I want to re-iterate what Nick, and others, have said. Quite simply, there is never enough time. Never. I coached for 7 years (and the teams did well) and we never had enough time. And that’s how life is. If we can teach our FLLers how to make the most of the limited resources they have and most notably the limited time they have available, then we’ve truly taught them a life lesson. FLL teaches kids about engineering, programming, team work, Gracious Professionalism, and Co-opertition. VA/DC FLL’s season adds to those things by emphasizing time management, focus, and grace under pressure. And these are lessons I wish more people I come in contact with professionally understood better. The season may seem overwhelming at times but don’t forget that you are teaching your team valuable lessons in the process.
John
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John J. Barrett
Industrial Medium Software, Inc. | 1616 Anderson Road | McLean, VA 22102 | http://www.industrialmedium.com
(cell) 703-231-5094 | (office) 703-286-0818 | (fax) 703-286-0888
On Oct 23, 2013, at 8:35 PM, Swayne, Nick - swaynedd <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 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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