Sr. Solutions 2012 Team Blast #8

Hello teams,

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving weekend and took some time to relax with family and friends.

In this email you'll find the following:

1. Qualifying Tournament Registration Details
2. Coach Training Webinars
3. Archived Team Blasts

Qualifying Tournament Registration Details

Tournament Season is upon us and the first step in this process is to register your team for an event.  At this time, I would like to take a moment to THANK all of the Tournament Directors and their crew of volunteers at this time for taking the time out of their busy schedules/lives to plan and execute these events.  They take a LOT of time to organize and teams would not have an opportunity to compete if it were not for these WONDERFUL volunteers across Ontario.  At this time I would also like to thank Crescent School (Don Morrison and team) for their 9 fantastic years of service hosting an FLL qualifying tournament in Toronto.  We are grateful to you for the time you have spent assisting FLL in Ontario in so many ways.  I would also like to publicly thank Angela Naar in Niagara for her efforts in running the Niagara event for the past 7 years.   The long term commitment of volunteers like yourself gives stability to this great initiative called FIRST LEGO League (FLL).  We also thank and welcome some new events in Waterloo and Toronto this year.  It is shaping up to be an awesome tournament season in Ontario!

Tournament Registration is now available here on our website.  You may register for ONE event at this time.  Please register by October 19th at the VERY latest.

IF it turns out that there are a number of spots available after everyone has registered once, a secondary registration *may* open up to allow teams to register for a 2nd "fun" event where no advancement or awards are accessible to the team and where it would just be a chance to participate a second time for fun/experience.
 
NOTE: The province has been split up into an East Division and a West Division.  If your team resides West of Toronto you are in the West Division and must compete at a tournament designated as a West Championship Qualifier.  Conversely, if your team resides in Toronto or East of Toronto you are in the East Division and must compete at a tournament designated as an East Championship Qualifier on our website. 


Coach Training Webinars
A series of Coach Webinars will be available to you in the coming weeks.  We are trying to schedule them on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7:00-8:30 but there may be one or two planned outside those days/times to accommodate the presenters' schedules if necessary.  You will register online and the actual session is held online as well, so you can view it from the comfort of your own home. To fully participate you'll need an internet-connected computer with speakers and a microphone (or headset).  If you can't attend the webinar we will attempt to record them and you can watch them later.  They'll be posted on our website on the training section located here.  The schedule and presenters are still being firmed up at this point and the full schedule will be posted shortly.
In the meantime, here's the first one planned (for this Thursday evening):

FLL Ontario Coach Orientation Training Join us for a Webinar on October 11 Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/449962430 This webinar is designed to help new coaches understand the basics of coaching an FLL team. Title: FLL Ontario Coach Orientation Training Date: Thursday, October 11, 2012 Time: 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM EDT After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Archived Team Blasts
If you've joined us late in the season or if you just want to check something and have deleted one of my previous emails, I always archive the Team Blasts on my blog here.

Have a great day!

Dave

Dave Ellis
Director, FLL Ontario
FIRST Robotics Canada
www.firstroboticscanada.org