Role of Team Captain
 

In a recent meeting, the role of team captain was brought up. Up until this point on Team 1540, the team captain has been guaranteed a position on the drive team. The logic behind this was that after 4 years on the team, the team captain would logically fit into the drive team, and aspire for a position. It was also an incentive for team members to aspire to the position of team captain.
After Breakaway! however, certain opinions changed. The team voted in the final meeting of the year to restrict certain drive team positions. We, as a team, decided that the mangers of design and fabrication should not be eligible for the drive coach, or main driver position. The main reason behind this is that the person/people responsible for the main design and fabrication of the robot would be consumed by the maintenance of the robot during the competition and would not necessarily be available for discussions of strategies for the next match. The guarantee of a drive team position for the team captain remains intact.

We're currently debating whether that should remain. One the one hand, a team member who has committed themselves to their team for 3 years should be able to choose the position that they would want to be in for their final year. On the other hand, we'd like to field the best possible drive team to maximize our chances at competitions.

So now we'd like to hear from you.

Is your team captain guaranteed a drive team position each year?

What are the responsibilities of your team's team captain?

How do you form your drive team each year?

What role(s) does your team captain preform on your team?

Thanks!

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Not knowing the game, how all your students drive, how committed they'll be 4 months from now, etc... I would be hesitant to put such harsh restrictions on Driving.

We hold tryouts and try to pick the best compromise between skill, dedication (past dedication usually means future dedication to attend practice), attitude and contribution to the team. We won't put a kid out there that doesn't deserve it or has an awful attitude, but putting in 300 hours and designing half the robot doesn't guarantee a spot either. There generally aren't hard feelings about this from the gungho students, they know we're out there to win matches.

It's nice to have a driver not on pit crew in terms of stress and availability, but it's also nice for the driver to be able to jump in and fix issues during eliminations. Generally the coach should handle the prematch strategy talks anyway.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Drivers should not be chosen based on class standing or team position, but on skill and on how they work with each other and the drive coach. When there are 4 team members on the field, if they do not understand each other, or work well together, then you may as well not build a good robot. Individually, they may be experts at what they do, but if the driver goes backwards right as the operator tries to hang, while the coach is telling them to kick a soccer ball, then you're not going to do well.

In addition to that, team members with discipline issues, or who are not committed to the team, should probably not be on the drive team. Other students who the team decides should not be on the team are up to the team.

One of the best drivers in FRC started as a freshman. His operator was a sophomore. At least, that's how it was at the start... When they finished four years later, they had picked up a world championship, several regionals, and two trips to the IRI finals, one of which they won.

For team 330, captain does not necessarily mean drive team member. It depends on who wins the driver tryouts.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

There are many team captains who are not on the drive team. Every tournament after alliance selection, the head referee meets with the alliance captains - those who picked the alliance. One of the first questions the head ref should ask is if everyone there is on the drive team. More often than not, at least one of the alliance captains is not on the drive team, in which case the alliance captain is responsible to give all the head ref's instructions to the drive team.

And I realize that the person who picks the alliance may be the scouting captain, another position althogether.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

We have multiple team captains. 2 or 3 programing/electrical, 2 mechanical, 2 marketing. I am one of out programing/electrical captains and have been one of our main repair people in the pit. I have also been the driver for the past 2 years. Why can't a main build person be on the drive team? You can't work on the robot while it is on the field. We pretty much see who is interested in driving and have had them all see who is better and they have been the reserve drive team. I have been the main driver because I have had the most experience and am one of the more dedicated team members. you just have to find someone who will dedicate their time and can drive. then from there have your old driver teach new drivers. We have found that having a programer on the drive team helps because if something fails code wise they know what failed. if it is mechanical you can likely see it.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

I think these decisions and selections are based on different criteria.

The team captain should be someone who knows and understands how the team operates, can communicate with all team members, can represent the team with sponsors and others and is willing to put in a lot of time to help the team succeed.

The drive team should be the best combination of 4 team members (students / adults as the team decides) who can get the most out of the robot, represent the team well on the field, and implement agreed alliance strategies.

The pit crew should be the group best suited to maintain the robot in a ready to play condition between matches.

Sometimes these groups / individuals overlap, but i don't believe it should be restricted as a specific yes or no.

My personal preference is that these groups are all separate individuals. This allows the drive team to focus on creating a good match strategy (with support from the scouting team) and then completing the match, while the pit crew focuses on getting the robot repaired and ready for the next match. The team captain, meanwhile, can be making sure all of the team is engaged, talk to judges or focus on other areas where needed.

This approach not only allows each group to focus on their primary responsibilty, it allows more students to be in key leadership roles for the team.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Is your team captain guaranteed a drive team position each year?
No. No one on our team is guaranteed a spot on the drive team.

What are the responsibilities of your team's team captain?
Our team captain is the over seer of the other 5 students known as the steering committee, who in turn over see 3-6 subgroup leaders under them. So the team captain is the leader of all our meetings and has a step in every aspect of the team

How do you form your drive team each year?
We choose drive team on a number of practical tests, dedication to the team, what are the chances of them freaking out under the pressure and a small bit on seniority(only if the other 3 are extremely close). In the past two years the team captain has made the drive team; however 3 years ago the captain was not right for the part and did not make it.

What role(s) does your team captain preform on your team? See two questions up.

That's just the basics of how our team is organized and I plan to get the organizational chart up on robostangs.com very soon

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

On Team RUSH, the role of team captain and drive team member are entirely independent.

Every year, we have nominations for team captains. Students and Mentors submit their nominations, and the students who have been nominated can accept or decline their nomination. Then, the nominees typically prepare a speech on why they feel they would make a good captain and deliver it to the team, and then everyone votes to elect 2 co-captains.

We also have sub-team captains for each sub-team, including those associated with building the robot, the "business" sub-teams, and presentation sub-teams.

If you hold the position of team captain, you are ineligible for sub-team captain and vice versa.

As for drive team, that is determined entirely by tryouts, level of commitment, and ability to represent the team professionally on and off the field.

Being a member of the pit crew and drive-team are also mutually exclusive. You can't be a pit crew member (or pit programmer) and be on the drive-team.


As far as roles of the team captain, the captains on our team are responsible for taking care of anything that is needed from the mentors, as well as taking care of any issues on the team that don't need the attention of adult mentors, as well as general organization and coordination with sub-team captains.

In my opinion, one of the most important things for a team captain to do is to set an example of professionalism and dedication for other students to follow, something that I hope I was able to achieve during my time.


-Josh
4 year driver, 2 year team captain

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

You need to make the decision based on what is best for your particular team and situation. Some teams may have a plethora of talent where they can produce an extremely competitive drive team that is independent of other positions on the team. Other teams may only have a few dedicated students thus they must share those responsibilities. It's really dependent on what your team and situation are like.

I don't have a preference either way. When choosing drivers, our team takes the approach of finding a balance between skill and dedication. We as a team have determined that we want the person driving the robot to have earned that spot with hard work and showcasing their abilities. If that means the team captain is the driver for a particular year, then so be it. If not, then the captain can fulfill other roles and responsibilities. But again, this is just my team, and works for the situation we have.

-Brando

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

I was a member of the drive team in my 4 years as a Student and was also team Captain for two of them.

That being said, on our team, the Captain is almost always a member of the drive team, but that's not a requirement. Usually the most involved and respected members are also the people who try out and have the skills to drive.

When forming a Drive Team we usually hold open try outs and let students get a feel for the robot. From there we try to set up a test to showcase their strengths and weaknesses and decide from there. Personalities also play a large part in our decisions because we've often found that some of the best drivers are also the most cocky and have difficulty working with other Teammates and Teams. The only year when we didn't hold to this was 2009 because of how the build season went. (Finished a week and half early, so myself and another student logged as many hours practicing as we could before ship.)

As far as the role of team captain goes, the captain is essentially the "Face" of our team. They're always in or around the pit area to talk to other teams, judges, alliances partners, etc... They're also the representative we send out during alliance selections.

The Captain on our team isn't decided through voting or anything of that sort because we've never needed to. Usually, every year there is someone who demonstrates extraordinary leadership qualities, Devotion to the team, and is well liked and respected by their peers, and that is who becomes Captain.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

In an ideal world, the Team Captain would be a non-technical individual. The TC would serve as liaison between students, mentors, teachers and coaches, making sure all are working, working well, and working on-time.

That being said, our driver last year was the TC.

I imagine this happens more often than not, simply because the type of person who would be the natural leader of the team would likely 'live and breathe robotics,' hang around the shop outside meeting hours, and have an intricate knowledge of many robot functions and mechanisms.

The definitive answer to this question is the usual: Do what's best for your team. There is no right way or wrong way, there's just your way.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

If it were my team, doing any role wouldn't preclude you from being on the drive team. I don't think there's ever a robot that needs so much maintenance that being on the drive team (where 75% of their work is done when you can't fix the robot) would prevent them from doing that job effectively.

The drive team isn't something that should be a "reward" for anyone. It's a very specific job that isn't really something a team interested in competitive success should take so lightly. Ideally, you have a coach that can interact well with a variety of people, has experience with the scouting team, and works well under pressure. Ideally the drivers are all able to do things quickly and without hesitation while being able to take inputs from a variety of sources at once. Drivers in my mind should be selected based on who is the most disciplined and mature, with actual skill being secondary unless you have no way for them to practice at all. (Luckily 2791 has a student who meets both these criteria perfectly)

That being said, it's "your team" so whatever works for you guys, I guess. It's not really my place to tell any other team how to run...

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Maybe Scouting? :)

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Is your team captain guaranteed a drive team position each year?
- Nope. There is nothing prohibiting a captain (we usually have 2-3 co-captains) from being on the drive team, but likewise they aren't guaranteed a spot on it.

What are the responsibilities of your team's team captain?
- The captains are responsible for planing the meeting agenda's, leading the meetings (where appropriate, sections of meetings are delegated), and often serve as influential leaders in the subteams they are a part of.

How do you form your drive team each year?
- Mandatory driving "tryout" for all members during the off season, expressed interest (and if we see some real talent a little prodding from mentors), and if needed extended tryouts later in the season to narrow it down to 4 members. School year is also a factor - we are trying not to have the entire drive team all graduate at the same time. Some continuity is important.

What role(s) does your team captain preform on your team?
- Our current 3 captains, in addition to captain duties listed above do the following:
Head up the mechanical subteam
Head up the programming subteam and serve as drive coach
head up website development (in conjunction with PR) and work with the programming subteam on the robot


I think you need to ask yourself - what qualities should a captain have, and what should their responsibilities be at different points in the season (during build, at competition, off season)? For us, the captain's have shown a willingness to do what the team needs, when it's needed, and an outstanding ability to jump out in front of the judges and pit visitors at competition and explain both how the robot works and how the team functions. While others are also in the pit answering questions (and proving their ability to be future captains), the captains essentially form the "public face" of the team.

Our captains are responsible for the overall health and organization of the team. If we required them to fill a specific roll (like being part of the drive team), they would have a very narrow focus and find it difficult to relate to other areas of the team and understand what was needed in those other areas.


On the flip side of that, we require our drive team to be very dedicated to one thing: driving. They spend most of the build season in a different room driving the practice robot. We've tried having them involved with both driving and other areas (mechanical, programming, etc)... but often the driving suffers. As a result, the drive team now is almost completely dedicated and spends very little time working as part of other sub teams, and we've seen noted improvement in our performance because of it.

So, for our team, the concept of captain (broad knowledge, involved in everything) and drive team (narrow focus, only concerned about operating the robot) don't mesh together very well.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

I'm a large supporter of the idea that Drivers should not be part of the Pit Crew, and shouldn't even have to worry about fixing the robot unless absolutely necessary. I've tried to play that role more than once at a few different levels and it justs adds another source of stress to an already stressful job. There's nothing better than going out to the field with your machine and knowing that you can drive it as hard as you need to and should something break your pit crew would be on top of it.

Being a Driver and Scouting actually seem to go pretty well together. Having first hand knowledge (not filtered through a scouting system) of your allies and opponents can be the difference between winning and losing a match.

I always tell our Drive Team to watch as many matches as possible when we're at events with the hope that they'll gain some sort of insight into the competition.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

On team 675 the captain is our 'team leader' their job is to make sure each division is running smoothly and to assist our head mentor in whatever needs to be done for the team weather it be setting up a fundraiser or budget work. They run our meetings and they are not guaranteed anything else. Our drive team consists of who ever does the most work, attends trainings and works best together.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

The exception is eliminations. At that point, if the drivers don't know how to fix some of the robot, even the extra pit crew probably won't help...

As far as drivers and pit crew, drivers should at least know the easy stuff--thrown/broken chain, best guess at what's wrong with the control system this time, breaker/wire insertion, and what's likely to be the culprit when the whodijingle goes boing instead of sproing. Makes it easier on the pit crew to get a good idea of where to look for the problem while the drive team goes to strategize for their next match, plus if it's really major the drive team can do the easy stuff while everybody else puts the magic smoke back in.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

This is a bit off the original topic, but seems to fit what we are discussing now.

I like to use the analogy that the driver is like a test pilot. It's the driver's job to drive, but it's also his job to report accurately what he experienced so that the problem can be found and fixed. If the only thing that the pit crew gets back from the drive team is that the robot didn't work, they won't be able to do much about it, whereas if the driver tells them that when he did x, the bot did y, and only when z was happening as well, then that's a lot easier to work with.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

The Team Captain, or "President" on our team, has generally been the driver of the robot, at least for the years that i have been involved.
There are a few reasons for this, and it's not because we gave it to them.
1. our team was so small, as to where, the driver needed to be as experienced with the robot as possible.
2. the President has spent the most amount of time with and around the robot.

as for the roles of our President, the main goal is to be the "Face" of the team. Just to basically represent the team at all times, which also includes running meetings, giving presentations to prospective sponsors, etc.

one thing i would like to note, is that we always have our lead programmer on the drive team, not just to run the drive station, but they also usually have the best understanding of how to fix it if there is a code error with the field or robot.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

For regular Regionals I can see this, but how did this work out for you at Championship last year?
With all the walking back and forth it's really hard to see more than a fraction of the other matches, and some teams you never get to see play.
Our driver team gives Scouting input like which teams are easy to work with, which are demanding, uncooperative, and difficult, who has the coolest phone apps...

I both like and dislike the idea of having a programmer on the driver team. In one way it's great for them to see and correct problems, in another it's hard for them to have time to enact actual changes while they aren't busy with drive team duties, or being on queue. My preference is for a drive team programmer to direct another programmer in making changes, so they can be ready to test when the drive team returns from a match.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

our team captain hasn't been promised a drive team place, how ever having said that. for the three years I've been on the team our team captain has been on drive team. not because he's team captain but because he was the best choice for the job. ether because he was good at working with other teams and stratgy, or drove the robot best.

this year we have not one, not two, but three team captains who share the responsibilities of captain.the responsibilities are running meetings, attend team functions, speaks for the team when a rep is needed for things such as a tv show (our team has been one two), be a respectable role model for other team members (if people are doing something foolish done be part of it), and somewhat keeping order during meetings.

we form our drive team rather late for the most part, its rare that we get a robot done in time for much hands on with the robot. our head mentor handles drive team selection, based on who's had the most experince driving and who works well together. There are no hard feeling among team members, and it avoids self proclaimed drivers this way.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Many of our team captains are not drivers. Team captains should not just be given any place they want on the drive train. Not that team captains should not be on the drive team, but the fact that they are a captains should not influence whether they are on the drive team or not. That process does not create the best drive team that you could have every time. The drivers should be decided on by one fact: who on the team is the best driver. This person does need to be dedicated, and active on the team.

Our team captain functions first and for most, as a leader ( I know that's obvious.) They run team meetings, are in charge of communication between our sub-team leaders. Their job on a general level is to organize and run the team so that we can produce a robot that plays the game well, and that all the students get as much out of the program as possible.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Is your team captain guaranteed a drive team position each year?
Nope, no one is (though returning drivers rarely face much opposition). That said, for the past five years every main captain and all but one of the co-captains has been on the drive team, and all but one on the main crew. And in all but one of those cases, they were on the drive team first.

What are the responsibilities and roles of your team's team captain?
In my day this wasn't particularly thoroughly documented, but it came down to essentially anything that needed to be done that a student was allowed to do. My years a lot of it was administration (we'd just lost our founding mentor), coordination, meeting managing, being the "face" of the team, etc.

How do you form your drive team each year?
Historically, this has been mostly about dedication. (Earlier in the literal, "you're still here at 1AM on crate day, take 10 minutes of driving practice and I'll see you at the first regional" way.) We had a rather small team for a while in there, and drivers tended to self-select.

Drivers can be anyone for us: captains, mechanical, programmers, pit crew. We've had a few on the second team who were primarily scouts. I was a 3 year driver, 2 year captain, 3 year pit crew, 1 year pit captain, and a good chunk of our scouting/strategy, all of which overlapped. It could be hard to get everything done--most of our drive team tends to be pit crew--but there were some benefits. Really knowing the scouting info was good, and I know a few cases at least where last minute jerry-rigs literally won us the match. This was largely a product of our team size, though. As we grow, we're trying make it more structured and dedicate more person-hours to different tasks (hopefully not all from the same person).

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

In my time in FRC (this is my 8th year of involvement), the best team captains on any team should have one assigned job. Make sure everyone else on the team is busy at all times. Other than that they should delegate everything they do. But here are some other thoughts on qualifications great team captains should have:
-ability to delegate
-ability to come up with ideas and jobs for others to do (anybody ever look about how many people sit around and become disengaged?)
-ability to make quick decisions
-ability to motivate
-a work ethic to model after
-an idea of what FIRST is all about (heres a hint, its not all about the robot)
-no interest in actually building the robot (there are so many other things for a captain to do, they'll have no time for the actual robot, unless your team is smaller than 8 people (in which case you might want to try Vex).
-the idea of what a deadline is
-social skills to talk to judges/other teams/VIPs
-ability to say screw it, nothing is ever perfect and relax at the end of the day

Being on the drive team, being the person who gets to pick the final design, all of those *perks* are not in the best interest of the team. The best leaders let those who are the best at what they do, do what they do (and then give them credit for it).

Also on a note, being a senior/oldest member on the team/most experienced should have nothing to do with being team captain. Rookie teams have team captains any 9 times out of 10, nobody has any experience. Actually, some of the best team captains I've seen have been from rookie teams.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

On 1511 the roles have been entirely separate. The team captain is chosen from the Student Leadership team which is elected during the summer (offseason). The Drivers and Pit Crew are chosen during build season, and all students are eligible. We do make the restriction that a Main Driver CANNOT be on the pit crew (backup driveteam can be part of pitcrew). Our Driveteam is 4 members, plus a strategy & scouting lead. Our pit crew is 6 members (2 electrical, 2 mechanical, 2 programming).

Funny thing is that initially I thought "how silly, why would the team captain be guaranteed a spot on the drive team?" But then I looked back at 1511's history, and only 2/6 years were the team captains not on the drive team. In fact last year, the team picked co-captains, and both ended up as drivers. So I guess history shows it might not necessarily be so off.

That said, I think its important to make the distinction because they can be completely different roles. Your team captain should be a good leader, they should be inspirational, they should know how to get things done and how to get others to get things done. I think back to one of the two captains that wasn't on drive team. He was a GREAT leader... not so great driver... EXCELLENT chairman's presenter - in fact he won us our first CA... but he wasn't ready for the drive team.

Ultimately, I guess it all falls into how you define your roles and what the specific responsibilities of the Team Captain are. I think its possible for the roles to overlap, but its certainly not required.

In the end, do what works for your team, but its ok to consider the roles entirely separately. Generally our drivers are more experienced with the team, but we don't require it, its skill & dedication that matter the most.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

This is true. I agree that the Drivers should be able to do basic repairs to the robot as well as be able to provide accurate feedback to the Pit Crew and Programmers. I just prefer not to have my Drivers fix the Robot at Competitions unless it's absolutely Necessary. (We've been lucky enough to have an Ace Pit Crew the last few years so the Driver's rarely worry about the robot, but I could see where some teams may need their Drive team to play double duty.)

To be honest, I don't know how many Championship Matches my Drive Team saw last year because I rarely left the pits but I know they did. I know when we walked out to the dome we would often watch a match or two before ours, but I don't know if they ever got the chance to actually sit in the stands and watch matches. I am a fan of Drivers giving feedback to scouts about how well we worked with teams, I think we may have to do more of that this year.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

<side note>
I was on drive team when our team went to championships in 2009. I don't remember finding enough time to eat lunch, none-the-less sit and watch matches.
</side note>

In reference to the captains/drive team issue, and I'm fairly certain its been said already:
Drivers should be picked solely on who can control the robot (and under pressure). They should, especially, not be based on who was on the team the longest. One our old mentors (old as in not on the team anymore) would even argue that contribution to the team shouldn't even be a factor (but I have mixed feelings on that). I do agree to some extent that the position of "driver" should not be a reward*.

Captains should be picked based on who does the job best: This can also be anyone. Our mentors claim that the best captain we ever had was a senior on the rookie-year team. Another year with good captainship had a co-captain who was a sophmore. Age doesn't really matter, as long as they are organized and can lead well.

Just my opinions.

*If you're going to competition to win, then this would be my mentality. If winning competition is not a goal (or a priority), then drive team would/could be handled differently.-

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Stepping away from the word, Captain, as a team leader - it is interesting to see what options/opportunities open up to think about and explore when one uses the word, Project Manager, instead.

Jane

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Building off that, if you follow the simple rule of "Pointy Things are Bad", and you apply it to your team structure, it works wonders. Having a Grand Puba at the top of an organizational structure is:

1) Not efficient
2) Not fair to everyone else on the team that puts in a similar amount of work
3) There is also a lack of accountability to make sure they do their assigned job.

Create a checks and balances system that makes it a fairer, happier and more productive workplace.

Just remember, rookie teams have some of the best captains, and typically nobody on those teams have any experience.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

This is an interesting concept and also one that our team tried last year.
We had three seniors who were all put in leadership positions: one was the technical sub-team leader, one the mechanical sub-team leader.

The last person who was referred to colloquially as the captain was put into a new sub-team consisting of himself and the lead mentor known as the "systems engineering" subteam.

The purpose of the systems engineering subteam was to ensure that each of the other subteams was communicating effectively, ensure that everyone had something to do, etc. This is very similar to the role of systems engineers at major corporations.


In answer to the original question:
Our team has never guaranteed our captain a role on the drive team. We select from our entire team those most capable of driving the robot efficiently and making strategic decisions. Due to the nature of the student leader's role on the team and the youthful composition of our team in past years, he/she has historically always been on the drive team though.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Is your team captain guaranteed a drive team position each year?
No. I'm a huge believer in servant leadership and having the best qualified person do each job. Just because a person is qualified to lead doesn't mean they will be a good driver. They require two very different skill sets.

What are the responsibilities of your team's team captain?
Everything, as my team jokes "When anything goes wrong, the team captain gets the blame. When everything goes right, we get the credit." We all know it is an over exaggeration, but it is a bit true. As with the President, everything ends with the team captain. Ultimately, he/she is responsible.

How do you form your drive team each year?
Our drivers had to pass two tests. The first was a rule knowledge test (everything from general to little things they may not know) as well as a safety test. More people are "qualified" to drive our robot than the drive team, but this comes in handy when we go out to schools or do demos with Wombot.

What role(s) does your team captain preform on your team?
Last year, everything! This year, things will be different. Once again it comes down to putting the team before yourself and serving them. As a leader, it is your job to make sure the team functions properly.

my $.02

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

1. Our team captain has never been garunteed a position on drive team although many captains have tryed out and obtained the position based on their drive skills or ability to communicate with other teams

2. Our team changed the structure of leadership this year and we now have 2 captains. The team captains help run meetings and can answer many basic questions so the coach is not overloaded. We are the role models of the team and help where ever and whenever needed.

3. We are also changing driver tryouts this year. For the last few years we have tested different ways of choosing drivers and this year is no different we are still in the brainstorming stage of the process.

4. Our captains help where ever needed and step in for certain problems that can be solved before being brought to the attention of our coach or assistant coach. We help keep everyone on task. We also help teach many rookies what FIRST is about and other basics.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

I find that a majority of the time the reason the team captain is a driver is solely because they have usually been around the longest and really understand how to communicate with other teams before/during matches.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Our team organizational structure is weird, and in the middle of an overhaul. Here are the basics:
For offseason, build season and competition, there is the Triumvirate, made up of three captains (Programming/Electronics, Mechanical, and Finally Animations/ Misc.). The animations captain is the one who signs all the forms for FIRST (like the safety inspection) on account of this year he is one of 2 seniors on the team. The Triumvirate captains are chosen because: 1. They are the most knowledgeable in their area, 2. They know a lot about the other areas.
Underneath the Triumvirate are the School Captains. Since 1178 has 5 schools, we designate someone as the school captain. It really isn't a position, they just update the people at their school as to what is going on.
We are also starting a scouting team, but they will be a separate group, supplemented with info by the drivers.
We choose our drivers by: 1. They usually are programmers, since we are the ones who have the control board, and know what each button does, 2. The coach goes to a person who has shown remarkable knowledge not only about our robot, but the game, field, strategy, etc., 3. The game piece manipulator is either someone who has practiced or volunteers at the last minute.

We are trying not to repeat Breakaway. We never really practiced with the robot and some parts never really worked. During the warm up matches on Thursday at St. Louis, I (a freshman programmer) was asked to come with the coach ( a senior) to stand in on a match while our robot was being inspected. When we actually started to compete our line up was: The Team Captain (Senior, Head programmer, and the actual driver), Me (a freshman, the only other programmer on the team, and the only person with experience on "Weapons" (Kicking, our lift mechanism, etc.)), Our coach (a senior) and the person to pick up the balls (also a senior, decided on at the last minute because they were in the pit.)

Because of this, we started a massive overhaul of our leadership. I am the Programming/ Electronics captain (as a Sophomore), and another Sophomore is the mechanical captain. Our captains tell people what needs to be done, monitor what happens, and talks between teams (last year we had no real communication, sometimes the programmers were waiting for mechanical, or vice versa.)

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

At this point, our captains are actually guaranteed not to be a driver. There are so many things going on at the competitions that it is difficult for a captain to be in the position where they are focused on the matches, the judges, and general team operations. It is a completely different story if your team is small, but for larger teams, why not spread around the wealth? We want as many kids as possible to have as much as possible to write on the college apps. Consequently, when it comes to the competition, we try not to overlap the positions of driver, captain, lead programmer, pit manager, etc.

It is very important though that everyone understands this going into the season and they can pick and choose which positions they want to be involved with.
This way, not only is everyone involved to a larger extent, but they will be required to mesh and work as a team and no one person has to be overburdened.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Is your team captain guaranteed a drive team position each year?
Kind of is, but I have only been here 2 years, so that might just have been isolated incidents.
What are the responsibilities of your team's team captain?
To make the "final" decisions for the team. Whether it is design or strategy. However, I am highly opposed to that. It is more like autocratic government than a democracy.
How do you form your drive team each year?
We essentially ask our head mentor and he will say yes or no. From the years I been on the team, it was a leader, programmer and 2 competent drivers. The programmer is there to get direct feed back of actually driving the bot and adjusting the code for better handling.
What role(s) does your team captain preform on your team?
Head honcho. Like I said, I do not like that. The founding fathers made the executive branch have less power for a reason. If one person has the power to make important decisions and or veto them, I believe that is wrong. This constitution set up a government where laws being passed take a long route through the congress because it does not allow the president to make quick rash decisions. All decisions must be well thought through and debated.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Is your team captain guaranteed a drive team position each year?
No, each year the driver, operator, and human player have to earn their positions through tryouts. The student coach is awarded to the student who knows the game the best and works the best with the driver. This year the captain is still allowed to be on the drive team, but due to how much time Chairman's takes, the chairman's presenters are no longer on the drive team.

What are the responsibilities of your team's team captain?
Keep everyone on task. My main job was to be one step ahead of the other students. I needed to know what was coming and where the next step in design would take the team. I was also the "go between" between mentors and students. I also had to know the rules like the back of my hand because many times students would recommend something without comparing it to the rules first.

How do you form your drive team each year?
See above.

What role(s) does your team captain preform on your team?
In my two years on the team and as captain, I served as: lead design, driver one year and student coach the next, chariman's presenter both years, chairman's writer both years, WFA writer one year, and volunteered for outreaches. At the time I loved every minute of my FIRST experience and basically if I saw a need that wasn't being filled, I filled it. Now I wonder how I was able to do so much. My position is that the captain should be willing to do anything for the team, whether that is picking up other students dirty dishes, leading the design team, yelling his/her head off when their robot is competing, or keeping his/her temper when other students are getting frustrated because of the upcoming deadlines. Every role I did I shared with other students. By no means did I do any one role by myself.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

We don't really have any team captains. We just have the people who are best suited for each job and who can handle it do it. If that means they can be in the pits fixing the robot one minute and driving it the next, then so be it. If they can't, then they don't. Simple as that.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

As a team captain I disagree with guaranteeing a drive team position, I would actually discourage a captain from taking a drive team position. Not being on the drive team allows me to watch over our robot from the sidelines, and start a diagnosis of any problems before the match even ends because I am not focusing on driving. another benefit is, because I do not have to retrieve the robot, I can be back in the pits and be ready for battery/bumper swaps and getting ready for any maintenance before the drive team is back.

the goal on our team is to find willing, dedicated drivers, who work well together. We usually do not have time, but if we did, we would defiantly have trials to decide the best drive team.


Is your team captain guaranteed a drive team position each year?

No, I was asked to be the driver, but that was based off of my skill. There is no official Guarantee that the captain well be first pick for the drive team.

What are the responsibilities of your team's team captain?

As a captain I helped lead meetings, and debates about robot design. I helped an almost every project during build season, from building the robot/mini bot, to cleaning. I was required to know the robot from top to bottom, and I had to be able to present that information to judges, and members of other teams, as well as apply that knowledge to work in the pits.

How do you form your drive team each year?

Our dive team is usually formed at our first competition, because we rarely have time to hold trials, however if we could we would hold trails.

What role(s) does your team captain preform on your team?

Between being the Pit captain, and team captain, I had to be able to speak with judges, and members of other team. I had to help other members with their own projects, I lead meetings and debates. In general I was asked to lead other members to make sure everyone had something to do, and everyone was having fun.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

Is your team captain guaranteed a drive team position each year?

No. For the three years I have been on my team only once has a member in a leadership position been on the drive team and, even, then as the drive coach. I personally like it this way as it allows more members to be involved at tournaments. Sometimes what makes a person a good leader does not make him/her a good drive coach.

What are the responsibilities of your team's team captain? & What role(s) does your team captain preform on your team?

I am the president of my team this year and I can echo what Julia said in her post. The president fills in gaps that he/she sees. This year I have been involved with Chairman's, outreach, and website/social networking. I also take care of paperwork, talking with mentors/parents, checking in with different departments, e-mailing (lot and lots of that), and setting up meetings/outreach events. My team has a project manager for the robot side of the team and department heads to take care of the robot design/fabrication.

How do you form your drive team each year?

Usually, on the last week of build season, we have a drivers test and tryouts. The test consists of general rules and some strategy-related questions. If someone scores high on the drivers test, it can help influence the picking. After the test, the members who would like to drive line up and are given a basic obstacle course to drive around. If the top two drivers are equally matched, we take use the driver's test results and the member's attitude into account.

Re: Role of Team Captain
 

In my mind the captain needs to be the most proffesional acting guy on the team along with being able to talk to the other members of the team and decide a plan for the sub groups on the team