FIRST LEGO League Fall 2004 Competition

It is time to form FIRST LEGO League teams for 2004.  I am going to close registration for the teams that I organize on August 27.  I ask that all parents check with their children to make sure they want to be on a FIRST LEGO league team before signing them up.  It is clear to me that several of the children in past years have been less than enthusiastic about being on a team.  They end up playing with the LEGOs and detracting from the experience of those that are excited about being on a team.  Worse yet, they may prevent others from being on a team because we run out of space.  So please don't sign them up because it will be "a good experience" for them.  If they are excited about being on a team, I am excited about having them on a team.  So if you are still interested, please read the rest of this message and send me the information requested below.

Sign Up Information:

If you are interested in participating, send Michael Schuh, , the following information:

• Parent's Name
• Child's Name, Age, Grade, and School that they attend
• Phone Number(s) for home and/or work
• Mailing Address for any end of season refund checks
• Email address
• Information on how much the Parent(s) are interested in participating.  This must be completed for a child to be on a team.  It takes more than money to run a team.  We need at least one parent to volunteer some or a lot of time for each child.  See the "Help Opportunities" section below for more information on some the tasks.
• Any details on what students or coaches the child wants or does not want to be on a team with.  I will try to satisfy these requests but cannot guarantee anything.
• A check made out to and delivered to Michael Schuh for $150.  In past years, we found that some children withdrew after the teams were formed.  In short, this caused some financial and team size problems.  So to try and allow children to withdraw and minimize some of the problems, all of the $150 will be returned if the child drops by August 27, all but $60 will be returned if the child drops by September 15.  Last year, we spent about $150 per team member.  All extra funds will be returned after the season ends.  If I am unable to place your child on a team to your satisfaction, I will return your check in full.
• Print this Rules Agreement out and have it signed by and adult and the child and send it in with the check to Michael Schuh at 1630 Elmhurst Drive, Los Altos, CA 94024.
• Rules Agreement:  All team members are expected to help design, build, and program the robot. Team members can specialize or work on a variety of these tasks.  In order to be an effective team, members who are disruptive or disrespectful inside or outside of the team meetings will be warned and then removed from the team.  The coach will have final say in who is accepted, removed or kept on the team.  No one has been removed from a team yet but we will do so if the need arises.  Team members removed will be reimbursed all but $60 of the fee if they are removed by September 17 and none of the fee there after.
• _________________________________  Team Member's Printed Name
• _________________________________  Team Member's Signature
• _________________________________  Parent's Printed Name
• _________________________________  Parent's Signature
• _________________________________  Date
• You will be added to the TigerBotsyahoogroups.com email list.  One adult must remain on this list for as long as the child is on the team.  You can find out more about the list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TigerBots.

Help Opportunities:

• Coach: there were four coaches and teams last year (five if you count the Girl Scout Team).  Probably most of these coaches will return for this year.  We will likely need some more for any fourth grade teams that are formed.  I will provide as much help to new coaches as I can.
• Volunteer coordinator - this person will take care of getting people to get tasks done that need to be done to support the teams.
• Snack organizer - make sure that someone has a snack for the children after school on Fridays.  Sliced apples were a big hit last year.  It is preferable if the snacks are not too sugary.
• General Manager - This is a high level leadership role.  The General Manager would take over running a team or teams and free the coaches up to focus on coaching.  The General Manager would take over all communicates with the parents and coaches and organization of the teams and coaches.
• Assistant Coaches - Show up for the team practices and help with the coaching.
• Laptop computers for the teams to use.  They are nice to have for the practices and very nice to have for the competitions.  A 150 MHz Windows 98 computer with a CD ROM drive and a floppy drive is all that is needed so an old laptop would be fine.  The CD ROM drive is only needed to load the software so it can be removed when the children need to use the floppy drive.  If you or your company would like to donate one to the team, I understand that the donation is tax deductible and I will get you a letter from FIRST saying so.
• Competition organizer - The competition organizers will organize the scrimmage on October 17 and a local competition on November 20 at Blach School.  The competition normaly has 10 to 12 teams.  The state competiton is still looking for a sponsor and volunteers so we may not have one this year.  With or without the state competition, all will have fun.
• It takes a lot of volunteers to run the scrimmage and local competition.  We end up providing a majority of the volunteers and non Los Altos teams provide the rest as part of their contribution to the events.  It would save me a lot of time and effort if we could fill most of the these positions now.  Many only take time on the day of the event while some require some preperation time be spent before the events.  These event days are some of my favorite of the year and I think many others enjoy working on them too.  So please sign up for volunteer spots now.  You can sign up for more than one spot and can make it for only the scrimmage or local competition.  We have a lot of materials from previous years to help make all of these jobs easier.

Event Director and assistant Director(s)	In charge of all planning and makes sure the event comes off fine.
Head Referee and Referees	The Referees watch the 2.5 minute matches to make sure the teams follow the rules and do the scoring on the field (the score keeper tracks the scores for the event)  It takes two or three referees at the competition and the Head Referee has the final say.
Score Sheet Creator	Create the scoring spreadsheet and posters for the event.
Master Score Keeper	Keeps the score on tournament day.
Boy Scout Manager	Works with Boy Scout Troop to get Boy Scout Volunteers.  The scouts reset the playing field and take the scores from the tables to the score keeper. Scouts also do the flag ceremony
Table Transport	Collect tables from four Los Altos Coaches Homes and return them after the competition.
Certificate Maker	Create and print certificates for the event.  We give out certificates rather than trophies.
Announcer	Announce which team is up and which team is on deck.  Start the match by making sure the teams are ready and counting down 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Go.  Give 1 Minute, 30 second, and 15, 10, 9, 8, … 1, Stop countdown.
Time Keeper	Writes up and submits announcements for School news letter like the Notes from Oak.  Notifies the local paper of the event so that it appears in the news paper.
Judge Manager	Figures out what the judges need to do, finds or creates judging materials, figures out how judging will fit into the competition schedule, communicates all of this to the judges, manages the judges at the tournament.
Head Judge and Judges	Takes care of Judging at the Local Competition.  The Head Judge has final say in all judging decisions.

• Playing field construction - We have fours 4' x 8' playing fields from last year and may need one or more constructed. The FLL website has the detailed construction information for their version of the playing field, but I prefer a much simpler playing field design detailed here.  We usually put the field on the floor and have don't have any overhead lights.  But it would probably be good to construct some overhead lights for some of the tables so the teams have experience on tables that are like the ones at the State Tournament.
• Advertisement - send announcements to the news papers and let them know about the competitions that we participate in.  We had a nice write up for the 2001, 2000, and 1999 seasons in the Los Altos Town Crier.  Also announce events in the Notes From Oak so other students can enjoy the fun.
• Creating and ordering T-shirts.  This involves getting an appropriate graphic and working with a vendor to make the shirts.  It also involves getting shirt sizes and distributing the shirts.  Funds for the children and coaches shirts are part of the registration fee.
• Next year - Advertisement of opportunity to join a team.
• Next year - Organize children into teams.

For more information:

• Contact Michael Schuh, , 965-8037 Home, 604-1460 Work
• I have more information on forming and participating in teams at www.boardsailor.com/first.
• FIRST LEGO League Los Altos Web Site: www.boardsailor.com/first.
• FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Web Site: www.legomindstorms.com/fll
• FIRST Web Site: www.usfirst.org

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