FLL-C: Scottsdale Qualifier @ Saguaro High School

Hello Coaches!

Welcome to the Scottsdale FLL Qualifier! If you are receiving this email, it’s because your team is registered for the Scottsdale FIRST LEGO League Qualifier at Saguaro High School on December 6th. If you are no longer able to attend, or feel you are receiving this email in error, please let me know ASAP so we can get this rectified. 

My name is Laney Olson, I will be one of your Tournament Directors next weekend, in addition to Lewis Ruskin and Saguaro High School Student, Matt Romanelli. We are so excited to be putting this event on once again. For those teams who have been with us before, welcome back— and for any teams joining us in Scottsdale for the first time, Welcome! We are so excited to have you!

Just a couple things of housekeeping to take care of as we get ready for Saturday! I know this email is long but please make the time to read the whole thing, as these are important pieces to know leading up to the event!

• The Scottsdale Qualifier is taking place on Saturday, December 6th at Saguaro High School 6250 N 82nd St, Scottsdale, AZ 85250. Attached you will find a labeled map of the Saguaro Campus. If it seems confusing, do not worry. We will have plenty of signage and volunteers on site to help everyone get where they need to go.
  • Team Check In: Innovation Center
  • Practice Fields and Pits: Cafeteria
  • Robot Game Competition: Main Gymnasium
  • Judging: 300 Building

• With so many events happening all across Arizona, there are not enough fields to give every tournament their own Practice Fields. To ensure there are practice fields in The Pits for teams to use, we rely on the support of you all! We are looking for 2 schools that would be willing to let us borrow their FLL Field for our Practice Field. If your team would be willing to let us borrow your table to use as a practice field- we would be incredibly grateful. We would- of course- ensure your table is treated well and taken care of. If you can help us out, please let me know!

• Please make sure all youth team members are registered within your FIRST dashboard, as we are not handing out paper consent forms this year. Per FIRST regulations, only registered youth team members are permitted to participate in events. I want to make sure all of your students get the chance to show off what they’ve been working all season towards. If you have any questions regarding youth member registration, please email myself or FLL Program Delivery Partner, Elaine Michaud at [email protected] ASAP so we can make sure everything is ready to go for Saturday. In addition, please follow required FIRST guidelines and bring a printed copy of your team roster to the event, which will be collected at Team Check-In. If you do not have access to a printer before the event, please let me know so we can work something out ahead of time, so check in runs seamlessly. 

• Team Check-In will begin at 8:00AM in the Innovation Center. Please send 1 coach representative to check in, and have your printed roster ready to go. We are looking at a big event, with 32 registered teams, and I want to keep Check-In flowing seamlessly. Team members will be directed to the Pits (Cafeteria) and Families and Spectators will be directed to the Gymnasium. We ask that teams please park in the North Parking Lot (accessible from 82nd Street), and families and guests park in the South/Main Lot (accessible from Valley Vista Dr).  My phone number is at the bottom of this email. If you have questions about where to go, please give me a call and I will help you find the right place!

• Make sure your students know their team number. This will be used to keep track of them throughout the day, and with many teams coming from the same schools, being able to differentiate them by number is very important for Judges and Referees.

• The team name you entered in the tournament registration system is the name that will be used on all tournament documents, including the scoreboard. (Thursday is the last day to change this, If your team would like to change their display name please let me know ASAP)

Remember to bring the following items with you on Tournament Day!

• Printed roster from your official FIRST Dashboard. (Required)
• A copy of your Team Information Sheet (see attached) so our judges can remember who you are!
• Materials to give or show the judges for your Robot Design or Innovation Project (documentation, code, engineering notebooks, posters, ect.)
• Charged robot, extra batteries, charging cables, and spare parts!
• Laptop with software and programs loaded! (And laptop charger!)
• Food for your team. You can order lunch or brown-bag it!

We have a tentative schedule built out for the day. More information will be given as we get closer to the event, other than Team Check-In and Opening Ceremonies all of these times are subject to change.

• 8:00-8:30AM Team Check-In
• 8:30AM Opening Ceremonies. Followed immediately by the Coaches Meeting.
• 12:00-1:00 Lunch Break
• 4:00 Closing Ceremonies

Please keep in mind that our volunteers and Saguaro Staff are giving up their Saturday to promote FIRST and make this tournament possible. Remember to thank them when you see them on Saturday, and clean up after yourselves so they can all get home on time!

I know this email was long, but I hope you all made it this far. I want to thank all of you for your patience this week and say an EXTRA thank you for volunteering your time and effort to give these kids a space to be creative engineers. None of this would be possible without you all, so from us and all of our volunteers, THANK YOU! 

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to reach out to Matt or I. We are both available by email at [email protected] or [email protected].

Thank You!

Laney Olson

Scottsdale FLL Qualifier

Tournament Director