Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Van
Some mentors/coaches are saying that they are stressed because they spend too much money building a practice robot and have to rush on Thursday mornings to install their 30 lb. withholding allowance mechanism. If only they didn't have to do these things, but could continue working on the actual competition robot, their lives would be less stressful and there would be less mentor burnout.
There is a simple solution here: Don't build a practice robot. Don't use the 30 lb. withholding allowance.
Ah, but you want to stay competitive with those who do. There are teams willing to spend thousands of dollars and hundreds of mentor-hours refining their robots with every nanosecond of time available. These teams turn out the most competitive robots, and to keep up with them, you have to do the same...
Will these teams really put in any less time or effort? Of course not. The primary difference (should we extend the official build season) is that these teams will have an easier time doing what they already do - and they will push the envelope even further.
Those of us trying to keep up with the "elite" teams will be in the exact same situation - little will change. Except that we will loose teams because we will loose mentors who can't keep up with the extended time demands.
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I don't know if I follow your logic here and if I do, I don't think I agree with it.
What you're saying is that we remove the withholding allowance and discourage the construction of practice robots in order to decrease the amount of mentor burnout? Will a mentor be less burned out if they are forced to spend a season leading a team with a subpar design into multiple competitions where they have no chance than if they were to lead the same team into their competitions with 30lbs in machine upgrades that they spent the last 2-3 weeks building?
I'd argue that they're both equally stressful and tiring - but in different ways. If the robot is bad or flawed in some way, you'll spend an entire season trying to keep students upbeat, happy and hopeful - not to mention that you may be fixing the machine after EVERY match. I don't know about everyone, but I know that I couldn't deal with that kind of stress without it eating into my personal life. On the other hand, given the same scenario where a team would be allowed to fix their machine via 30lbs of upgrade parts, a mentor would probably spend much of their time trying to keep their students focused, productive and engaged in the task at hand, and if things work out right, an upbeat and hopeful attitude could/would be a by product of that task.
I guess what I'm trying to say, is that either way, a problem would still exist in either situation but the problem would be much different. It's kind of like the difference between not sleeping well one night because you're worried about something versus not sleeping because you were working towards a solution to a problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Van
For those teams that are struggling just to get a robot finished, I believe that teams that having difficulty building a working robot in 6.5 weeks will have difficulty building a robot in 8 or 10 or 16 weeks.
FRC is a game of mentors. The best teams have the best mentors. Period.
Many teams have teacher/mentors who MUST be at EVERY meeting or work session. They can not miss a single day because the team can not meet or work unless they are there - per school district rules. Loose those mentors, loose the team.
Lastly, the only students who have commented on this thread have pointed out that they have other demands on their time outside of FRC.
I'll say it again: FRC is a game of mentors. If you want to maintain and expand the program, you must ensure that the mentors are there - ready, willing and able to do what they do. Any expansion of the build season will lead to loosing mentors - in fact many already find the extensions that so many seem to need to "be competitive" to be so stress inducing that they are forced to make the choice between being "competitive" and mentoring at all.
Maintain the limited build season.
Remove the withholding allowance.
- Mr. Van
Coach, Robodox
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I agree that FRC is a game of mentors and the amount of time that the head mentor(s)/teacher(s) spend is one of the biggest factors in a teams success. I think the scenario that we're shooting for by 'ending build season' is one where these key mentors/teachers don't have to spend 'as much' time per week on FRC to be successful.
The thing that many people seem to be missing about ending the rigid 6.5 week build season deadline is that no one is FORCING anyone to work more and/or longer than before. It only allows those teams that WANT to spend more time on FRC to do so without some of the more annoying restrictions - and gives those teams that couldn't do certain things like practice driving, make new parts, whatever, a way to do so without necessarily incurring extra expenses.