I think I have coached my last FLL season as my daughter is an 8th grader and has her eyes on FTC.( anyone know of a neighborhood FTC team in the Herndon/Reston/Chantilly area?) Over my 7 years as a coach and/or mentor, I have found the season to be too short. The differences between being a rookie team and a returning team are huge. This is hard on school based teams that form in September and have to compete in November. Below is a link to Maryland's schedule where they have regionals in Dec/Jan and the state tournament at the end of January. (The events that don't say "FLL" are FRC, the high school competition.) http://www.mdfirst.org/calendar-of-events.html This schedule would allow kids to do a lot more in a season. There would still be schedule conflicts in January, but it would be easier for the kids to juggle their activities with a longer prep season. Donna Cornwell [log in to unmask] On 12/5/2011 3:27 PM, Paul K. VanDamme wrote: > So I never comment on these boards...but I can't resist this > topic....this is a horrible weekend because of all the countless > conflicts that exist with folks trying to squeeze in final > performances, tournaments, etc between the holidays. > > This year half our team was missing because they were performing in > the nutcracker, something they rehearse for all summer and fall. It > showed that we only had three girls, but what are you going to do -- > for active kids that do more than just lego robotics....there are > always choices. > > I for one would be in favor of moving it out of December (which is > just ridiculously busy), but I suspect other months will have similar > conflicts for people. > > Carolyn > Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > -- To UNSUBSCRIBE or CHANGE your settings, please visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-l.html and select "Join or leave the list". -- VADCFLL administrative announcements are sent via VADCFLL-ANNOUNCEMENTS-L. Visit https://listserv.jmu.edu/archives/vadcfll-ANNOUNCEMENTS-l.html to subscribe.