Arizona coaching support team
Supporting
young engineers
The FIRST® LEGO® League council of experts is here to answer your questions! These volunteers specialize in everything from engineering your robot to preparing for competition day. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to these individuals or teams.
To everyone on our panel, and all of you in the FIRST® LEGO® League community — thank you a million times for all that you do to keep FIRST® LEGO® League thriving in Arizona. We couldn’t do it without you, and together we can change lives!
Rich Gomez
Arizona head referee
Have any questions about this year’s robot game challenge? Are you a referee needing clarification on a mission?
Rich Gomez, a veteran with FIRST® for over a decade and our head referee for the state, can help!
Nancy Okabe
Arizona judge advisor
Nancy Okabe, our regional lead judge advisor, can help with any and every question you may have about the judging process in FIRST® LEGO® League.
Susan Garduño
FIRST® senior mentor
Looking to raise funds to support your FIRST® LEGO® League team? Meet Susan, a passionate FIRST® senior mentor who has been serving the FIRST® LEGO® League, FIRST® Tech Challenge and FIRST® Robotics Competition communities for years.
According to Susan, “Fundraising makes me happy. I specialize in in-kind donations and sponsorship. I like to think outside of the box while fundraising.”
Elaine Michaud
FLL program delivery partner
From 2008 to 2022, Elaine served as a coach, trainer and tournament director for FIRST® across Alaska.
Her team, the BrickMasters team #207, won three consecutive Alaska state championships, earning them a Core Values award at the World Championship.
Since 2022, Elaine has joined Arizona State University to be the FLL program delivery partner for Arizona. She can answer your questions about team registration, how to get started and assist in securing funding for rookie and Title I schools.
Pavan Vasudev
Team formation, non-profit set-up, coding support
Pavan is a SW Engineering Manager and a long-standing FLL Challenge, Explore and FTC coach in the West Valley. He has a passion for every child experiencing FIRST® and finding a FIRST® team home for everyone. This involves inspiring parents to become coaches, seeing the possible in a child-led team, keeping Core Values at the core of meetings, helping to support coaches at pain points, resource coaches with getting started and advising on coding and sensor control and more technical topics.
If you’re on the fence about starting a FIRST® team and want to know how to get started, or are stuck on how to move forward on project or robot development, please reach out.
Chao Ling
FLL coaching and judging guidance
Chao Ling is a passionate mentor and experienced volunteer who has supported students at every level of competition, from local events to the world stage. Chao has coached standout FLL teams, Fire Kirin and Golden Phoenix, both of which advanced to the FIRST® World Festival in consecutive years.
In addition to coaching, Chao has served as a judge for FLL, FTC, and FRC at regional, state and world events. He was also a tournament director for an FLL regional and continues to contribute through mentorship, outreach, and volunteer leadership.
“I believe in using robots to build kids, not the other way around. It’s about helping students discover confidence, teamwork and a love of learning.”
— Chao Ling
Rick Kale
Tournament director
Rick Kale has been volunteering to support FIRST® LEGO® League events in Arizona since 2009 and has been a tournament director since 2014. Rick is the Tournament Director for the annual Arizona State FLL Challenge Tournament. If you have a question about what to expect on tournament day from a logistics point of view, he can help provide an explanation.
You can email us at [email protected] if you would like to be added to our Arizona Coaching Support Team.