Quote:
Originally Posted by BigRickT
Although I could see the case where a student coach would be an acceptable solution. The majority of the time, having an adult mentor on the field is a better choice. When I coached in the past, my role was to make sure the drive team was focused and had their emotions in check. Sounds easy, but it is not.
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I agree that it isn't easy, but I don't think that you can make such sweeping generalisations about one choice being better than the other. We have always had a student coach, and at least in my time, our coaches have been great. Like others have said, they have to understand the rules, be able to make quick decisions, be able to keep their cool under pressure, etc, and this is what we take into consideration when choosing a coach. I drove my senior year and our coach that year was fantastic. I truly believe that she was the best person for the role of anyone on the team, mentors or students. She knew the rules and knew what we had to do in any given match. She was able to stand up for us if she believed we weren't being heard. She stayed calm and communicated effectively with our operator and me on and off the field. She kept her eyes on the field as a whole so that I could stay focused on our robot.
Our aforementioned drive coach was in that role for two years, and she was better than some coaches I saw that had five, ten, and more years of experience. As many others have said, it's not about how old the coach is or how experienced they are. It's about how well the person can do the job.