FIRST LEGO® League Explore is open to students in grades K - 3.

FIRST LEGO® League Challenge is open to students in grades 4–8, regardless of age. We recognize that eligibility for 8th graders has been a point of concern in previous seasons and appreciate the feedback from our community. We want to reassure teams that 8th graders remain eligible to participate, and there are no plans to reverse this decision.

For homeschooled students who do not follow traditional grade levels, participants must be at least 9 years old by September 1 to compete in FLL Challenge.

Registration teams place in 3 phases:

1. Complete FIRST® HQ season registration.

2. Pay Texas Qualifying Event Fee

3. Submit preferences for qualifying events.

Click here to learn more.

FIRST  is committed to providing every student with a meaningful, engaging, and equitable competition experience. To strengthen the quality and consistency of that experience, we are transitioning to in-person judging for all FIRST LEGO League events.

All Regional Events, except for South, will have in-person judging. In addition, every effort will be made to offer in-person judging at all Qualifier Events. Please contact your local program contact with event specific questions.

FIRST teams are independently formed and managed within their communities, including their own recruitment. To protect the privacy of team members, neither FIRST nor FIRST Texas can directly match students with existing teams or provide private team contact information.

Here are a few ways to look for a team:

• Use the FIRST Team and Event Search to find teams near you. Some teams include a public email address, website, or social media page.

• Contact nearby schools, libraries, homeschool groups, and youth organizations to ask whether they offer a team.

• Search online for local team websites and social media pages.

• Connect with community-run groups where teams sometimes post openings:

  • North Texas FIRST LEGO League - Google Group for the DFW area

  • Texas Mentor Slack - Get in touch with mentors from already established teams

These groups are not managed by FIRST or FIRST Texas, but families often have better success connecting directly with the community through them. We are not currently aware of many similar groups serving other parts of Texas.

We especially encourage families to attend a local FIRST event. Kickoffs, workshops, scrimmages, and competitions bring teams, coaches, mentors, and volunteers together in one place. Attending gives your student a chance to see the programs in action while giving your family an opportunity to meet people from the local community and learn what options may be available nearby. Although attending an event does not guarantee placement on a team, it can be much easier to make connections in person than through online outreach alone.

As our season calendar is finalized, we will continue adding opportunities to the FIRST Texas event calendar.

Please keep in mind that teams determine their own membership based on their space, resources, and needs. They may not be able to respond to every inquiry or accept additional students.

If you are unable to find an existing team, you may also consider starting one. You can compare the programs and learn more about getting started on the FIRST website. No previous engineering or robotics experience is required to become a coach. If you are interested in starting a team and have additional questions, we would be happy to help you understand the next steps.

Lead Coach 1 and Lead Coach 2:

• Adult volunteers that lead the day-to-day activities of the team

• Have the authority to make leadership decisions for the team and are the primary contacts for the team.

• Each team must have two (2) adults in this role. One is recommended to be at least 25 years old.

• Leads can create new teams, manage team contacts, edit team information, make registration payments, register team participants, and view youth information

• Lead Coach 2 cannot invite Lead Coach 1 or Team Administrator.

 Mentor:

• Individuals (18+) with technical or non-technical knowledge who teach and assist a team.

• Mentors provide valuable support and serve as a resource in their area of specialty.

• Regular relationship with the team but may not attend every meeting or event.

• This role is assigned on the FIRST Dashboard. It does not have administrative permissions.

 Team Administrator:

• Individuals (18+) who do not collaborate directly with the team but have access to financial information to procure resources for the team

• Create a team

• Can invite/remove Lead Coaches only (no other rostered roles)

• Cannot invite parents/guardians, accept youth team members, or view youth team members in the Team Contacts page.

• The utilization of this role on a team roster is OPTIONAL.

Note: A Lead Coach 1 can do all the functions of a Team Administrator role and does not need to also be assigned to this role in addition to being a Lead Coach 1.

Youth Mentors:

• An individual, who could be a veteran team member, serving as youth mentor to a team with younger participants.

• These individuals are between the ages of 13-17 years old.

• The utilization of this role on a team roster is OPTIONAL

• This role is assigned on the FIRST Dashboard

• It does not have administrative permissions.

Team Volunteers:

• Individuals (18+) who regularly volunteer with and support the team, but they are not a mentor or the coach.

• The team may be chaperoned and/or supported in another way by this individual.

• The utilization of this role on a team roster is OPTIONAL

• Teams that have additional adult support could roster these individuals as “Team Volunteers” (ex. support logistics) or “mentors” (ex. teach/guide) whichever role is appropriate.

• This role is assigned on the FIRST Dashboard.

• It does not have administrative permissions.

Many people support teams. Here are some examples of other non-rostered roles:

Subject Matter Experts: This individual has infrequent or inconsistent interactions with a team. The individual may be a temporary consultant sharing expertise. (ex. An individual indirectly assists a team with something such as fabrication.) The role may be held by different individuals from season to season.

 Supporters: Individuals who indirectly support the team and do not consistently or directly engage with the team. (ex. individuals who are parents or guardians.) If an individual directly and consistently engages with youth they should be rostered as “Team Volunteers” and take Youth Protection Program training and undergo Youth Protection Program screening.

Click here for infographic.

As we release additional season information, we will update our website and share it through our newsletters. You can subscribe and view previous updates here:

https://www.firsttx.org/newsletter

We also recommend joining the Texas Robot Mentor Slack, which is run by Texas coaches for Texas coaches. It is a great resource for new coaches who have questions or want to connect with other teams:

https://tinyurl.com/TXmentorSlack

Please reach out to customerservice@firstinspires.org