! Hosting FIRST Championship events in two cities on sequential weekends will enable increased capacity for FIRST to align with annual team growth and has the added benefit of easier accessibility and lower travel costs for many teams. Each Championship event will host competitions for all four FIRST robotics programs.

St. Louis will continue to host FIRST Championship events in 2015, 2016, and 2017. In 2017, FIRST will host two annual Championship events in St. Louis, MO and in Houston, TX at the George R. Brown Convention Center, the Toyota Center, (home of the Houston Rockets) and Minute Maid Park (home of the Houston Astros). In 2018 through 2020, the events will be held in Detroit, MI at Cobo Hall Convention Center and at Ford Field (home of the Detroit Lions) and Houston, TX.

See the official announcement and follow-up blog post for more information.

Connecticut FRC State Championship

The Connecticut state robotics high school championship will take place at Berlin High School on Saturday, May 16th. Teams can register to compete on the CIAC/CAS website. Registration cost is $200/team and registration closes on Friday, May 1. Additionally, anyone interested in volunteering can sign up here! Post-season events are a great way to gain experience in volunteer roles.

FIRST Championship Updates

Congrats to the New England teams who qualified for the FIRST Championship, as well as those that will be competing next week in St. Louis! The list of NE teams that qualified, as well as the teams that are attending, can be found here. The full list of teams attending Championship is here, and NE teams by sub-division are here.

FIRST Championship 2015 App

The FIRST Championship app is available in Google Play or the App Store for iPhone/iPod! The app has schedules, maps, and information about all of the events happening at the Championship event. Even if you don't have a smartphone, the Championship website also has useful information about all of the activities during Championship.

Championship Move-In Day

The recent blog post about Championship Move-In Day has key information for teams. Here are some of the important points:

• Starting at noon on Wednesday, teams will be able to go Registration in America's Center to retrieve your team's registration material. Registration badges are required for all attendees beginning Thursday morning. Registration is different than confirming your spot with FIRST; if your team has not registered yet, information about the process can be found here.
• Team equipment move in to the Pits begins Wednesday at 2pm for up to five (5) team representatives. These five representatives are encouraged to get started with all that needs to get done: pit setup, robot repairs, inspection, etc. The seating areas in the Dome will be available at this time for team members not helping with the load-in.
• Access to the Pits will be available through the 9^th Street doors and also the Plaza Entrance on Convention Boulevard.
• The Pits open to all team members starting at 5pm on Wednesday.

An overhead view and map of the venue are available to help teams find out where they need to go.

Championship Conferences

Take full advantage of the opportunities available at Championship by attending the 2015 FIRST Championship Conferences! There will be a series of sessions on topics of interest to FRC, FTC and FLL Teams, Coaches, Mentors, Students, Volunteers, and prospective participants.