When are states

[natterbus]

usually held? Our region is changing the format to have local tournaments feed into the state tournament (as I know many other areas do). When are these tournaments usually held? This may keep us out of FLL this year. My ds swims and it sounds like FLL states will be in March. If there is going to be a decent chance of a conflict with swimming finals, I probably won't coach this year. More time is great, but September through March makes for an awfully long FLL season. We were done Dec. 3rd last year.

Natterbus

[timdavid]

In Minnesota, the preliminary tournaments are held in late November and December, and the state tournament is held in late January.

[Dean Hystad]

Originally Posted by natterbus

usually held? Our region is changing the format to have local tournaments feed into the state tournament (as I know many other areas do). When are these tournaments usually held? This may keep us out of FLL this year. My ds swims and it sounds like FLL states will be in March. If there is going to be a decent chance of a conflict with swimming finals, I probably won't coach this year. More time is great, but September through March makes for an awfully long FLL season. We were done Dec. 3rd last year.

Natterbus

The FLL season is usually scheduled to not conflict with the FIRST season. March would not be a good time to schedule a tournament if your associate is planning on using FIRST team members as mentors/volunteers.

The only correct answer is the one you'll get from your local affiliate. If they run things anything like is done in Minnesota the schedule for next season has been long completed and venues booked.

I feel your pain. My girls were all very active and we were very lucky if we got a tournament date that didn't clash with something. My daughter in particular had a very hard time working FLL into her hockey schedule. I think she missed parts or all of three tournaments.

As for being a long season, it doesn't have to be. The year my girls went to the US Open we did almost nothing between our state tournament and the national tournament. They reworked the presentation a bit, but I don't think they ever touched the robot. Most years we only had 2 or 3 meetings between qualifying and state tournaments. How busy you want to be is up to you.

[natterbus]

That's true - we could target being "ready" first week in December regardless of the tournament schedule and then minimize any work after that. Of course nothing motivates like a deadline.

The reason they want to go to the new format is to encourage iterations with robots and programming to be more like engineering in the real world. I agree it is a better format. We can't fit all the teams that want to participate at the finals and that is a shame. I just think March is too late...my kids are involved in many other things. And for us there is the issue of an important conflict with a once a year (and maybe once in a lifetime) sports event.

Natterbus

[Tom Mosher]

Originally Posted by natterbus

That's true - we could target being "ready" first week in December regardless of the tournament schedule and then minimize any work after that. Of course nothing motivates like a deadline.

The reason they want to go to the new format is to encourage iterations with robots and programming to be more like engineering in the real world. I agree it is a better format. We can't fit all the teams that want to participate at the finals and that is a shame. I just think March is too late...my kids are involved in many other things. And for us there is the issue of an important conflict with a once a year (and maybe once in a lifetime) sports event.

Natterbus

March seems really late to have a state contest. That blows right into the FTC season, which consumes a lot of the same resources. And with the FLL world festival in April, it wouldn't give a team selected from the state event much time to raise the money and plan for making the trip.

[natterbus]

OK that's reassuring...maybe it will be late February. Natterbus

[Gary Voshol]

In Michigan, FLL qualifications are the first 3 weeks of November, and the 2 state tournaments are the 1st and 2nd week of December.

[Tom Mosher]

Originally Posted by natterbus

OK that's reassuring...maybe it will be late February. Natterbus

Oregon's local qualifying tournaments are in December, with the state contest in mid-January.

[someonewhobikes]

In the Greater Kansas City region (western Missouri and eastern Kansas) our qualifiers last year were in Nov & Dec, with the championship tournament on Jan 14th. Needless to say, there wasn't a lot of FRC help for that. <grrr> I haven't heard this year's schedule yet, but I suspect it'll be similar.

[HarFamily]

Our state championship was set for December 22 this year which has me baffled. Already several parents are saying they won't change their family holiday plans if we qualify. Do they allow teams to participate if only a few members are available to compete?