Kickoff is the official “season start” for FLL. For the 2017-2018 HydroDynamics Challenge season, on August 29th at 9am pacific, the robot game and project description documents and official rules are released online at firstlegoleague.org.   It is not critical that the team do “something” exactly on that specific date/time but the team does need to read and understand the posted items in order to be successful.

One other online “doc” section that is important for the team to be aware of and pay attention to throughout the season is the “Game Rulings” and “Project Rulings” updates – these get updated throughout the season.

The Game and Project Updates are updated throughout the season to answer to questions and provide official clarifications about the robot game and robot rules as well as the Project.

What is the Kickoff Event? Over the last few years, we have held a get together open to the teams and coaches on or near the kickoff date where the host will review the game and project descriptions as well as answer questions and generally bring a great start to the new season.
If you want to see a kickoff – a video is available on YouTube from a few years ago :   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp8wLdSTmh8