Get Involved with FLL

Interested in organizing a team? Do you want to mentor or sponsor a team? How can you be a part of the FIRST LEGO League (FLL) community? There are a lot of different ways to get involved with FLL, and it’s easy!

1) Start a Team    
2) Become a Mentor 
3) Become a Team, Event or Program Sponsor
4) Volunteer for an Event  

If you have general questions on any of these topics, please contact FLLTeams@usfirst.org. If you have questions specific to your area, you can contact the FLL Operational Partner for your region.

1) Start a Team
Anyone can form a team, whether or not there is a technical background. A team can be a school class, after-school program, extracurricular group, home school, neighborhood group, club, or civic organization. A team consists of three to 10 kids, ages 9-14 (16 outside of U.S. and Canada), and at least one adult coach. For a number of reasons, it is difficult for us to match an individual with a pre-existing team. Typically, we encourage interested individuals to consider forming their own team. An adult coach can be the coach for multiple teams, but a child can be on only one team.

For more detailed information about starting a team, check out How To Start A Team or browse chapters from the FLL Coaches' Handbook available on the Team Resources Preparation page.

Your school is interested in FLL, what can they do? By starting an FLL team, a school can literally change the lives of hundreds of its students. The program is able to effectively engage children from various backgrounds, instilling new ideas and concepts in young minds. Schools can do this by:

• Spreading the word about FLL
• Encouraging parents to form teams
• Providing space for teams to work
• Being a tournament site
• Helping mentor/coach a team
• Supporting teachers introducing the idea
• Bringing FLL into the classroom

“In my mind, this is a tremendous way to get kids to think about ways to solve problems.” – Paul Williams, Rhode Island Department of Education

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2) Become a Mentor
Meaningful involvement of adults in children’s lives has proven as an essential component for developing young people’s potential. FLL creates powerful relationships between the children and the adults who participate. Anyone can be a mentor: technical or non-technical professionals; teachers; professors; parents; college students; FIRST Robotics Competition and/or FIRST Tech Challenge team participants. As a mentor, you:

• Provide valuable one-on-one interaction that develops both technical and interpersonal skills in team members
• Empower children with a sense of accomplishment
• Are respected and admired by team members
• Are inspired and energized through their participation

Let your local FLL Operational Partner know you would like to mentor a team.

“The role of the adult is not necessarily to teach, but to inspire” – Dean Kamen, Founder of FIRST

3) Become a Team, Event, or Program Sponsor
FIRST is supported by a strong network of sponsors who provide funding, mentorship time and talent, volunteers, equipment, and more. To help make FIRST a reality, you can:

• Provide financial support to teams
• Involve employees as mentors, coaches and/or volunteers
• Provide equipment, facilities and/or training
• Help host a tournament for your community

“We believe getting kids involved in science and technology is good for everyone.  And it certainly feeds our pipeline for future engineers.” – Al Canton, General Motors

If you have an interest in becoming an FLL Program Sponsor, please visit the Sponsors page. If you are interested in sponsoring teams, events, or FLL in your local area, contact the FLL Operational Partner for your region.

Universities and colleges can help FLL, too. Universities and colleges are a valuable source for coaches, mentors and volunteers. University and college students, faculty, and administration can participate by volunteering their technical expertise as coaches and mentors, and by making facility space and equipment available to teams.

• Host an FLL tournament for the community
• Recruit volunteers
• Contact local elementary and junior high schools
• Get the word out to alumni
• Recruit marketing and engineering students to help mentor/coach teams

“Exposing students to possible college careers is something all universities should be doing in partnership with local communities, high schools, and industry. Participating in FIRST helps develop, through experience, leadership skills and an appreciation for what it means to make a societal contribution and to practice good citizenship, important under-addressed topics in most curricula.” – Dr. James C. Benneya, Northeastern University, Boston, MA

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4) Volunteer for an Event
FLL is a journey to self-discovery for both team members and volunteers. Everyone learns new skills they can use for life.

• Mentor or coach a team
• Judge
• Referee
• Coordinate a team
• Help with fundraising
• Recruit new teams

To learn more about volunteering for FLL in your area, contact your local FLL Operational Partner.

“I loved working with these kids! I’m amazed and inspired by what they can accomplish, and their enthusiasm and energy is contagious.” – Kristen Kelso, Former FIRST Robotics Competition participant; FLL coach and Judge.

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