Problems Getting Started etc. etc.

[Descartes]

Heya First Forumites.
I am a long time member of an original FRC Team who has just started mentoring a fairly new FLL team. But I'm having some problems.

The team is sponsored and run through our local Boys and Girls club, and its actually been trying to run for about 3 years. Unfortunately, we have problems with team dedication, with funding, and with generally getting going.

At this point, I'm not even sure where to get started trying to get these kids going with this years Lego League Competition. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Jillian B.]

Hey, Id' be glad to offer some help. I've coached FLL for four years, for five different schools, and partcipated myself in FIRST Robotics for four years.

Let me know more about the problem. I'll see what I can do. You can reach me at JBejtlich@gmail.com.

Jillian

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Ryan,
You need to start small with small goals that are attainable. Then build on your successes. Before you know it the students will be off and running. As in FRC, the team needs a driving base. It doesn't need to be great just yet, just good enough to let software get a crack at putting a program together. Go for the easiest thing on the table to accomplish. This year, pushing a chair or grabbing the glasses are two of the easiest. To get the glasses a robot needs to go forward, turn and drive back. Add a simple hook on the front of the robot and you are set. About a 2 hour job to complete.
Then add to that. When the designers realize the base is going to fall apart they will start to make a more robust design. The programmers will need more than just a simple turn but they will already have figured how to do that by trying other things in the software.
A big challenge will be teaching teamwork, keeping on task and GP. With this age, teamwork is a challenge since the student views change daily and are affected more by what they had (or didn't have) for lunch and how much sleep they got last night. Plan a mini competition weekly to help stay on task and hammer GP at every opportunity.
Thanks for stepping up to the plate and helping out.

[DFisher]

uuuhhh . . . what's GP, Al?

[Rich Kressly]

Gracious Professionalism.
It's at the heart of everything we do in FIRST.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Originally Posted by DFisher

uuuhhh . . . what's GP, Al?

D,
GP is so ingrained in the high school program and in FIRST in general, I keep forgetting that rookies and FLL teams may not have heard of it yet. The concept is simply that we are all on one big team. We help each other out whenever needed or asked, we answer questions about our strategy, design or software and gladly show off our robot to anyone interested. I know that this sounds rather farfetched with the sports mentality we are all brought up with but it does work. In the high school competition it goes as far as to force teams to play together as alliances when competing. This concept forces students and mentors to freely exchange ideas and thoughts for the greater good. It is why you can turn to this forum and get answers from people you will compete against and not worry that someone is giving you a wrong answer. I write here and answer questions because I want you and your students to suceed. If you beat our team, all the better, I know I had a hand in your success.
Essentially, GP embodies all the fundamentals of guidlines like the Boy Scout Law, etc. and in it's simplest form it means acting (everywhere and all the time) like your grandmother is watching. So when I say "Ask me anything" you know I mean it and if I don't have an answer I will defer to someone who will. You are never alone in FIRST, just ask for help.