Ontario has a berth!

Well teams, we're now into the tournament season and we have just completed our two "northern" tournaments in Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury. Quite a few are taking place this coming weekend as well.

In case you missed today's announcement from FIRST, Ontario has a spot in the World Championships this year and next year's theme was also announced today! The full story is below in the original email from FIRST HQ!

Good luck to everyone competing this coming weekend!

Dave

Greetings Coaches:

Nervous about an upcoming Tournament or local event? Don't be! These events are celebrations of your accomplishments. Even if your Team can only attempt one Mission on the Robot Game or didn't have time to fully rehearse their Project Presentation... GO! HAVE FUN! And remember the FLL Core Value: "What we discover is more important than what we win."

World Festival

We are pleased to announce the regions which have been selected by lottery to invite their Champion's Award winning Team to the World Festival for the Smart Move Challenge - in Atlanta, Georgia from April 14–17, 2010. You can view the selected regions at http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll/content.aspx?id=766. Each Operational Partner has the opportunity to nominate one team from their region to attend World Festival whom they believe has embodied FLL Core Values throughout the season. Your Partner will share more information if they are planning to submit a nomination.

2010 Challenge

Lastly, we are excited to have released the name and logo for the 2010 "Biomedical Engineering" Challenge... Body Forward! Visit http://usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/fll/default.aspx?id=970 under FLL Program Updates to read more.

With High 5's and Admiration,

FIRST LEGO League Headquarters

Ontario Science Centre - Great opportunity for your team!

On Saturday, 21 November and Sunday, 22 November, FIRST Robotics Canada is excited to partner with the Ontario Science Centre for their "Robots Rule Week-end"!

We will be showcasing FIRST Lego League and also the High School robots from the FIRST Robotics Competition and we will also be supporting the Vex robots.

We are looking for some FLL teams that would like to come and demonstrate their robots and showcase their team.

We will be running matches to show what these mighty little robots can do. What a great way to practice for your upcoming tournament!!

Each team will be given a "pit table" so you can continue to work on your robots while at the event.

Once we know which teams would like to participate, we will set up a schedule so that all teams will be able to participate in "practice matches".

We will have referees and will score the runs but only as a learning experience for your team, this is NOT a competition.

If your teams is interested in attending, please send an e-mail to Rhona Breadner (rhona.breadner@gmail.com) stating which date(s) your team would like to attend.

Teams will receive free parking and free admission to the Science Centre for the day (there will be time for your team to enjoy the Science Centre, if you choose). Teams can either bring their lunch or can buy lunch in the food court. We will provide the playing tables and field set-up pieces. The agenda is still being worked out but the day will run from approx. 10am until 4pm .

If you have any further questions, please let me know.

Thanks and we look forward to a great event!

Rhona Breadner

FIRST Robotics Canada

http://www.ontariosciencecentre.ca/calendar/default.asp?eventid=546&ddmmyyyy=01112009

Rembmer to Review the Q&A page

Just a reminder to teams to check out the Q&A page from time to time...and especially before the tournament you attend to make sure you're up-to-date. These Q&A will be the official rulings by the refs at your tournament and it would be awful for your kids if they were basing their decisions on old information.

Have fun!

Dave

Another practice tournament is available, this time for teams in the Oakville area. The information is below.

The info for the tournament is:

Oakville Trafalgar High School
1460 Devon Road, Oakville, ON
Date: November 14, 2009
Time: 9am-noon
Fee: $50.00
Teams are required to bring: an Extension Cord and Power Bar
Contact: Evelyn Wainewright at evelyn.robotics@hotmail.com

Practice Tournament at Queen's

Hello Coaches,

I hope your season is progressing along nicely. I'm sure your kids are enjoying all the building, programming, and researching that's been going on the last few weeks.

We have another Practice tournament opportunity available to you. I would highly recommend getting to a practice tournament before your qualifier because it really helps to prepare your kids even if they're not "ready" to compete. If interested in this great opportunity, please download the flyer here for more information.

Dave

New workshop in Toronto

Hello coaches,

Crescent School in Toronto will be holding a coaches' training workshop. Details are below. Once again, thanks to all of our trainers who have been hosting workshops for coaches in Ontario!

Date: October 23rd
Time: 5 p.m. - 7 p.m.
Location: Crescent School

2365 Bayview Avenue

Toronto, ON. M2L 1A2
Topics Covered:

• Team building
• Introduction to basic building
• Introduction to NXT-G
• Preparing for presentations

No need to bring anything except items for note taking.

Contact: Jeff Adams

Phone: (416) 449-2556 ext. 307

jadams@crescentschool.org

Vote for FIRST!

Hello coaches,

Since you participate in FLL in some way, you obviously value the program's goals. Help FIRST achieve their goals by voting below. Please see the message below and take the one minute required to enter your vote.

Google’s Project 10 to the 100^th – Vote for FIRST! We have 48 hours to get 100,000 votes in favor of Education and FIRST to be a winner of the Google $2M grant contest. Please go here to place your vote: http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/content.aspx?id=15753

Tournament Registration is NOW OPEN!

Hello Coaches and Teams,

Registration for Ontario's Qualifying Tournament system is now open and will close on October 15th. Please check out www.fllontario.org for tournament locations and contact information. Please contact the tournament directors directly in order to register your team.

Tournament Directors have been asked to give preference to teams in the area surrounding them so that those teams can be best served. If you are not able to get into your your first tournament of choice, please look to the others that are available and choose from one of them. We are very fortunate in Ontario to have 11 high quality qualifying tournaments.

A big thanks goes out to our Tournament Directors as they volunteer their time to prepare a great event for your teams.

Have fun!

Sincerely,

Dave

Hello coaches. Well, we're three weeks into the Smart Move season. I hope your team is enjoying their experiences so far! I'm happy to announce we have a third training session available for coaches near the Niagara area. Please see the details below. Good luck!

Niagara Region Training

When: Wednesday, September 30th 6-8PM

Where: Niagara College, Ontario Room - HT001

Hosted By: Team H20

Topics Covered: Team building, intro to basic building, an intro to NXT-G and/or Robolab, preparing for presentations, and what to expect at your first tournament. No need to bring anything except items for note taking.

Contact Information: Rob Nan email: coachdaddyr@yahoo.ca

RSVP date: September 28th

2nd Training Workshop

Hello teams,

As mentioned before, our coach trainers are hard at work booking dates and facilities to host workshops for you. Another one is listed below. Please contact the trainer directly if you have any questions regarding this workshop.

When: Saturday, Oct. 10th 11-2 PM
Where: 366 Vogel Pl, Waterloo, Ontario
Topics Covered:

- Team building,

- Introduction to basic building

- Introduction to NXT-G,

- Preparing for presentations.

No need to bring anything except items for note taking.

Contact Information: at wabdelsa@gmail.com 519-725-

4032

Training workshop

Hello teams, I hope you're enjoying the first few weeks of the "Smart Move" season. We have a new initiative in Ontario this year. Some experienced coaches have agreed to hold training workshops for other coaches in their area. Ontario is a geographically large region to support with coach training but hopefully this will ease your driving time if you are interested in attending.

Our trainers are working out details for site locations and dates and once those have been passed along to me we will post them here on the blog, on our website, and email blast the coaches.

Our first available workshop is offered by the W.A.F.F.L.E.S in Kingston. Please see more information about their workshop below.

Good luck and have fun!

Dave

When: Saturday, September 26th 1-4 PM
Where: Kingston, Ontario
Hosted By: The W.A.F.F.L.E.S.
Topics Covered: Team building, intro to basic building, an intro to
NXT-G and/or Robolab, preparing for presentations, and what to expect
at your first tournament. In addition we`ll discuss the various
approaches to coaching and incorporate time for discussion and
questions. No need to bring anything except items for note taking.
Contact Information: Christine Bibic at coachc@teamwaffles.com
RSVP date: September 14th
*Anyone unable to attend is invited to contact us as we are willing to
mentor via email.

Practice Tournament

Hello everyone,

Stewart Hines is a coach in the Peel/Halton area and has offered to host a practice tournament for anyone interested - only 12 spots available though! The information is posted below. This is a great opportunity for newer teams to get a chance to compete before your real tournament and I would highly recommend it if you can! If you have any questions regarding this event, please contact the event coordinator (Stewart Hines) at Stewart.Hynes@peelsb.com 905-277-0321.

Location: Tomken Road Middle School - South building 3160 Tomken Road.

Date: November 7, 2009

Time: 9:00 - 2:00

Capacity: 12 teams

Fee: $75.00

Lunch Provided: Pizza (if Allergies, bring own Food)

Bring: Extension cord and Power Bar

Contact: Stewart Hynes Stewart.Hynes@peelsb.com 905-277-0321

A great resource!

Here's a great document created by Henry Sikkema (a coach in Ontario) who took the time to compile all the missions into one handy document for coaches and kids. It would be great printed up and posted on the wall by your practice table so the kids could reference their mission requirements and point values. Henry's willingness to share a great resource he created is a perfect example of the FLL Core Values we're trying to instill in our kids. Thanks Henry!

Hello teams!

I hope you're enjoying building your field setups and planning how you're going to accomplish some of the missions! It looks like a very "moving" experience this year! :)

FIRST has updated their website so I thought I would post this video tour of the site for anyone who is new.

We have also updated the FLL Ontario website and this is the video tour of that one.

Hope that is helpful.

Dave

Kick-off!!

Hello everyone, I'm really excited about tomorrow's kick-off. If you are fortunate enough to already have your team assembled and ready to go you will have the advantage of starting tomorrow afternoon if you wish! Remember that the information should be posted on the FLL website around noon. If you keep refreshing your browser you should eventually see the new information. Keep in mind that sometimes with a big launch like this there are technical difficulties so if the challenge and project are not launched exactly at noon, keep checking back.

I wanted to highlight the fact that FIRST in New Hampshire hosts regular (once a month) Coach training calls to help you learn more. You can call in to these conference calls and participate(information about calling in for the next one is listed below) or you can download them after they're posted here and listen to them on your computer.

In addition, Ontario is starting a new initiative this year to help with coach training across our vast province. If you are interested in being a coach trainer for your area this year or next, please email me and let me know at fllontario@gmail.com. We'll make sure you get the proper training to be successful and you'll probably learn some helpful tips at the same time!

Enjoy kick-off tomorrow!

Dave

Directions for the upcoming call are:
FLL COACH CALL - TEAM MENTOR ORIENTATION
DATE/TIME: Wednesday, 9/9 @ 7pm (ET)
CALL-IN NUMBER: 1-800-503-2899
ACCESS CODE: 6663906

Listen in on previous Coach Training Calls from FIRST HQ in New Hampshire.

2-and-a-half weeks to go!

Hello teams! There are only two-and-a-half weeks before kick-off! If you registered your team early enough you should be receiving your field setup kits in the next week or two. Many preparations are already taking place to ensure you have a fantastic experience at your qualifying event. We all hope you have a great season learning about the transportation industry and how we can improve it.

As always, good luck and have fun!

Sincerely,

Dave and the FLL Ontario team

Registration's Open!!

Hello girls, boys, and coaches! Welcome back to another exciting season of FLL robotics mania! This season is already off to a great start with the "Smart Move" registration open for business and missions to be released in September. Sign up your team now to make sure you get your field setup and mat as soon as they're ready to ship (in August). For the first time ever, the coaches' manual for this season has a sneak preview of the field setup, right on the cover, so you can start guessing what the missions will be ahead of time! We can't wait to see the incredible things you'll do this year. Hope to see you at a tournament! As always, good luck to everyone, and HAVE FUN!!!

Dave Ellis

Sign up for our blog!!

Hello teams and coaches, welcome to FLLOntario's blog site. This site will be used to communicate with coaches and teams throughout the season. To ensure you get all the information you need in the most efficient way possible, subscribe to this blog and you will get an email update anytime new information is posted here.

It's absolutely the best way to stay up-to-date on important issues that will affect your season so don't delay - subscribe today! Just click on the Posts link below to get started.