Matt,
You’ve gotten some great advice so far. All I can add is
we started reeeeaaaaal late our first year, but were able to pull it off in the
end. The advantage we had was it was a group of homeschoolers, so we had more
freedom to meet together often.
As to team size, we have had the same team for three years now:
four boys and two girls. We found this to be about perfect for a number
of reasons:
·
It broke up nicely into three teams of two. We could
divide tasks as well as let each team run the board during the tournament
without switching out members.
·
Having a mix of boys and girls gave a good balance of skills and
perspectives
·
The teams of two were mixed (boys and girls) as well (well,
except for one, obviously), which helped bond them better instead of allowing the
“cooties” factor (they were all about 10 years old when we started)
We self-financed with our family buying the robot. The rest of
the costs were shared by all the families.
The other dads and I focused the team’s goal the first
year on learning what we could and being competitive on just a few of the
tasks. By focusing on a small set of the challenges, they were able to
get them rather quickly, then were able to add some more near the end, feeling
very confident in the score they would achieve.
While the kids want to focus all of their energy on the robot
game, we broke up each meeting of an hour into three twenty-minute segments.
Each of the teams of two could have dedicated time working on the robot and
programming their section while the other two teams worked on the research
project. This gave everyone a sense of accomplishment on the game and
made sure we had time for research as well.
Most of all, have fun with it. Like everyone else has
said, don’t be hesitant to ask questions here…we’ve all been
in your shoes.
-Frank
From: First Lego League
in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Matthew
Cuba
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 8:38 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VADCFLL-L] New team questions
Well, hopefully this is the place to ask these questions.
I'm sure someone will chime in if it isn't.
I'm looking to start an FLL at my son's middle school here
in Spotsylvania, VA. I'm in the very beginning stages of this right now -
talking with the school's Principal and doing a lot of reading. All of this is
new to me. Of course, funding will be a BIG challenge.
Realistically, we probably won't get going until the beginning of the
school year (late August) though I might be able to get an informational
meeting put together before the school lets out for summer.
What is a reasonable timeline for a new team and a new
coach? Can I realistically assemble the team when school starts in the
Fall and meet once a week after school and have sufficient time?
I'm hoping to come up with funding for at least two robots.
Should this drive the number of team members? Should I limit the
team size to < 10 in this case? I'd hate to turn anyone away who is
interested but I'm wondering if logistically too many kids and not enough
robots will be a problem. It would seem that 5 kids to 1 robot would be
too high, but I don't know that for a fact.
Are there any clinics or meetings that would be useful for a
new coach to attend within 50 miles of Fredericksburg, VA? I see there is
an expo in D.C. in May. Looks interesting. Do I have to have
registered as a team prior to attending? Not sure we'll have funding
worked out by then.
Thanks,
Matt
--
"Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original
dimensions."
--Oliver Wendell Holmes
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