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one
before going into the one negative thing I have to say about this year's game, I should say that over all I think it's great. this could be the best year ever in terms of competition that is inspiring to watch. congratulations to the game designers.
now about the one coach rule... there was a nice balance in the two coach system. what I observed is that when things go well, the student drivers get the credit, and when things go poorly, the criticism was received impartially and constructively by the two coaches. this is a nice structure, the coach is doing a high pressure job and deserves a buddy who can co-witness what happened in the players station and defray any second guessing.
narrowing down the coaching responsibility to one puts
an unreasonable amount of pressure on a single person.
not only is it impossible for one person to reliably keep track of enough information in real time to make the 'right' decisions, but one person has to shoulder the responsibility for making the right calls under pressure. in spite of people's best intentions, this structure is baiting a lot of second-guessing and blame, and we should avoid that systematically rather than just hoping no one ever gets emotional and waiting till afterwards to regret it.
I think, whatever it was they were trying to achieve with
this change, there must be a better way of acomplishing it.
plus, from a long term view, I think two coaches allows for better continuity. when someone new has to go in, they won't have to go up alone and inexperienced.
and I don't agree that the human player can simply take up the slack.. if you are really trying to compete to the best of your team's ability with a carefully analyzed strategy, it's hard enough to make the right last second call (especially this year!) from the sideline with no other responsibilities, it's even harder on the field.
whether or not they end up changing the rule, I do hope they sit down and seriously rethink it with an open mind.
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