[GaryVoshol]

I blame it on my daughter's 4th grade teacher, lo these many years ago. She said, "I really think B.... should be on the team." (It was near the beginning of FLL; they didn't compete that year but did compete in Volcanic Panic the next year.) It snowballed from there. As Dean says, you get sucked in ...

After 4 years of FLL, she moved on to FRC. My wife and I thought we ought to give a little something back, and volunteered to work at the FLL state championship; we kept technical judging on time! 7 years later we're still at it, reffing and judging, because we think the program is so good for the kids.

In her first year at FRC, we found that just watching from the stands is really boring, especially on Thursday. So I started volunteering in FRC as well - pit admin, queuing, and eventually refereeing. Again, I keep with it because I like working with the kids, and can see how much this program can do to help kids.