FloridaFTC

2024-2025 Florida FIRST Tech Challenge Season

Welcome to the 2024-2025 season for Florida FIRST Tech Challenge! This season game is INTO THE DEEP sponsored by RTX.

The Kickoff for this season is Saturday Sep 9th. While the Kickoff can be watched via the FIRSTINSPIRES website, it is recommended that Florida view the kickoff through the FIRST In Florida YouTube Channel. Or attend an in-person event. The YouTube show will kick off at 11AM.

Every Florida League will have the opportunity to attend an in-person event, and all of the in-person events will play the Florida and FIRST online virtual event content. Most importantly, teams will have an opportunity to participate in the Florida Kick-off event.  We will be looking for some help with introducing each in-person kick-off event, answering  robot rule questions, guessing the INTO THE DEEP^SM game element, and ask Bob & Sid any game specific rule questions. The following are the list of in-person event locations and the start time of each location:

• AeroCoast League (doors open at 8:00am CDT) – The Doolittle Institute, 1140 John Sims Parkway, Suite 1, Niceville, FL 32569
• F.U.N. League (doors open at 10:15am EDT) -- American Heritage Delray, 6200 Linton Blvd, Delray Beach, FL 33484
• Gulf Coast League (doors open at 9:30am EDT) – Seminole High School, 8401 131th Street, Seminole, FL 33776
• North East Florida League (doors open at 10:15am EDT) – Bolles Bartram Campus, Parker Auditorium, 2264 Bartram Rd, Jacksonville, FL 32207
• Orlando Robotics and Space Coast Leagues (doors open at 10:20am EDT) – Trinity Preparatory School, 5700 Trinity Prep Lane, Winter Park, FL 32792
• ROBOT League (doors open at 10:15am EDT) – AMRoC FabLab, 2154 University Square Mall, Tampa, FL 33612
• South Florida League (doors open at 10:15am EDT) --- Motorola Solutions Plantation, 8000 W. Sunrise Blvd., Plantation, FL 33322

Season Schedule

The 2024-25 Florida FTC season will end with the Florida Championship on February 28 to March 1, 2025 and will again be hosted at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven, FL. We will be announcing a very big change to the Florida Championship at the beginning of the season kick-off event. The following is the overall event schedule for the 2024-25 season:

• • September 7, 2024 – Season Kick-off and game reveal
  • September and October 2024 – Leagues hosting Scrimmages, Training, and Workshops
  • October 2024 to January 2025 – League Meets
  • February 2, 2025 – Deadline for all leagues to complete the League Tournament/Championship.  The League Tournament determines which teams qualify to attend the Florida Championship
  • February 28 to March 1, 2025 – Florida Championship at the Advent Fieldhouse in Winter Haven Florida
  • April 16-19, 2025 – World Championship at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX

Florida Championship Advancement Criteria

In early December, 2024 we will announce how many teams will advance from each League Tournament to the Florida Championship.  The approach we follow is similar to how FIRST determines how many teams advance to the World Championship from each region.  All leagues will receive a minimum of 2 advancement slots and the specific number of advancement slots is based on the Relative Size of each league.  This means that larger leagues will receive a larger number of advancement slots. Last season, the smallest Florida leagues received 3 team advancement slots and our largest league had 11 advancement slots.  Team’s can receive an advancement invitation by winning a Judge award or being a part of a winning robot alliance.  Please review chapter 6.0 for the details of the Advancement Criteria.

About Florida FIRST

The Florida FIRST Tech Challenge season starts in September and runs through February. Student teams develop robots that can perform the tasks defined in the Challenge, then compete with, and against, other teams in their League Meets. The League Meets are relatively local to a group of teams with approximately one scrimmage and two to four meets. This followed by a League Championship usually in the late January time frame. The top teams from each League advance to the State Championship usually held in February. The top teams from state then qualify for the World Championship which is usually held in February.

The purpose of FIRST Tech Challenge is to give high school and middle school age students an opportunity to experience the fun and excitement of complex problem solving in a positive and supportive team environment.

Florida teams have had a long history of success at the highest levels. Florida has 6 World Champions. If you are interested in starting a team or questions about the Florida FIRST Tech Challenge program, send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Information on the Global FIRST Robotics program is available at firstinspires.org.