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First Lego League in Virginia and DC

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From:
Bdh612-ess <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Bdh612-ess <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Thu, 24 Oct 2013 18:40:56 -0400
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Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 24, 2013, at 6:07 PM, Mac Duis <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Once the plane is released, can the team take down the wire?
> 
> Mac Duis
> 
> Karen Berger <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>> In addition to what Nick said about the timing (VA/DC FLL would not be possible like this without the support of JMU so we really are tied to their schedule - it takes hundreds of people to pull off the Championship tournament!), I wanted to address the other question that was asked - about qualifying to advance to the Championship tournament.  This is a long explanation but I hope it will answer many of the questions that we get each year about awards and advancing.
>>  
>> The number of teams advancing is determined based on the number of teams in each division at each tournament.  The same percentage of teams is used for all tournaments and for both divisions (so the more teams in a division, the more teams advance).  The percentage is based on the total space that we have at the Championship tournament so we cannot accept additional teams.  Each tournament also receives awards to give out based on the number of teams in each division at their tournament. 
>>  
>> FIRST Lego League has a policy that teams can only receive one judged award (and all awards are considered judged except for the robot performance award) so the only way for a team to win 2 awards is for one of them to be robot performance.  All tournaments will have 1st place Champion, Robot Performance, Robot Design, Research Project and Core Values but some tournament will have additional awards (2nd places and/or Judge awards), depending on the number of teams in each division.  All awards are handled separately for each division.  All award decisions are made by the judges in a deliberation process.
>>  
>> The robot performance award is based on each team's top score.  Championship awards and the three judging areas are based on the judging performance (teams are ranked against each other and discussed during judge deliberations).  These rankings are NOT released to the teams (a FIRST policy) but we will return the judge comment forms to the teams.  In addition to performing best overall across all three judging areas, a team should be in the top 40% of robot performance scores to win the Championship award.
>>  
>> Advancement is based on the same criteria as the championship awards.  The team(s) that perform the best overall for the three judging areas and are in the top 40% on robot performance will advance (the number advancing determined by the number of teams in a division at a tournament).  This may mean that if more than one team in a division advances, a team that did not win any awards may advance if they did better overall than some of the teams that won in specific areas. It may also mean that a team that wins an award does not advance if they did not do as well in all three judging events and/or there are not enough advancing spots available.  Tournament directors do not determine how many advance (we dictate that to them) and cannot add additional teams.
>>  
>> I hope this helps explain the process for those who are unsure.  The best way to understand it though is to go through it so I recommend that those interested in experiencing it first hand volunteer to judge at an event.  It is NOT a conflict of interest to volunteer at an event that your team is not participating in and we're an all-volunteer organization that runs on a not-so-small army so we're always looking for more help.  You can submit a volunteer interest form and find more information at http://www.vadcfll.org/volunteer.html.
>>  
>> Thanks and we look forward to seeing the more than 500 teams that are signed up for the 23 regions in November.  It should be an exciting season!
>>  
>> Karen
>> ----
>> Karen Berger
>> VA/DC FLL Regional Tournament Coordinator
>> Newport News and Norfolk Regional Tournament Director
>>  
>> -------- Original Message --------
>> Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] Qualifier scheduling
>> From: "Swayne, Nick - swaynedd" <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Wed, October 23, 2013 8:35 pm
>> To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> 
>> There are a number of reasons – predominantly due to resources, competing activities and the folks at JMU who run the championship.
>> 
>> VA-DC FLL is the biggest program in the world of FIRST so it takes a lot of folks and tournaments to make it work.  One of the driving forces for the qualifying schedule is that the championship has to happen in the fall semester.
>> 
>> There are a number of other programs in the US who follow the same schedule – so we're not unique.
>> 
>> I coached a team for 5 years and we were never "ready" but always advanced to the Championship tournament.  Nobody feels they are ready in November but you have to remember that everyone starts at the same time – the rules and mission details are disclosed globally on the same date so everyone is equally well/poorly prepared.
>> 
>> For the past 2 years the team that won the VA-DC FLL Championship competed on the first weekend and had a VERY low robot performance score at their qualifying tournament.  By going on the first weekend they knew they were going to advance (well in advance), had time to raise funds, had more time to focus their practice based on feedback from the judges, and had the opportunity to watch other tournaments and see how others solved some of the missions.
>> 
>> Time is often one of many limiting resources that engineers and scientists must deal with so this is a very realistic approximation of life – it is thrilling and exasperating at the same time.
>> 
>> From: Rahman Rasulzada <[log in to unmask]>
>> Reply-To: Rahman Rasulzada <[log in to unmask]>
>> Date: Wednesday, October 23, 2013 8:03 PM
>> To: vadcfll <[log in to unmask]>
>> Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] Qualifier scheduling
>> 
>> I do agree.
>> VA DC almost  2month ahead to other states.:)
>> Also, out of 20 teams only 2 or 3 will qualify regional, but  is overal 1st , 2nd 3rd? Or each categories , 1st place? 
>> On Oct 23, 2013 7:51 PM, "Fredrik Nyman" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> It seems that VA-DC schedules the regional qualifiers awfully early. Maryland does theirs in Dec/Jan. 
>>> 
>>> The later start seems like a better idea considering that school-based rookie teams usually start in mid-September, a few weeks after school starts. 
>>> 
>>> I am curious why Virginia's qualifiers run so early and wondering if it would be possible/desirable to run future qualifiers later in the years so teams get more time to practice? 
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>> 
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> 
> -- 
> Sent from my Android phone with K-9 Mail. Please excuse my brevity.
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