FIRST Time-Qualifier Jitters?

Here's a little help for FIRST time FLLers... Much of this is based on experience and contributions from many of the great folks on the GA FLL Support group on Yahoo!.


It is not the robot score that lets you advance. We have seen teams come in one of the last places on the robot game advance when a team at the top of the robot game did not. The advancement is based on the Champion's Award criteria: 1/4 robot game, 1/4 Project Judging, 1/4 Technical Judging, and 1/4 Teamwork/FLL Values.

It is better to have the team run fewer programs that work well than a lot that do not score. Also, practice, practice, practice within the time limits. 5 minutes TOTAL for Research Presentation. 5 minutes TOTAL for Technical Presentation. 2.5 minutes MAX for the robot rounds.

Have the kids print out their programs to bring to their technical presentation and share with the judges. As long as the judges can tell what kind of blocks they are (Move, Wait, etc.)the main “program” with the blocks is just fine. They don't need the detail of every individual block. If the kids want to go above and beyond they can add comments to give more details about their program. They can add comments by clicking on the comment tool at the top of the screen (it looks like a little cartoon talk balloon), then click on the programming area where you want to start adding the text and type away. To exit the commenting, click on the pointer tool (the upward pointing arrow to the left of the comment tool button).

Trophies and Awards are not what matter. The students' learning is the important thing and I am sure they have learned a lot. Remind them that the judges want to hear about the struggles and the trials as much as the successes. That is the journey of what they learned.

We have seen teams qualify for the next level when they were ready to pack up at a Regional, so go no matter where your team is at this point.

DO NOT FOCUS ON THE ROBOT SCORE! From another coach, “Last year was my first year and our teams didn't do too well score wise in the robot game but they still progressed. One team did well in the research and the other team did well in teamwork and technical. Just encourage the kids to do their best with what they have done.”

As a rookie team it is probably daunting to see there are a total of 400 points available and not have that many missions done. Relax... you probably are in the same boat as a lot of teams. Just have the kids concentrate on mastering the missions they HAVE DONE up to this point and practice some timed 2:30 minute runs. Consistency with less missions is better than inconsistency with more missions.

Also, test your robot operators by "sabotaging" the table before their runs. For example, if they are going for cells, turn one halfway so their robot would snag it. The kids need to remember to check the table set up before their runs. They don't get a "do over" if the table isn't set up correctly because they are ultimately responsible for checking it.

From another coach, “I would add to beware of battery fatigue. Last year we noticed a general trend of dropping scores as the day advanced. Our team thinks that's from running on a low battery. Our robot seems a lot less accurate when the power is weak. When it's too high, it can be a little jumpy, but one practice run seems to put it in the zone.”

Keep those batteries fresh - that's not easy to do when the kids want to make practice runs!

Special thanks to James Trobaugh, Lydia Kedzierski, Mary Roberts and Beth Reichle for contributing to this list!