Quote:
Originally Posted by Kimmeh
I'm extremely glad this was brought up. My first year out of high school, I was the drive team coach of my current team. A friend of mine (also not a student, but not "obviously" out of high school) was the coach for his team, and the two of us were on an alliance with a Highly Respected Team (HRT).
Prior to the match we all discussed game plans and felt confident about how the match would go. Murphy's Law being what it is, things didn't go according to plan. Once on the field, the coach of the HRT let his emotions get out of control and was yelling at not just his students but both mine and the other team's students because things weren't going according to plan.
Neither the other coach nor I took this to pit admin or did anything about it. I later discussed this with another mentor on my team who agreed with my opinions of the coach of the HRT. I disagree with yelling at students in general, but if that's how your team operates, then you're well within your right. Unless one of my students puts you or someone else in great danger it's not your place to lecture or yell at them. Come to me and let me do that.
On that note, a two and a half minute interaction with him continues to impact my thoughts and feelings towards his team.
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I highly doubt the intentions of the person in question are what you make it out to be. As Tyler mentioned you often times have to yell to get your point across as a coach. I remember a few experiences I had as a driver where understanding what a drive coach had to say was hard because there is so much noise. Nothing is worse than after a match hearing someone say, "Oh I didn't hear you say that". Being on the field is a completely different experience! You have the roar from the crowd, the impact of frisbees going through the chains and hitting the lexan above your head, and above all the field is closer to the speakers in comparison to when you sit in the stands. Even during our pre-match checklist at many events you have to scream to say simple sentences like, "Is everything ready?"
Being on the driveteam isn't a relaxing job. It is downright stressful especially for drive coaches because they aren't at the controls but they do influence the choices their drivers make. My job this season has evolved as our drivers have gained more match experience. At earlier events with a new robot and new driveteam I spent most of our matches guiding our drivers through their movements and helping them prepare for what was next. When to play offense, when to play defense, when to hang, where to hang, etc. At the last event we attended I felt that most of what I did was helping our drivers plan what route to take to get across the field and looking at the big picture of the match.
There were several moments our team encountered that were make or break decisions that drastically changed the outcome of the event for our team. Some of them were minor decisions and others were major gambles that in the end paid off, others didn't. These decisions happen all the time and teams need to put individuals capable of making these decisions in fractions of a second. Whether that is a student or an adult that is up for the team to decide but its impossible to say which group better exhibits these qualities. I know of many adults who are amazing drive coaches and I have met and worked with an equal number of student drive coaches who are just as amazing.