As a drive coach, some traits I look for in students is A. the ability to keep cool under pressure & B. the ability to follow my directions without a question or second guessing. Being able to represent our team, sponsors, and school districts along with being a team leader are also important. Another very key ingredient is that both your driver, operator, drive coach, and human player can all work together and know what the other is doing. Other areas like driver skill, knowledge of rules, defensive maneuvers, anticipation of the game, etc you can teach.
After an off-season of work combined with a few weeks of build season a drive coach should know who their candidates are just by observing how they work and take direction. Tryouts are good when there are many candidates, but students should be instructed that the drive team is determined by many factors that have been under observation since when they walked in the door.
Maybe one day we will pick a drive team "for the long haul" but our best drive team was two juniors who stepped in halfway through a season with no prior experience and since have won two events, gone 44-14 (18-2 at their first event), and were IRI semi-finalists. Very proud of them!
