Having just come back from judging technical at a tournament this weekend, I went back to the archives and found an old post of mine. These were a series of comments I had on the experience from the  judge's point of view. These comments are just as appropriate today as they were two years ago when I first made them. I would strongly suggest that all coaches read this and attempt to communicate this
information to your team. It will help them in general, and it will help them judge better at competition. As always, your comments are welcome.

The post can be found here: http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=10508

- Skye Sweeney
Global Coach Advisor

Fellow FLL-ers.

My name is Skye Sweeney and I have been involved with FLL since 2000. I was an active coach for years before my 9 year old aged out of the program. I stayed involved with the program in numerous other ways. I have run tournaments, judged, refereed, answered coutless Forum postings, and created video tutorials. I have invested heavily in my time since I believe in the goals of the FLL program. I have seen the benefits and known that FLL is one of the very few programs geared to middle school students that are interested in science and technology.

At the start of this season, FIRST asked me to take on the title of "Global Coach Advisor". They knew they wanted someone to fill the post, but they were not sure of the job description. They are letting me decide what to make of the job. So I have been giving it some thought.

Since I am no longer an active coach (that may change soon), my ability to give guidance is less than others that are in the thick of it.  But I do have years of experience that I can draw on to help coaches in distress. The best examples of this guidance has come from past Forum postings. A few years ago, a coach make a posting that they were on the verge of giving up. The kids were not making progress and nothing was going right. Over the next few days, several coaches set up an "interdiction" on the Forum. Encouraging posts and specific ideas gave the desperate coach the information they needed to get to a tournament and have the best day of their lives.

Now since FIRST migrated away from the WebX Forums to this new system, the archive of old Forum postings was lost. But no more. Working with LEGO and FIRST, I was able to get a copy of the old Forum database. After a few (ok many) late nights, I was able to reverse engineer the database and create a simple website that provides this treasure trove. You can find it here: http://www.fll-freak.com/Archive/ForumArchive.htm

Please note that this is the first version of the Archive. I plan to edit the archive over time to delete chit-chat posts and fix old broken links.

In future weeks, I will be highlighting old threads that still have significant value. Some are funny, some are informative, some will make you cry. All will be worth the few minutes to read.

-Skye Sweeney
Global Coach Advisor

The Why and The What

You already know that FIRST is dedicated to inspiring kids to pursue science and technology, and that we have countless people across the globe committed to helping us accomplish our mission. What we’ve been missing, until now, is a central place for conversations between FLL & Jr.FLL program participants, and the FLL staff that call Manchester, New Hampshire home. We’ve always encouraged your participation and feedback, now we’re more easily accessible, and taking advantage of some of the conveniences that the digital age brings with it.

Technically speaking a blog is just a web log, or a type of web page that is formatted for frequent updates. This community blog will be used as an open forum for discussion, comments, and feedback. We’re going to write about what’s new, what’s happening on our site, what’s happening offline, what people are saying elsewhere about us, and any other information that we hope improves your experiences both on and off our site.

You may have noticed that our new site is trickled with memories, quotes, experiences, and stories from various site members.

Where Do Those Stories Come From?

We get tons and tons of emails from people like you telling us about how much they love FIRST, or how their participation in FLL or Jr.FLL really made a difference in their lives. Of course we love to hear these stories and they certainly make our job so much more satisfying at the end of a long day, but we wanted to find a way to take those stories and share them with the world.

During the planning of our new web site, we decided that we needed a way to showcase your stories in your words, that’s where the story corner idea came from. Initially we collected stories from a separate online submission form, but now that our site is alive and kickin’, we have created different areas in the forum for you to share your story. Anyone who takes the time to share experiences with us could be featured somewhere throughout the site.

How Does It Work?

It’s really easy. Go to the Story Corner forum within the FLL Teams forums, add your favorite memory, story, or quote, and we will make a point to notify you if we select your story to be featured on the site.

So Many Stories, So Little Time

In a perfect world, we could showcase everyone’s stories, because they are all unique and pretty awesome in their own ways. We will definitely do our best to showcase as many people as possible, but you can give yourself a leg up by sharing something unique to you, your family, or your team.

Even the stories that are not selected are still public in the forums. We hope that sharing your experiences in a discussion area will help inspire others to share similar stories or encourage people curious about the programs to actually take the next step and get involved.