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.