Coach Trainings and Season Overview Events in September (MI FLL Team Blast 2018.02)

There are three opportunities for coaches and/or teams to learn more about FLL. These are especially helpful to rookie teams or new coaches, but they are also great for returning coaches who want to learn more.

Birmingham and Rochester Hills

In partnership with FIRST in Michigan, The Robot Garage will be offering the following support to FLL and FTC team for Fall 2018

• Sunday Night Studios starting 9/23
• 20% off robotics classes to First in Michigan families
• FLL Season Overviews 9/5 & 9/6

Visit the website below for details and registration information.

http://www.therobotgarage.com/first-robotics.html 

Grand Rapids:

Grand Dial in Grand Rapids will offer the following coach training dates.

• Basic Training on Sept. 15
• Advanced Training on Sept. 20 

You can find more information on their site at Grand Dial FLL Coach Trainings.

Monroe:

There will be a Coach Training night at the Monroe County ISD on Raisinville Road in Monroe, MI, in the Professional Development Building on Sept. 13 from 6-9 pm. There is no charge for this training. No registration is required. You can email me if you need further information or directions.

If you would like to host a training event or workshop for teams, please let me know.

Team Registration and Grants, Challenge Release, Coach Training, Events (MI FLL Team Blast 2018.01)

This is the first of the team update emails you will receive about FLL this year.  If you will not be involved with a team this year and do not wish to receive emails anymore, please log into your FIRST Dashboard and remove/change your contact information to the new coach or contact for your team.

Registration and Grants

Registration continues for the 2018 season of FLL! If you have registered, challenge sets are now shipping to teams in order of registration and yours will be on the way. If you need any help with the registration process, don't hesitate to ask! Veteran teams should register with their existing number, and teams should include their school name on their team if they are organized through a school. This season, registration includes the Challenge Set. Instead of a $225 registration fee and a $75 challenge set cost, the registration fee including the challenge set will be $299 this year.

Remember that FIRST in Michigan's progression of programs is different than the FIRST progression. FLL teams in Michigan consist of "upper elementary" students: 4th and 5th graders, as well as 6th graders if they attend a K-6 elementary building.

There are grants available to start additional teams at your school! If you have more students who want to participate, you can start an additional FLL team for free with our rookie reimbursement grants. You can reply to this email for more information. If you are a rookie team, the link to the grant reimbursement form will be available in a few weeks and emailed to all registered teams.

Challenge Release

The new challenge is out! You can find INTO ORBIT resources at the FIRST website, including the challenge guide, coaches' handbook, videos, etc.

Coach Training

There will be opportunities for coach training throughout the fall. I have details on one so far: Grand Dial in Grand Rapids will offer Basic Training on Aug. 18 and Sept. 15 and Advanced Training on Sept. 20 for FLL coaches for a fee. You can find more information on their site at Grand Dial FIRST Robotics Training.

If you are interested in hosting a training or build event to support teams in your area, please let me know. 

Events

We are still finalizing the tournament list for 2018. We do need a few additional events. The $75 registration fee from teams is the basis for the event budget, and there is support throughout the process of planning and hosting the event. Please let me know if you would like more information.