FLL
 
Home > FLL > FLL Community > Coach of the year
To guide a FLL team during the tournament is no easy thing to do. Sensitivity, foresight, patience and educational know-how are needed. Moreover, there are many things to arrange – the trip to the tournament location must be planned, the expenses for the teams must be covered and agreements with parents must be made. Many coaches accomplish this with flying colours, often simultaneously to their everyday life and tasks.
FLL Coach of the Year 2011

Paul Murphy was chosen to be awarded. The coach of team SIMogel from Munich (D) is now "FLL Coach of the Year". Congratulations!

He did not only inspire his team but the parents and his colleagues and hereby layed the foundation for an integrated development. He and his team took part in FLL for the first time and although the preparation time was quite short they could reach a lot together. For the upcoming season they planned further teams... We think this is great!
The team members of the Munich International School team Simogel and their parents would like to nominate their coach Paul Murphy:

"(...) It was the first time the school ever participated and the first time any of the kids participated. The coach had never even heard of FIRST LEGO League or worked with Mindstorms before the beginning of the current school year. The team had only one month to prepare for the competition. As you are aware, the approximately 10 people on the team represented 10 different nationalities. Their only common language was English.
Despite overwhelming odds against them, the Simogel team made an impression showing at the completion and won several first prizes. Certainly Paul Murphy must be considered as coach of the year."
All nominations for Paul Murphy
FLL Coach of the Year 2011 - Nominees

In the last weeks we have received several nominations for very committed FLL Coaches. Many thanks to all that have sent us nominations!
Team Legocraft from Tornesch (D) near Hamburg sended in the last nomination for their coach Mario Selck. Here ist why they want him to be awarded.

"... he did a great job as a coach and together we have reached the 4th of 14 ranks at the regioanl tournament. We think for a newcomer team this is quite good. (...) We wouldn´t have reached this without Mr. Selck!"

 

Nomination for Mario Selck

The AKG-Graphisoft team from Hungary would like to nominate their coach Viktor Várkonyi. Read here why:

"He is the CEO of Graphisoft a large software company, but still he could always find the time to be with us and help us.

He is a maximalist but in a good sense, there were issues where we did not agree but when we tried both solutions he was ready to accept our ideas if they proved to work. He was really cool, we had fun with him, but he took the tasks very seriously.

In the regional tournament in Szeged (H) we had a disagreement over some rules with the judges and then he told us: „Cool down. You should not criticize the organizers and you should not use bad language. If you can’t keep to that we go home immediately, no matter how we stand int he game. You work on the robot taht’s is your job, I will settle this with the judges that is my job.” we learned from him that a clean game and fair play is much more important than winning."

Proud for their coach are as well the team members of We aRe oNe from Schwarzenbek (D) and they support his nomination by the following arguments:

"... he was always leading by example. He is very committed to the competition and the team, he brings in ideas, helpful discussions as well as critique. He has the ability to manage the team without leading it too strong. Last but not least he is spending a lot of his free time with us and the FLL program."
Rainald Weber: Coach des Jahres - Kandiatur
Michael Gakstatter took care of the teams "Alpha-Bots" and "Beta-Bots" in 2011. They want to honor his dedication by nominating him as FLL Coach of the Year. Why - see what they have written:

"... Despite the fact that Michael is still a student of the Technical High School he has been there for the teams all the time. During the season we met every Friday at school, on weekends and holidays at Michael´s home. Under the roof of his parents house he has set up a room for the robotics workshop."
Michael Gakstatter: Coach of the Year - Nonimation
As a successful FLL Coach of the Year 2010 Pallerberg Denise got quite good support for coaching her team 'The GreatDigidies' from  two former team members as co-coaches. She is sure they should receive the award for 2011. Read why they should be awarded as follows:

"(...) For me it´s quite astonishing to see with how much dedication the two took over their tasks without grumbling and without expecting any compensation. Caro is also very active in the local Table Tennis Association in addition to the support team and Chris has worked in other competitions (e.g., the Federal Competition Computer Science which has exactly the same time line as FLL) in addition to this voluntary task."
Nomination Caro Alt and Chris Hopman
The team GGI-R2D2 from Ilmenau (D) suggested his coach Udo Hegenbarth as "FLL Coach of theYear 2011".

Why do they want to nominate him:

"He supported us the whole time with body and soul. We took part in FLL for the first time and had to learn a lot in different matters. One can well imagine that a good teacher is crucial herefore ..."

Read the whole letter of nomination in the download below.
e-mail team GGI-R2D2
From the numerous proposals Denise Pallerberg was selected to be awarded as "FLL Coach of the Year 2010". She is a teacher for computer sciences and coaching the team "The Great Digidies" from Lübbecke/Germany. 
"FLL Coach of the Year 2009" is Andrea Glänzer, teacher at Erwin-Strittmatter-Gymnasium Spremberg/brandenburg (D). She has been coaching 2 teams for FLL Lausitz-Spreewald for the several seasons - ESG-Legoprofis (1057) and Legomasters (1058). 

The first one selected for the award was Markus Meyer from Max-Planck-Gymnasium in Saarlouis. He has been chosen for FLL Coach of the Year 2008.