First Lego League Alberta


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Frequently Asked Questions

"I registered my team .. now how do I order the mat?

Registration is now closed: If you have not recieved your material or are unsure of what you orderd, please contact Spectrum Education Supplies.

You should be able to log back into the FLL Registration System and order your mat. The FLL 2006 Field Set Up Kit (Part Number: 991217) costs $78 Can. Now, the Kit contents change from year to year based on challenge theme. It consists of:

Mission Models Set: Exclusive collection of several hundred LEGO elements required to build the mission models to place on the field mat.
Field Mat: A 44 3/4” X 92 3/4” roll-out sheet
Building instructions on CD

The field mat needs to be set up on a flat surface with borders around it. For information on how to set up borders on a floor, or how to build a standard FLL table, please visit the FLL website.

"How do I get my child involved in team?"

Unfortunately, registration for FIRST Lego League is closed for this year. There are almost 200 teams in Ontario and 5500 in North America. Worldwide participation is expected to peak at 9000 teams in 2006. You asked about how to get involved, but let me irst clarify how all this comes about.

A school or parental group gets a bunch (max 10) of students (ages 9-14) together who ant to compete in the FIRST Lego League tournament.
The team registers via the FIRST registration system by the end of September.
The registered team is eligible to complete in a local or qualifying tournament, which may qualify the team to move onto the Provincial championship.

There is currently no system in place to help interested students joint a team ... teams sually form "around" the interested children and their school or parental group. Now, with hat being said, you are certainly encouraged to come out to our tournaments to get an idea of what FIRST is all about. Start planning for next year, get some students and adult mentors together and put together a team. Registration typically starts in May. For more information, please see the FIRST Lego League Website at www.firstlegoleague.org.

FIRST (For Inspiration of Science and Technology) is a group staffed almost entirely of volunteers dedicated to encouraging our youths interest in Science and Technology. For more information on FIRST, please see the FIRST website at www.usfirst.org .

"My FLL team would like to attend two Regional Qualifiers. Can we do this?"

One registered team may only attend ONE Regional Qualifier. This has been our policy for a few years now and is due to not having enough tournament spots in Ontario for teams to attend two qualifiers. Also we have NOT adopted the policy of allowing the teams to attend two qualifying matches but only register the first tournament as the qualifier. I know this may be a disappointment to some teams that have two tournaments in their area and can afford to attend both but we want to be as fair and consistent as possible. Now, with that being said, there is no reason this policy can not be revisited as more tournament space opens up in Ontario next year. The ratio doesn't necessarily have to be 2:1 for the policy to be changed....

"Why do I have to pay to register, buy a mat and then pay again to attend a Qualifying Tournament?"

The registration you pay is to the FIRST organization and goes towards the administration costs of running the entire organization. Part of the benefit of registering is being able to purchase the RCX or NXT kit with the added sensors and software (a substantial $$ value). The items have been added through the generosity of LEGO and others and are only available to Registered Teams. The fee also subsidizes the purchase of the field setup kits,so they can be make available at a discounted price. FLL - Ontario receives no money from FIRST.

The money you pay for registering your team at a Qualifying Tournament goes towards running that tournament only. The base fee is set by the Director of FLL Ontario and depends on: how much it costs to run a decent tournament and how much sponsorship, donated or grant money, is available to FLL-Ontario that can be passed on to help run all the tournaments.