[GoSparx]

Originally Posted by Will Andrews

As a member of FIRST Team 1218 for the past four season and our driver for the last two, the experience that I have had with FIRST has inspired me to pursue a career as an engineer. This program has gripped me like no other activity I've been involved with because being on the drive team has given me a chance to see the benefits of the long hours spent in the build season. Being a member of the drive team for two seasons has made me feel an enormous sense of responsibility for the success of the team and driven me to higher levels of dedication than my first two years.
This experience makes me wonder, why is it that mentors are allowed to act as coaches on the drive team? One of the biggest problems faced by teams is the limitation on the number of kids that are able to take a role in actually controlling the robot in competition and it seems like allowing mentors to fill the position runs the risk of displacing kids that would otherwise be able to get the full FIRST experience. This is not an attack on teams that use mentors as coaches but rather an attempt to understand the logic behind this exception.

This has been a hot ticket item for years. I personally think that it is ok for teams to have a mentor as a coach. It's the same as a mentor on any mechanical sub-team. If he is showing you what to do and how to do it, why does it matter if it's in the pits or on the field? If you look at high powered teams that have mentors as coaches, they are also great mentors. Teams like HOT, Wildstang and MOE come to mind fast. Don't take it the wrong way that they are coaches, it just works on some teams especially when the coach is a great mentor. Also, think of all the matches that a mentor has seen and all the input he can now have in the coaching role. I've tried to implement it on my team for awhile, but getting buy in from others is tough