The off-season has a lot of potential to make any team better, in any number of areas, depending on how you look at it
Here are a few areas that stuck out in my mind, some of which have already been mentioned.
1. Off-season competitions. Attending off-season events is great for prepping students to take on new and bigger roles, especially on the drive team and in the pit. For the past few years, my team has been fortunate to attend both MARC in June and IRI in July; these events have been key to our success in former years, especially ones that had a wave of graduating seniors leaving the team.
2. Non-technical projects (think Chairman's Award material!). The off-season is a GREAT time to brainstorm and do projects because you actually have
time to do them. The fall before build season is usually jam packed with build season prep, and students are busy getting back in the swing of school.
3. Team bonding. Getting the team together over the summer for the purpose of team bonding really improves the quality of the upcoming season... in my own experience, our team hosts a retreat for the students every summer, where everyone comes together to discuss the past season, prepare for the new one, and just have
fun.