I will focus on a couple of youth activities this month. Tom Neff sent a report about the District IX Drone Soccer Championships that were held at the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum in Denver.
For those, such as I, who are not well acquainted with drone soccer, here’s Tom’s explanation:
"If you’ve seen the game of Quidditch from the Harry Potter movies, that’s the best comparison I can offer you. It is a full-contact sport with 10 drones flying in a cage. Each team starts a round with five drones: one striker and four defenders.
"All of the the team members try to get their designated striker through the goal while blocking the opposing team’s striker from doing the same thing. As you can imagine, it gets exciting."
US Drone Soccer has been an AMA Special Interest Group for a few years. They organize this competition for K-12 kids to compete locally, regionally, and nationally. You can find information at www.dronesoccer.us. I encourage you to explore this STEM activity for kids in your area.
Tom’s drone soccer team is a group of students who are home schooled and attend the Wings Over the Rockies/Wings Aerospace Exploration Pathway school in Denver. By finishing in first place, the team has secured its spot to compete in the national championships in Rome, New York, in June. Good luck to you at the next level.
In addition to supporting a couple of teams, the Wings Museum hosts the Drone Soccer district competition. This organization has championed aviation activities for youth for many years. Thanks, Wings, for all you do.
To finish for this month, here’s a picture of Associate Vice President Jim Tiller doing a Foam Plate Glider (FPG-9) build with a group of youngsters at the Custer Public Library in Jim’s hometown of Custer, South Dakota.
The FPG-9 is a great introductory activity for kids and is available to you and educators from the AMA Flight School at www.amaflightschool.org. You can also get a box of precut gliders if you ask.
The Wings Aerospace Exploration Pathway Drone Soccer Team won the 2025 District IX Championship!