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Starting a New FLL Team
Starting an FLL team is fairly easy. If you've already read the About FLL page, this information is for you.
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What Does an FLL Team Look Like?
FLL teams can be part of a school classroom, after school program, extracurricular group, home school, neighborhood
group, club or civic organization. It is recommended that a team be comprised of no fewer than four students and at
least one adult coach. The maximum is 10 child participants. There are several team member roles and responsibilities
that provide a basis for creating and managing the team. These roles include building, documentation, marketing,
programming, quality control, research, strategic analysis, and project management.
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What Does It Take? - Coaches
Teachers, parents, and technology professionals are all excellent choices for the role of coach. The coach must be 18
years or older and should possess the following: the desire to explore side-by-side with students, good communication
skills, prioritizing skills, and multitasking skills. The coach's role is to facilitate instruction and optimize the learning
experience of the team members by allowing independent thought. Direct adult involvement or intervention during
the problem-solving process is strongly discouraged. Coaches handle all the operational details: where and when to
meet, organizing help for snacks, team costumes, etc. Coaches do not need technical expertise but must be willing to
acquire some basic knowledge of the programming environment and LEGO robot building. As leader of an FLL
registered team, the coach will have access to robot kits, team challenge kits, software and building instructional
manuals from FLL.
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What Does It Take? - Mentors
Mentors are high school students or adults who provide technical assistance and guidance to a team. Often the same
person fills both the coach and mentor roles. Sometimes a single person coaches several teams while each team has its
own mentor. Sometimes this is reversed. Mentors give FLL participants the opportunity to explore scientific principles
and practices while working with a positive role model.
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What Does It Take? - Time, Practice Space, and Computer Access
In general, two or three weekly meetings of two to three hours is adequate. An occasional Saturday or Sunday meeting
may be added as the tournament approaches.
Teams need enough space to build and test their robot on the FLL playing field (contained in the FLL Challenge Kit). The
playing field is a roll-out 8' x 4' mat upon which LEGO pieces and various elements are arranged to create the Challenge
missions. Additional materials (such as two-by-fours) must be purchased separately to build a border around the playing
field. Setup can be as simple as clearing an area on the floor, or your team may opt to build an official FLL table. Some
teams have found it advantageous to share a playing field with other teams in their area.
Team must have access to either a Mac or a PC with an Internet connection. Internet access and a valid e-mail address are
mandatory to maintain contact with FLL throughout the Challenge season. The computer is used to develop programs for
the team's robot. Programs are easily downloaded to the LEGO programmable brick. If your team attends a tournament,
you will need an to bring a laptop so that your team can modify its robot programs to accommodate specific conditions of
the tournament setting and to improve robot performance.
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