Coach Timeline

Help yourself plan for the year! 

August: Planning begins!  Event rules are being completed by National SO committee but the event list will be available on both the NSO and KYSO websites.  NSO has 23 events on their schedule for both Division B and Division C. Our state website will be updated in late September with the event schedule we plan to run at the state tournament.  

• Seek school approval for a KYSO team
• Register the team on the our website
• Promote the team - hang posters, signs, and banners
• Plan the year - select a date for an organizational/informational gathering with students and another date for a parent meeting a bit later in the fall

September: Event rules are available to download!  Read event rules carefully. Regional and Invitational tournaments are posted on the KYSO website.  You will be assigned to a regional, but you have the option to attend as many Invitationals as you wish and can even see if there are openings at other regionals as well.

• Hold an “open house/interest meeting” to showcase the different events offered.  Consider having students fill out interest forms with events they want to compete in.  
• Choose which students will compete in each event or have students help decide.  
• Watch for the KYSO state tournament schedule to see the distribution of events.  This will help students determine which events they want to compete in. For example if a student is interested in Disease Detectives and Food Science but they are in the same time slot then the student will have to choose one event - they cannot compete in both.
• Provide copies of event rules to students if you have not done so already.
• Begin gathering resources, study materials, supplies, and mentors.  Build a library of information for each event.
• Recruit Event Coaches - Parents, teachers, college professors, industry experts, etc that can help in the various events
• Have students develop a practice schedule

September through November: If you’re able to organize the students and get them started preparing for their events then they can make use of holiday breaks to practice and perfect their events.  Don’t worry if you are still gathering students to make your team. Many schools are still working on this too and some don’t register until close to the deadline in November.

• Contact the Invitational and any extra Regionals that you wish to attend.  Remember some Invitationals have an extra fee to participate, but the more practice your team can get the better prepared they will be.  Many teams attend as many of these tournaments as possible and find it almost impossible to be competitive if they only attend the one regional and state.
• NOTE:  There is often an Invitational in November!
• Ask your yearbook supervisor to take a team photo for the school yearbook
• Begin fundraising to help cover various expenses
• Attend a nearby coaches clinic. 
• Plan team dinners or a “team night” (with food/snacks)

December through January: This is when most of the Invitational tournaments happen.  

• Test and measure devices
• Prepare paperwork for regional tournaments
• Permission slips as well as Media Release, Minors on Campus Form, Team Roster, etc.
• Our website will have some template forms that you can use or tweak to your school’s needs, starting in late September
• Organize transportation to the regional tournament
• Optional: Begin brainstorming a t-shirt design.  Order shirts early enough to wear at state (possibly regionals too)
• NOTE: There is often a Regional in February!

February through March: There are a couple more Invitationals yet in these last few months, but most of the Regionals happen at this time.  This is when all the last minute tweaks and preparation happens. It can be chaotic and highly energetic. Enjoy this time….it means the kids are super excited about what they are doing which is wonderful that they are engaged in STEM activities!!!

• Order t-shirts if not already taken care of
• Finalize travel arrangements to regionals  
• Collect permission slips
• Practice, practice, practice!
• Label all devices with team name and regional team number

April: It’s state tournament time!!!  KYSO tournament is often in early April (rarely late March).

• If you are headed to state - CONGRATS!
  
  • Continue practicing and make any necessary changes/modifications based on regional performance
  • Submit paperwork for the state tournament
  • Organize transportation
  • Any interest in parents volunteering at the tournament?  If so, contact Taylor or Delaney at kyso@uky.edu.
• If you did not qualify for state - don’t worry….you have learned so much this year and will come back that much stronger next year.
  
  • You can still volunteer at the state tournament to gain experience and see how it is organized. There is so much to learn!  

May: Team(s) competing at nationals have some more preparation to undertake.  Otherwise it is a time to wrap up this year and plan for next year.

• Hold a team party to celebrate the team’s great work this year
• Optional: Hand out awards to the students (MVP, Rookie of the Year, Most Creative, Above and Beyond, etc)
• Write Thank You notes to anyone who helped throughout the year (Parents, industry experts, sponsors, or any other volunteers)

June through July: Reevaluate last year and plan for next year.  Watch the KYSO website for updates. Some events stay the same from year to year and others are retired for a few years to bring back events.  Often brand new events appear in the rotation as well.

• Keep all of the reference materials collected because even a retired event will resurface after a few years.
• Register early for the following year and start getting to work!  :-)