Hello everyone. A coworker of mine was looking for local FLL team in Edmonton for his kid. Local FLL facilitator wasn’t much help in locating and helping to find a team and basically told him to go and start his own team giving just a generic reference to FLL website.
He is serious enough to help his kid’s interest in Lego Robotics that his is considering to start the new team.
I provided as much info as I could from my involvement in FRC this past season, but there is more to running FLL team than the things i was exposed to as FRC mentor.
So I am asking for help (advice, references, insights, budget details, optimal team size, etc) so that he can start and run successful FLL team.
Optimal team size - I prefer 6-8, though the ratio of adults to kids matters a lot (significantly more than just straight up team size). I keep my ratios at 2-3 kids per adult. Much above 8 gets crowded no matter how many adults you have.
Budget details - PM me, I’ll email a spreadsheet.
Schedules - Plan on at least 4 hours per week. I usually split that up into two meeting days. As competition approaches (T-4 weeks usually) I give smaller groups of kids the option of extra meeting time to work on robot programs. A highly competitive team that is set on qualifying for competitions before initial qualifying event will require significantly more time and dedication.
This is the most frequently asked question coming into the FLL planning committees and the process is often misunderstood. FLL has the support of thousands of volunteers on planning committees who help get teams registered, offer workshops, enlist even more volunteers to host events including finding even more volunteers to help at events. It is all volunteer-driven. Logistically it is almost impossible to “place” a student on a team as these teams are created in all different ways and just like FRC, are run based on what works for the group.
I hope your co-worker takes the plunge. FLL is a blast! We are looking at almost 400 teams and 21 events in my state next year. It took hundreds of people just to put on the events last year so that each team had one qualifier to attend. It is insane, but a lot of fun.
There are many FRC teams who support FLL teams and events - and they are filled with great advice. There is also a lot of great information on the website.
Team registration is open now. You need two adults to complete registration per Youth Protection policies. Field set up kits are shipping now, so the sooner a team is registered and paid the sooner they will get their kit.
I think official FLL kickoff is August 26th. Website with that info here. If you start a little before or after that date it doesn’t much matter, as there’s plenty to do beforehand (especially for a first year team) but if you don’t get started you’ll have time to catch up.
Build period and competition structure are regionally dependent, so you’d need to specify where in Canada you are. In Michigan (where I am) teams attend one qualifying event on (usually) one of three weekends in November, where they have the opportunity to qualify to move on to states. States takes place the first or second week in December and the season wraps up before December break. We have one of the more limited/condensed schedules. Some areas have qualifying events after the new year even, with state championships in February. Some areas allow teams to attend more than one qualifying event.
Unfortunately we are not spoiled here with vast number of the FIRST teams here in Edmonton. We had only 4 FRC teams registered past season and only 2 competed in regionals.
So this thread is an attempt to get him on a right track and well equipped.
Oops, read to fast. I see that you did specify a location. This website here is a bit out of date, but notes that the 2013 FLL Championship was on January 18th. If they stay consistent that may give you an idea of the build period. The contact listed on that sire may be the person to ask which weekends qualifying and championship events will be held on this year. There is no concept of bag and tag or stop build in FLL, so event dates determine the length of the build period.
Acting now would be best. FLL registration is only open for anther month and there will most likely be shipping delays. There just always seems to be when it comes to FLL items.
My mom created an FLL team back during the Power Puzzle season as my brother was not allowed to join the team our school had. Their team was only open to those in the gifted program and my brother was never tested due to school politics. She has paid all the costs except t-shirt costs for her teams (a couple years she had 2 teams and if I remember correctly she has now purchased 3 Mindstorm kits and 1 EV3 kits). With FLL being such a low cost program (comparatively to FTC or FRC) it is more manageable for a community team to be created and 1 parents pay the costs or some teams break it down between each students. Although after the Mindstorm or EV3 is bought the costs go down for the following years. The first year will be about $1000 depending on how you do do it and every year thereafter will be about $600.
As for everything else this years game is World Class and game materials will be released later this month. I’d urge him to read the coaches manual that will be included in his items. It can really help reduce anxiety and stress of the unknown of how it functions. Most teams meet for a few hours every week. I think my mom got to a point where she had 4 days that kids could come and work. It worked best as most were involved in other things or had siblings who were involved in other things. You’ll be able to work up until and during your competition. Depending on your area there may be scrimmages/rumbles where you can go “compete” against other teams and work out issues in a simulated competition environment. I believe most areas have gone to a qualifier system for FLL. This would mean there are smaller events that a portions of the local FLL teams attend. There will be an awards ceremony and teams will be invited to go to the Local/State Championship, or this may be the only event offered if there isn’t a large amount of teams in your area/state. This functions exactly like the qualifier just with possibly more teams.
In case you were wondering how the FLL teams that go to the Championship in STL were selected, its done with a lottery. They randomly select local/state championship events to send 1 team. Usually, or how I’ve seen it done, is the team that wins the Champion’s Award on years that even was selected go.
Take the plunge!! All the above information and advice given so far is right on the money.
I would add, read EVERYTHING on the FLL website. There is a plethora of information, both technical and non technical on everything FLL including links to other sites with even MORE info.
Contact your Operational Partner for qualifying tournaments and competition structure. Typically a team would attend a qualifying tournament to get to the Provicial Champs. Then on to World Festival if Edmonton has a bid this year. (It rotates among all the countries, states and provinces.)
I might be a little late to the party but I did write up a fairly comprehensive how-to for starting an FLL team. It’s aimed at a student reader, but the information is still relevant:
Do you mind if I use this? I’ll keep your cover sheet with it of course. I do not anticipate that I will be doing much with FLL as in my year as a FIRST VISTA but I love having information on hand because you never know who you’ll meet.
