FLL Southern California Qualifying Tournaments in Review

Over the last couple of weeks, we had the amazing opportunity to participate in the Southern California FIRST LEGO League (FLL) Qualifying Tournaments. Across two weekends, December 1–2 and 8–9, teams from all over the region came together to compete, collaborate, and celebrate innovation.

This year, 22 qualifying events were hosted throughout Southern California, each with a maximum of 24 teams. In total, 547 teams registered, and with only 3 no-shows, an incredible 547 teams took part in this season’s qualifying rounds!

A New Era of Scoring: Introducing Nexus

For the first time, SoCal FLL piloted a brand-new scoring and event management system called Nexus for FLL, a powerful upgrade that simplifies access to schedules, rankings, and match data. The system also includes a fantastic automated email that includes PDFs of the rubrics, scoresheets, awards list, and some included an advancement list.

The new system provided clean, centralized information for each event, including team names and numbers, match scores, and event details. Using this data, we were able to analyze results from across the region and uncover some fascinating insights about robot performance this season.

Having participated in FLL for the last 7 years I found it to be incredibly effective, and an improvement from previous years where we used FLL Tournaments and FIRST Event Hub.

Advancing to Regionals

About 50% of the 547 teams who participated in the qualifying tournaments advanced to the next level, the Southern California Regionals. Moving forward there will be eight regional events. Advancement to these events was determined by which qualifying event a team attended. Each regional will only have teams from up to four pre determined qualifying tournaments.

We’re incredibly proud of all the teams moving forward, and we want to recognize the effort, learning, and teamwork demonstrated by every participant, regardless of advancement. Every tournament was filled with creativity, perseverance, and problem-solving, the true spirit of FLL!

A Note on New Training Requirements

This season also introduced a new state-mandated training requirement for coaches and team leaders across California. While most teams successfully completed the training ahead of their event, a small number were unable to finish in time and therefore became ineligible to qualify for advancement.

Teams have been reminded throughout the year, beginning as early as May, to complete these training s before tournament participation. We encourage all returning and future teams to finish these requirements early to ensure eligibility next season.

Key Insights from the Robot Game

Here are some of the highlights drawn from the combined event data:

Interestingly, among the top 25 teams,  two achieved their highest score during their practice match which unfortunately doesn't count towards their official maximum. Team 61520 LIT would be in first place with a score of 525 if the data included the practice matches.

Top 25 Scores in Southern California

Congratulations to all the teams for their hard work and creativity this season! Whether your score broke 400 or your robot completed its very first mission, every team contributed to the excitement and spirit of the competition.

Looking Ahead

The qualifying tournaments are just the beginning and with the energy, skill, and collaboration we’ve seen across Southern California, the Regional Tournaments promise to be just as inspiring and competitive.

A huge thank you to all the volunteers, coaches, event partners, and families who make these events possible. Here’s to another season of innovation, teamwork, and fun!