[IraJason]

As a fellow first time mentor on a rookie team, I just want to say that you should be extremely proud at the performance of you and your team. Finishing 13th out of 35 and making it to the elimination rounds is an accomplishment, and you've set the bar high for your sophomore effort. And you did this despite the fact that you "were not well prepared," and "The Bot was not well designed for the task." I think that shows the strength of your team, and how much you've underestimated your value.

As for your team leader, people can get heated during competitions, especially if you're the focus of a lot of stress or any issues that your team may be facing. However, now that competition is over, it may be a good idea to sit down with this individual and talk with them a bit. I'll admit I lost my cool and raised my voice a bit when the chips were really down, but I never threatened my students, and took the time to bring myself back down and apologize if I felt I got out of hand. I would have given anything for my team to have done as well as yours during qualifications, and I think that's the thing that your team leader had trouble understanding. These are just high school students, and just like all humans, they make mistakes. Your team leader needs to understand that they are not his personal robots that will follow directions to a tee. I can understand that he wants what he thinks will make your team the best, but you can't start out on top. The "powerhouse" teams take years to get where they are, and they probably didn't start with top seeded robots either. You as a mentor need to do your best to convince your team leader that what your team achieved was an accomplishment, and that his threats and attitude during competition will only cause the great team you guys have assembled to disappear.

My overall advice? Take this as a learning experience for the years to come. If you can get your team leader to cool down, realize his mistakes, and try to rectify them with your team, you're off to a good start. For some people, it takes a little bit of adjustment to handle everything involved with FIRST, and plenty of people crack from it. And now that you know what happens when another team leader goes off the handle and starts to lose it, you can work on preventing it, or at least minimizing it. Next time someone is yelling and screaming, try to pull them aside and talk to them one on one. Sometimes all it takes is one person to just tell them that they are acting poorly for that person to realize what they're doing. This goes for team leaders, students, and believe it or not, the occasional parent.

And for the worst case scenario where your team leader remains so short sighted the he does call it quits, it is not necessarily the end of your team. It's always possible to reach out into the community, just as you've done here, and ask for assistance. Show how well your team did, and believe me, someone will jump on the opportunity to guide your team. The FIRST community can get you through this.

Just take everything that's happened this year and apply it towards bettering yourself next season. As a student, our rookie team seeded 17th at the Philadelphia Regional, and we realized we had a few problems during the season that we could fix in the next. During our second year, we came back to Philly seeding 4th. Take in what you saw with yourself and other teams, and use that knowledge to create the best robot that you can. It's possible to keep improving as long as you keep working at it. Don't let your team leader get in the way of this happening. In the end, it's not about him, it's about the students on your team. As long as they are having fun and learning from the experience, then you guys have done your job.

I sincerely wish you the best with this situation, and I hope that it all works out. If you ever need any help, just reach out to the community, and we will do our best to help. Also, if you want to talk more, just send me a PM. Again, good luck, and be proud of your team!