[BeardyMentor]

It depends almost entirely on the human resources available to an individual team. We try and use a student as a drive coach because none of our mentors really want to do the job of the drive coach. There are many reasons to have a mentor be a coach and equally as many to have a student do it. There really is no right answer. Find what works for your team abilities, culture and strategy and do that.

When we select our drive coach, we first look for the ability to be calm and observant. After that we look for the ability to stand up to adult coaches that may not have OUR teams best interests in mind or not on board with a strategy we know works for us and calmly explain why we are not jumping to do what they want us to do. Equally important is the ability to be diplomatic in negotiations with other teams with regards to strategy before, during, and after the match.

If for some reason we cant find these qualities in a student a mentor will step up and fill in until we can get someone. Luckily, we have only ever had one match where a student was not able and a mentor had to fill in.