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Coaches

A coach can be a

Coaches should

Coaches

Those who are interested in becoming coaches are encouraged to register for no-charge no-obligation workshops. If you have already attended a workshop and want to remind us of your interest in serving as a coach or assistant coach please contact us.

Committee Members

Volunteer Coordinator

ORTOP needs a volunteer to help recruit and coordinate volunteer for the two Oregon FLL Championships. The volunteer coordinator will also help recruit volunteers to direct them to the qualifying tournaments directors. Interested persons should contact Cathy Swider at questions@ortop.org

Key Local Tournament Roles

Role

Responsibility

Qualifying Tournament Director

Recruits the organizing team and oversees staging the qualifying tournament. Handles the budget and sponsors’ donations.

Site/Facility coordinator

Works with the owners of the site to establish areas to be used, requirements for utilities, support services, etc.

Head Referee

Recruits the Referee Team and ensures that all receive detailed training prior to the tournament.

Head Judge

Recruits the Judge Team and ensures that all receive detailed training prior to the tournament.

Volunteer coordinator

Recruits and assigns Tournament Day volunteers.

Food coordinator

Arranges food and refreshments for volunteers and other participants as needed.

Judges

Judges assess the teams in many categories, including originality, problem solving and the ability to improvise.

  1. Technical Judges: Interview team members about the design and programming of the robot they have created to solve some of the missions of the annual robot challenge.
  2. Presentation Judges: Listen to each team's presentation on their research project and ask questions about it.
  3. Teamwork Judges: Observe and ask questions about the teamwork skills of each team.

Judges will be needed for about six hours per tournament. A judge can volunteer for one, two, or three of the 18 Qualiifying Tournaments in December. Most of the qualifying tournaments host about 20 teams. The Championship Tournaments on January 16 and 17, 2010 will host 60 teams each, so many more judges will be needed. Most of the judges for the Championship Tournament will be those that have served as a judge for at least one Qualifying Tournament in December 2009.

All Judges must be at least 18 years of age with few exceptions. FLL alumi and FRC/FTC members who are at least juniors or seniors in high school and interested in judging or refereeing at a FLL event should send an email to questions@ortop.org .

Restrictions: Coaches and mentors and adults associated with teams may neither attend judge/referee training sessions nor serve as judges, referees, table setters or timekeepers even at tournaments where their teams are not participating. They may however, serve as team queuers, or general volunteers etc. at their team's tournament and other events after their team's tournament has occurred. Those interested in serving in one of these support roles are encouraged to contact the volunteer coordinator for one or more tournaments. For contact information send an email to questions@ortop.org

We provide free training sessions for prospective judges.

Mentors

Mentors should

When mentors meet with a team they should pick one or two new subjects per session

Mentors should

Mentors should teach problem solving, including

ESCO Corporation statement on the value of being a FIRST LEGO League technical mentor.

Many teams combine the roles of coach and mentor in or two adults. Those who are interested in becoming mentors and coaches who will be mentoring teams are encouraged to register for no-charge no-obligation workshops. If you have already attended a workshop and want to remind us of your interest in serving as a mentor or assistant mentor please contact us.

Referees

Referees monitor the performance of the teams and the robots during the table competition and score the results after each round. We provide free training sessions for prospective referees. There are also associated roles including table resetters, timekeeper and scorekeeper. Those considering being a referee, table setter or timekeeper should attend a referee training session. Those wishing to serve as scorekeeper should send an email to questions@ortop.org

All referees must be 18 years of age. There are limited roles for persons under 18 to assist the referee crew. These persons must volunteer with a parent/guardian and be supervised at all times. Paticipation of persons under 18 years of age must be approved by the State Tournament Head Referee. Please send an email request to questions@ortop.org .

Restrictions: Coaches and mentors and adults associated with teams may neither attend judge/referee training sessions nor serve as judges, referees, table setters or timekeepers even at tournaments where their teams are not participating. They may however, serve as team queuers, or general volunteers etc. at their team's tournament and other events after their team's tournament has occurred. Those interested in serving in one of these support roles are encouraged to contact the volunteer coordinator for one or more tournaments. For contact information send an email to questions@ortop.org

Tournament Organizers

There’s no secret to running a good FLL program; it's just like competing in FLL. You think creatively, treat people with respect, and work hard. Put yourself in your customer’s position (student, coach, teacher, or volunteer) and ask yourself, "What would I want?" But to get you started, here’s a list of things you’ll need to think about:

• Tournament venue
• All needed equipment
• Food for participants and volunteers
• Paid helpers, like custodial staff
• Volunteers
• Parking and traffic plans
• Directional signs around the building
• Pre-tournament communication with teams, volunteers, and supporters

FIRST LEGO League Tournament Volunteers!

To volunteer for the FIRST LEGO League Championship Tournaments please - click here

FLL Qualifying and Championship "DAY OF THE EVENT" Tournament Volunteers

FLL Volunteer Training: Most the the volunteer roles listed in this section are "day of the event" volunteers. Training will be done by email, conference call, night before or morning of the tournament depending on the crew leader.

REGISTRATION / INFORMATION CREW
Checks in teams; directs participants, VIPs, volunteers and parents to the proper areas; and answers questions.

HOSPITALITY CREW
Serves breakfast, lunch and snacks in the volunteer break room. Brings water/snacks to volunteers not able to leave their post.

JUDGE SUPPORT CREW
There are three separate types of judging rooms: Technical, Project and Teamwork.
Judge Queuer: Keeps judging rooms on schedule, flow of teams in & out of judging area
Judge Assistant: Escorts teams in & out of judging room, acts as time keeper and keeps judge panel on schedule.
Parent Queing/Escort: Escorts parents in & out of the Project room.

OPENING/CLOSING CEREMONIES CREW
Assist the tournament director in executing the opening and closing ceremonies. Roles vary with each tournament.

PIT ADMINISTRATION CREW
The Pit is a gym with a table for each team where they keep their belongings, tune up their robot and hang out while waiting for their next event.  
At a tournament, there are two new teams at the competition tables every 4 minutes. Volunteers escort and line up the teams to keep the flow going and the tournament on schedule throughout the day.
Pit Runner: Escorts the team from the pit to the Table Competition area.
Bullpen Crew: Several specific roles dedicated to positioning teams waiting for their turn on the Power Puzzle Competition Table.

PRACTICE TABLE CREW
During the day teams can try out their robot on a practice Power Puzzle competition table.
Practice Table Monitors ensure an orderly and fair use of the practice tables and reset the tables after use. Volunteers should be familiar with the Smart Move table. Smart Move Missions & Field Set-up

SECURITY CREW
Security volunteers direct the teams to correct venue locations, prevent teams and guest from entering prohibited venue areas by checking name tags/wristbands. Security ensures that teams adhere to site regulations and would help direct the crowd in case of an emergency.

LOAD-IN /LOAD-OUT CREWS
Load-in/Load-out Crew members set up tables, chairs, signs and equipment before the event and remove them afterward.  This is not a thankless volunteer job. Our tournament directors will thank you many times for volunteering for this important role. Please consider volunteering for this job by itself or in addition to other roles.

PRE-TOURNAMENT PREPARATION VOLUNTEERS
The Tournament Director, Head Judge/Referee and Crew Leads need help preparing in advance of the tournament. This includes printing materials, stuffing folders/envelopes, building field set-up kits, organizing materials, shopping for food, etc.  The tournament director will connect with you regarding what’s needed.

CLICK HERE to register to be a FLL Tournament volunteer!

FLL Referee & Judge Training

CLICK HERE for complete JUDGE and REFEREE training information and registration.

All Judges and Referees must be at least 18 years of age. There are limited roles for persons under 18 to assist the referee crew or be a judge. These persons must volunteer with a parent/guardian and be supervised at all times. Paticipation of persons under 18 years of age must be approved by the State Tournament Head Referee or Head Judge. Please send an email request to questions@ortop.org .

Restrictions: Coaches and mentors and adults associated with teams may neither attend these training sessions nor serve as judges, referees, table setters or timekeepers even at tournaments where their teams are not participating. They may however, serve as team queuers, or general volunteers etc. at their team's tournament and other events after their team's tournament has occurred. Those interested in serving in one of these support roles are encouraged to contact the volunteer coordinator for one or more tournaments. For contact information send an email to questions@ortop.org