MysterE, I've definitely been in your shoes. I've been the driver coach of 1885 since 2007, and not once has our FRC robot done enough to get us to Champs.
In 2006, we made it to Champs because of RAS x2.
In 2007, we made it to Champs because of the waitlist. Both of our robot attempts were thwarted by random Radio issues, of which we had NONE at Champs :-/.
In 2008, the robot wasn't great either. It drove nicely, but slowly. It barely worked otherwise. We didn't have our lead mentor in Philly due to home life. It was rough. We made it to Champs because of business team though (EI), and were able to get the robot working great enough for a decent seed (lucky schedule though).
In 2009, our robot kept bottoming out on the regolith because the field was on carpet. It was manageable at Regionals, but at champs they added an additional rubber padding underneath which made the robot sink even more. We wound up in the bottom 0.1% of every statistic under the sun. We went to champs due to the business team.
In 2010, we went to 1 Regional, didn't win anything. We went to champs because of our FTC 1885 team, then wound up finding the lock-out strategy that worked great until Division finals when a partner bot broke. We went to an offseason and won it. 100+ matches as an FRC driver coach, and I finally got my first 'win'.
In 2011, we came SO CLOSE to winning 2 Regionals. We went to champs because of business team (EI x2). This was probably the closest thing we had to a 'break out' year.
Finally, in 2012 we seemed to figure out what it took to win CA instead of EI (well, we got both...). What it is, I still don't know. There is no magic 42 number, tbh. Just communicate what you do. Robot did so-so; we went to Champs because of the business team. Our FTC 354 robot did awesome, then went to Champs and won. Our FRC bot got to Champs Elims because of Karthik's inspirational words on Wednesday at champs.
In 2013, we're going to champs because of the business team (CA). The robot disappointments have been totally masked by the team coming together at the right times. We've lost mentors to their personal lives a few times this year -- even the primary build lead the Thursday of Chesapeake. We've had kids in critical roles be distracted, showing probably the failure of the greatest potential in a student driver we've had thus far. Yet we figured out how to keep moving forward. We've mentored and coached each other through it. We'll meet today to make a better robot for Champs. The plan we have is called "Going for Broke at Champs -- DRAFT.docx", though it will perpetually be in a DRAFT format, ha.
The point is, any team who is strong enough to face disappointment and come out on the other side will be bound for some level of greatness. All you have to do as a mentor is transform that into inspiration or motivation, and your students will catch on. Compound it all up over time and eventually the awards will come in.
I'm still trying to get a technical award for a software display, but I get the impression that's like telling a horse to jump a river of lava with demon frogs on lily pads of banshee fire. No one "gets it". Heavy sigh
