Greetings,

Since volunteers are expected to schedule community-organized events for Jr. 
FLL themselves, and teams may not be ready to exhibit until different months, 
and organizers don't have to publicize the events at all, and teams don't have 
to hold or attend an event at all, the number of Jr. FLL events advertised are 
understandably sporadic and dynamic.  

For our JrFLL team over the last 2 seasons, if I recall correctly, I saw official, 
regional events - typically at the Smithsonian or Richmond or JMU - advertised 
well on this listserv.  As the season progressed, I found both official and some 
community-organized, Jr. FLL events in the "Event" listings on the 
USFIRST.org web site.

Here's a possible tip:  If you have team members that are able to travel a bit, 
add officially-organized events in MD or maybe WV as candidates to give you 
more choices that work best otherwise for your team.  I had inquired and 
learned that you don't have to reside in Maryland to attend an official, 
Maryland event.  Any combo event such as the MD FIRST Chesapeake 
Regional or a  VADC FLL Qualifier exposes Jr. FLL teams to the 'bigger kids' 
FIRST experience.  The MDfirst.org and VADCfll.org portals advertise annual, 
recurring events.

I believe the "TeamUP" portal on USFIRST.org is supposed to be used to form 
teams instead of this listserv.  I did not happen to use either since my 
neighborhood has a local alternative.

To help explain the limited number of events, some JrFLL teams end up 
neighborhood-centric.  At my elementary school, a volunteer organizes 
an "open house" afterschool event and shares a signup list with those 
interested in forming Jr. FLL and FLL teams and coaching (also recorded in a 
Google Group).  Later, some of the JrFLL teams that form might collaborate on 
the logistics of scheduling a neighborhood event but only publish their event if 
their venue has room for additional teams.  

Over the last 2 years, in my experience, more Northern VA community events 
were publicly offered after December than before.  In our first Jr. FLL season, 
there was no neighborhood event organized (only 2 teams in that pool and 
attended official events instead - VADC and MD, respectively).  In our second 
season (with a much larger neighborhood pool), a neighborhood event was 
organized in a library meeting room.  Our FIRST team has aged out of Jr. FLL 
this coming season.

I hope this helps!

Have fun with Jr. FLL

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