Judging Interview Prep — For Coaches

What the interview actually is.

Kids meet with 2–3 judges in a room. Coaches typically wait outside (rules vary by region — some allow silent-observer coaches, most do not). Format and length differ by program:

FLL Challenge

~5-minute conversation

Judges introduce themselves, ask about the team, robot, Innovation Project, and Core Values. Fluid Q&A, no formal pitch. Kids do the talking; judges probe for depth.

FTC

~5 min pitch + ~5 min Q&A (~10 min total)

Team runs a rehearsed pitch (team, robot, engineering process, outreach, sustainability). Judges then ask questions and often ask to flip through the Engineering Notebook. Bring a printed copy.

Where teams underinvest

Most rookie teams treat judging as a "we'll figure it out on the day" event. Then the kids freeze, the coach can't help from outside, and the awards go to teams that rehearsed. Fix: run two mock interviews before your first tournament. See cadence below.

Every team gets these (FLL + FTC).

"Walk us through your team — who does what?"
Every kid should have one sentence about their role. If one kid always answers, coach them beforehand to hand off. Judges score whether the WHOLE team can talk, not just the loudest.
"Tell us about your robot — what's the design story?"
Two prototypes tried, one picked, why. Not just "we built it and it works." The story of what didn't work is what judges score.
"What was your biggest challenge and how did you solve it?"
Rehearsed answer, one per sub-team. "The intake kept jamming; we tried three designs; the third worked because…"
"How does your team live the Core Values / Gracious Professionalism?"
Not "we're nice to each other." Concrete: "We help other teams by lending parts at competition." "We rotate driver so it's not one kid's seat." Specifics only.

FLL Challenge only.

"Walk us through your Innovation Project — what problem, what solution?"
60-second pitch, then 60 seconds on how the solution works, then 60 seconds on who you talked to (expert interviews, community members). Rehearse this cold. Every kid takes a piece.
"What did you learn from the experts you talked to?"
Judges specifically check for real interviews. "We emailed a professor and…" beats "we read online." Name the person if you can.

FTC only.

"Walk us through your Engineering Notebook."
Judges may ask to flip through it. Show a specific page — a design iteration, a failed test, a decision matrix. "This page shows we chose X over Y because…" is exactly right. Full EN playbook →
"How does your autonomous work?"
Kids should walk through the auto sequence in plain English — sensors, motion, conditionals. If nobody can explain it, the code is a coach's code, not the team's — judges notice.
"What's your outreach / community impact?"
Real activities with numbers. "We ran a robotics demo for 40 kids at the library in October." Not "we plan to do outreach next year."
"How is your team going to keep running next year?"
Sustainability question. Budget, sponsors, plan to recruit rookies. Even a rookie team needs a 30-second answer here.

Mock interview cadence.

Week 4 of your season: parent volunteer plays judge, reads the questions above verbatim, gives no feedback until the end. Kids will freeze. That's the point.
Week 8 of your season: second mock. Different parent, harder follow-ups. Any question a kid can't answer becomes their homework for the next two weeks.
Week before tournament: if the team can pull it off, a third mock with the printed Notebook / Innovation Project posters in hand. Full dress rehearsal.

The judging red flag

Coached answers. If every kid gives the exact same wording, judges know it was scripted. Rehearse the SHAPE of the answer (three specifics, name a person, close with what you learned), not the exact words. Kids' real language is what wins the room.

Common mistakes to avoid.

One kid answers everything. Coach the loud kid to hand off explicitly: "Maya, you took the lead on autonomous — want to answer that one?"
Reading a script. Kids memorize a monologue then blank when judges ask a follow-up. Practice the FOLLOW-UP questions, not just the opener.
No specifics on Core Values / GP. Judges hear "we're a team" all day. Bring receipts — a specific moment, a specific parts loan, a specific kid you helped debug.
Skipping outreach documentation (FTC). Real dates, real headcounts, real photos. "We plan to…" is a zero.
Not knowing your own robot / code. If a kid can't explain how their subsystem works, that's a "coach did it" signal to judges. Every kid owns one thing they can talk about.
Practicing only right before tournament. Rehearsal in the parking lot doesn't stick. Two rounds spaced weeks apart is the winning pattern.

What to hand the kids.

Print the current-season judging rubric (from firstinspires.org for your program) and hand it to the kids in Week 5. "Judges use this to grade you. What do you need to be able to say?" Post it on the workshop wall. That one act moves the average team's score meaningfully.

Judging interview prep — the highest-leverage thing rookies skip.