[supernoodle]

I have created an anonymous account.

Hello CD. My team is going through a membership crisis and we seriously need help. I have a huge issue with the coach and I need to know what I can do, but I don't want to pay the price of 'revolting.'

Background Information: Last year, both of our coaches left due to medical reasons/personal reasons. This year, our CAD coach decided to take over (no one agreed to that) and self-proclaimed himself as the lead mentor and coach of the team. I was thinking that this would be great, since this guy (I will call him Z) seemed organized and could lead our team effectively. However, he did the opposite of what I thought he would do. During the summer, he completely changed our team, removed events that we participated in and hosted, and even fired some mentors. (Is that even possible?)

Recently, he posted a syllabus for the new Robotics team school year. I found it out through a link from a mentor and read it -- immediately shocked myself for the whole weekend. Coach Z created an entire meeting curriculum for when we would meet, which would be on Mondays and Thursdays. The times have been shortened, and Mondays are now pure lecture. These topics were very broad and didn't allow anyone to have specialization, despite having subteams. Thursday meetings became optional and focused only on CAD.

What got me the most was Build Season. We would meet almost everyday, totaling to over 25 hours a week. However, Coach Z set up the schedule to be 9 hours a week. Coach Z also sucked out all the fun from Robotics, instead creating a military course in engineering. Business and media, which contained most of the sponsorship and outreach, are now gone. We no longer have any team bonding events. Even worse was that we were cutting back in costs and not going to a second Regional.

Hearing all of this made me do a double-take. This counteracted everything I have ever contributed to Robotics, and I can't change it. We also lost a few members due to their other priorities. I've talked to almost all the team members and they all agree to the same thing -- this is definitely NOT how we want Robotics to be.

I've talked to a few mentors and so far have concluded that we should talk to the administrative body of the school. (Our team is closely linked to the school, who hires the coach for the team) However, I've always been passionate about Robotics and I don't want to ruin all my hard work in a week. Coach Z so far has no sentiment at all against me, and I don't want him to all-of-a-sudden hate me forever. I confronted my parents about doing something like this and they said I was out of my mind and that if I went through with this, I'd be kicked off the team for sure. After deep consideration, I still strongly believe that if this year goes through with this schedule, we will be left with 2 members still on the team: Coach Z and his daughter, one of the current co-captains.

I wanted to ask CD for your input. Should I go through with this plan, despite my parents' warnings, or should I just remain quiet and let what will happen, happen? I really appreciate any input, thanks.