My teams were all girls, which is a BIG difference, but FWIW, it never made sense to me to have multiple robots. Instead, we divided the team according to interests: robot, programming, research, logo/T-shirts/swag, etc. There was of course lots of cross-discussion, especially about strategy for specific missions, but that allowed focus. I also had a co-coach who drove some of those groups, so I could focus on mentoring the programming/robot teams.

--
Phil Smith III
Virginia State Judge Advisor, 2007, 2008
Judge Advisor, Northern Virginia Regional tournaments, 2006
Division 1 Judge Advisor, Virginia State tournament, 2006

Coach, The Capital Girls, Oak Hill (retired)
Team 1900 (2002)
Team 2497 (2003)
Team 2355 (2004)
Team 1945 (2005)

 

From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Karen McSweeney Contreras
Sent: Monday, September 14, 2009 10:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VADCFLL-L] question

 

 

This is a general question for the LL community: This is my fourth year coaching a LL team (two as JFLL, second as FLL).  This year, I have six 6th grade boys.  They are at varying stages of focusing abilities and interest in the tasks at hand.  (Typical boys of their age!.)  Any suggestions on how to get the most out of the season?  Last year, we used 3 ‘bots and three lap tops and that seemed to be too all-over-the-place.  I am going to try 2 ‘bots and ‘2 laptops this year (then we combine everything into 1 ‘bot).  Any thoughts on how to divide kids/tasks/etc…?

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