10/07/2026
🛡️💻 **MEDINA VALLEY AFJROTC CYBERPATRIOT — ROUND 1 IS COMING!** 💻🛡️
It has been a little while since I posted about my awesome **Medina Valley AFJROTC CyberPatriot Team** — and there is a very good reason for that:
**WE HAVE BEEN BUSY!** 😎
Round 1 is only **TWO WEEKS AWAY**, and this year we have **12 Cadets — two full teams of six!**
Both teams are a mix of our experienced senior team members and new Cadets. That is intentional. One of the best parts of CyberPatriot is watching experienced team members become teachers and mentors themselves. During competition, our veterans can help guide the newer Cadets, explain what they are seeing, and teach them how to work through problems as a team.
That is how you build the next generation of the team. 💪
Of course, having so many new team members means their Head Coach has a little work to do. 😂
I have to teach them everything from **cybersecurity principles and system administration to Windows, Linux, and Cisco networking**.
There is a reason our practices have run from **4:30–6:00 PM** since I started coaching this team **11 years ago**. There is A LOT to learn!
But with all the commands, networking, security policies, troubleshooting, and technical knowledge being thrown at them, there is one thing that matters just as much:
**THEY NEED TO HAVE FUN!**
Last week, the Cadets helped test a cybersecurity learning platform I created. It includes interactive training modules, quizzes, tests, hands-on areas for practicing commands across all three disciplines — **Windows, Linux, and Cisco** — and, because apparently I cannot build a training platform without turning part of it into an adventure...
🎮 **It also has two built-in cybersecurity games!**
Learn it. Practice it. Break it. Fix it. Have fun doing it. ⚔️💻
📅 **CYBERPATRIOT COMPETITION SCHEDULE**
Several people have asked me about this year's competition dates. The official CyberPatriot competition schedule can be found here:
https://www.uscyberpatriot.org/competition-schedule/
Our teams compete on the **second day of each competition window, which is Friday**.
And since the first competition falls around **HALLoween** 🎃 — yes, I spelled it that way for a reason — the Cadets are encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes on competition day!
CyberPatriot loves seeing teams celebrate holidays during competition, and our Medina Valley teams have been featured in the CyberPatriot newsletter several times over the years.
But before Round 1 arrives...
⚔️ **TOMORROW: MOCK COMPETITION!** ⚔️
I have prepared competition images and a Cisco lab that **none of the Cadets have seen before**.
Tomorrow is about giving them the feel of a real competition day. The clock will be running. They will have to communicate, divide responsibilities, troubleshoot, research, and work together.
**Competition rules apply.**
And to make the simulation completely terrifying...
🍪 **There will be NO Mrs. Hall's — aka The Cookie Maiden's — World Famous Cookies!**
Yes, Cadets. I said what I said.
This is serious training. 😂
I am looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow and watching these two teams put everything they have been learning into action.
**Round 1 is coming. The Panthers are getting ready.**
⚔️ **Cyber Like A Viking!**
🛡️ **Coach Hall — The Cyber Viking**
Medina Valley AFJROTC TX-20009 Medina Valley High School Medina Valley ISD DAF School Liaison Program Air Force Junior ROTC BSides SATX City of Castroville
