First, if you talk to a Rookie Coach this year--please congratulate them on
getting this far! How many of you remember your rookie year? Even more than
rookie teams, I believe that rookie coaches deserve a grand round of
applause for taking up the FLL challenge because without them we wouldn't
have so many FLL teams! Now to all coaches--thank you!

Here are some suggestions for the future (after Dec 6th) 

I've seen robots get broken at tournaments and during the days or nights
just before tournaments and it does cause heartache but there are many ways
to minimize the risk. Maybe after the season we can gather a list of
coaches' suggestions for preventing this kind of accident and then condense
it so it can be shared around the world.

Also, the housekeeping issue of where attachments and extra items or mission
models can be stored/held seems to always be decided after many teams have
held their last meeting and I'd like to propose that that be ironed out well
before the season begins next year so that teams are not having to scramble
and revise their strategies on the fly at the tournaments. There is usually
enough improvising that needs to happen on Tournament Day to not add
something that we know has come up every year. This will help give kids at
different tournaments a similar experience and it will allow the referees a
chance to know up front so coaches and referees don't have to discuss
interpretations at the tournament. I'm not coaching this year but I had this
conversation last year with our referees and then it was different at states
but I know that we can constructively address this issue, keeping the best
interest of the kids in mind while making the volunteer job easier also.   

Good luck to all teams going to tournaments this weekend and congratulations
to those who participated last weekend!

Ginny Echelberger
Charlottesville

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