[CoachPoore]

I would add this to the very sage advice already given:

1. Try to find someone you work well with, who has experience of being down on the field, who can watch your matches and give you advice afterwards. Being on the field is so very different from watching from the crowd. Small example - last year, the humps were very good at hiding balls from the drive team which were very obvious to the rest of the audience. We actually use two drive coaches on our team. We switch places and find that having the other drive coach watching and able to comment on the match afterwards is extremely valuable.

2. You'll probably find your heart beating a little faster as you are standing out there behind the lexan listening to the teams being introduced. Do your best to take a few deep breaths and just focus on the match as soon as it starts, and you'll do fine. Before you know it, the match will be over...

3. Expect to make some mistakes. Talk about them, learn from them, work out what to do differently and move on. Don't dwell on them.

4. Talk to your scouting team before each match - we get a match summary from our scouting team before each match that helps us to work with our alliance partners to form an effective match strategy.

5. Advice to your team - don't beat up on the drive team when they don't execute perfectly. They are doing their best, want to do better, will improve with practice and experience and will welcome your *constructive* input. Beating them up will probably not help your team's performance.

All the best

Noel