How does your team run meetings?

[belle]

How does your team run meetings?

Are you all studying together for your different events? Building together? Or do you study separately and only have full team informational meetings?

Also, during your study meetings(if you have those), do you have a teacher who teaches you the topics like a class or is it just you and your partner researching?

Thank you so much!

[belle]

Our team meets every Saturday from 9:00 am to 1:45 pm in the afternoon, separated into four 1-hour different blocks based on our regional schedule for the year, with a lunch break in between the third and fourth block. For example, in an event such as Circuit Lab that had been run in the first block of our regional tournament this year would also be run in the first block of our meeting. During our meetings, in study events, we go over different topics and learn about them from our coach and take practice tests, normally 1-3 weeks before a tournament. In build events, we bring our devices and do some test runs and see what could be improved of the device, bringing the materials that we will need if we need to make any changes. Information about tournaments are sent out in an email to everyone.

Besides the normal meets our team has, we also usually meet up with our partners for our events and practice with them separately in private, normally taking practice tests and doing a lab, working on builds, etc. as needed. We also meet up with everyone involved in the event of that tournament sometimes, meeting privately at one of the parents' houses, practicing normally as we would with just our partner. These meetings are optional, while the team meetings are mandatory, which if you miss more than 3 of these meetings, you will be removed from the team.

Also before the regional teams are made, you also take a test to sorta "try out," and the coaches also use this and your tournament results from earlier that year to decide if you make the varsity, junior varsity, or in some cases junior varsity 2 teams.