What we did this year (the only year in recent memory we've had a solid drive team) was simple. The important thing was that it was tailored to our team's situation.
We don't have an indoor space where we can set up carpet and game elements to practice on. We can ask for practice time at Ames, thanks to 254, 971, and 1868), but obviously it's difficult to visit extremely often. Any practice opportunity we get has to be arranged by students and we have to work extra hard to find those opportunities and make best use of our limited time. We have a lot of students who are interested in driving the robot, but not all of them necessarily have the motivation required to become excellent drive team members. Even fewer want to spend time watching hundreds of matches and observing the best moves and strategies.
Anyway, here's what we did:
1. I'm the guy who reads the rules, watches matches, feels strongly about the drive team. So during the fall semester, I started making tests that evaluated knowledge of the rules and our robot's technical attributes (how to maintain it, what to check pre-match, how to adjust things, etc.) and administering them to anybody interested. We will never field drivers that don't understand the rules or the robot forwards and backwards. In the process, I became defacto coach of the drive team.
2. Most failed the tests. I allowed candidates to retake (slightly different tests) as many times as they needed to pass; if they studied and learned how to take care of the robot, they would have the skills they needed to become good drivers. Those who didn't have enough time or motivation to become good drivers generally dropped at this point. By the end, a small group of students (10ish) moved on to practice at NASA Ames before CalGames.
3. Then students were selected based on ability to handle pressure during practice. 8 students were left; they comprised two drive teams for our offseason competitions.
4. Fielded those two drive teams at CalGames (fall offseason) on one robot. Practiced at NASA a few more times. Fielded 2014 competition drive team at Madtown Throwdown (fall offseason). Now, the team has two functional robots and will be using them to train even more students at these competitions.
5. After we got the 2014 game and as we built our robot, I created more tests. I once again opened up the opportunity to take the test to everyone, and did the same weed out process. We selected two drive teams, one to drive our competition robot and one as backup and also to play defense on the main drive team.
Important note is that all drive teams selected committed to practicing during all practice opportunities, and we committed to be available during several time slots a week in case we were able to go to NASA or something along those lines. We knew we would need more time to practice for this game, so we acquired carpet, laid it down on the blacktop behind our room, and practiced in the open air. (see:
http://youtu.be/92IbHU0Z76I?t=46s)
We have to work really hard to create practice opportunities for ourselves, and the driver candidates have to lead this effort. Therefore, motivation is the most important quality we need in our drivers. We find those committed students through the difficult tests and by mutually agreeing on an excessive practice schedule. If a student can't commit to studying the rules, knowing the robot, and/or practicing at the level we agree upon, then they can't drive. Simple as that.