In this update, you will find:
- Quick Announcements
- Two Types of Team Roster
- Resources For the Online System
- How to Print Your Roster
- Using the Paper System for One or All Team Members
- HELP! I have Weirdness!
This is a special Update that will focus almost entirely on the Team Roster aspect of tournament preparation.
Oregon Update: 11
Welcome to the official FIRST LEGO League Oregon Update. All Oregon FIRST LEGO League Coaches are automatically added to this list weekly! In each update, which you can read in an email or on our blog (cross-posted on both G+ and Facebook), you will find out what is happening in Oregon, the important things from Headquarters in NH, and tips to keep your team on track. This blog will be posted nearly weekly and all posts are archived. All official updates this season will be numbered HD# If you've missed an update, please read the archive to catch up!
1) Quick Announcements
- All teams who registered for a Qualifying Tournament in Oregon have had their tournament assignments posted on the Oregon Team Status page.
- This year 90% of teams received their first choice!
- 120 teams will advance to the Championship Tournament in Hillsboro on January 13 & 14, 2018.
- Tournament details will be coming over the next couple weeks both by email and on the Oregon website at www.ortop.org
- The November Mission Model Discussion has begun on our blog and Facebook page. Updates will be posted daily until Thanksgiving.
- Please expect more frequent communications from me
The remainder of this email is exclusively about the Team Roster, something EVERY team must bring to the Qualifying Tournament.
2) Two Types of Team Roster
The coach needs to decide which of the following methods they will use to get the signed consent forms from each team member's parent. Both systems do require both coaches to be completely in the FIRST system. If either coach has not completed this process, they will need to do so before you can continue. With both systems, you will need to print your roster from the FIRST system and bring it to the December tournament.
Two Options:
- Invite all Parents to the FIRST System to digitally enter their child's information and sign the consent form.
OR - Send home Paper Youth Team Member Forms and collect them before the tournament (making a photocopy for the state championship is highly recommended).
In some cases, coaches may need to use a mixture of both options.
If all of your team parents have email addresses and are comfortable with online computer systems and all of the team members are well within the 9-14-year-old age range for FIRST LEGO League, using the online system will be easy for your team. If your team members used the system last year, most of their information will already be there waiting for their parents this year.
If your parents do not have a personal email address, do not have internet access, or struggle to use online systems in English, you will want to print the forms for them. This is also the case if you have a young 8-year-old or 14-year-old 8th-grade student on your team. While both of these students are eligible for FIRST LEGO Leauge, the system does not always give them the option of applying to a FIRST LEGO League team.
3) Resources For the Online System
While the FIRST systems have been improved this year, it is still not intuitive to everyone, especially if my emails this season are any indication. I have spent several weeks with the help of coaches in Oregon learning how to use the FIRST system for the roster and making some resources for you. These resources will also be posted on several ORTOP webpages, but also on the Team Resources page.
- Official FIRST Student Consent Form Help page
- ORTOP Coach's Guide to Creating & Printing an Online Roster
- ORTOP Parent's Guide for the FIRST Online System
The ORTOP guides are PDF documents made to help to navigate the FIRST Dashboard for the purpose of making the Roster. If your parents are struggling, it is recommended to give them the Parent's Guide PDF along with the team number. Parents can use these materials to enter their child's information even if they do not receive the invitation email from the FIRST system.
To get started, one of the LEAD COACH/MENTORs must log in to their account at www.firstinspires.org. The coach can then invite all of the parents to complete their own profiles in the FIRST system for themselves and EACH of their children. It is very important the coach does not complete this process for the parents.
After the parents enter their children's information into the FIRST system and apply to be a part of your team one of the LEAD COACH/MENTORS will need to return to the FIRST Dashboard and accept all of the team members to the team. When accepting the team members to the team, it is very important to make sure child has a signed Consent Form, this will be marked by a green checkmark. If the team member does not have a signed form, the parent will need to log in and sign it, or they will need to sign a paper form that will be turned in at your tournament. It is VERY easy to miss the step of signing the consent form. I did when I was making the guides. If the parent has more than one child they will need to sign the consent form for each child.
4) How to Print Your Roster
Printing the Roster can only be done by a LEAD COACH/MENTOR. However, it is very easy to do! Your team MUST have 2 LEAD COACH/MENTORs in the FIRST system, and both must have a current background check and have signed their consent form from the current season.
To print the roster the LEAD COACH/MENTOR must:
- log in at www.firstinspires.org
- Select Contact Options -> Print Roster
- Print the Roster
See, straightforward. Looking for a graphical aid? I made you one!
EVERY TEAM MUST BRING THEIR PRINTED ROSTER TO THE QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT!
5) Using the Paper System for One or All Team Members
Using paper forms for all of your team members is a perfectly valid way to complete this team requirement. Here is what the LEAD COACH/MENTOR needs to do.
- Log in at www.firstinspires.org
- Print the Roster (see above)
- Use the Contacts page to print an English or Spanish language form for each team member as appropriate. (see page 1 of this guide)
- Have each child's parent complete the Youth Team Member form.
- Write EACH team member's name on the team roster in pen.
- Make a copy of everything in case your team advances to state, you will need to turn another copy in then.
- Staple ALL of the completed Youth Team Member forms to the back of the Roster
6) HELP! I have Weirdness!
I am seeing all kinds of interesting things happening in the systems. Links that worked the day before don't work anymore. Parents are not receiving the emails. Parent's names are appearing instead of their child's name on the roster. If your issue is not something I have addressed above, or in the walkthroughs, you have a case of weirdness that is beyond my ability. You need to contact FIRST directly. You can try calling during East Coast business hours at 1-800-871-8326 ext 0. Or you can email FLLteams@firstinspires.org or SafetyFIRST@firstinspires.org
Best Wishes,
Loridee
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