[aovozza3]

I have been fortunate to be a drive coach both as a student team member and now as a mentor. From my experience, whether your drive coach should be a student or mentor depends on the specific dynamics of your team.

For example, if you have a small team and an individual student who has a solid understanding of the game/rules, then a student drive coach may be best for your team. However, if your team is larger and more students are interested in being on the drive team, I feel an adult mentor would be better suited to handle the pressure of both working with other teams and within the drive team.

One thing I make sure to emphasize with my students is that student or adult drive coaches do not have inherent advantages or disadvantages. If a team has a student drive coach, that does not mean they will inherently have weaker strategy abilities. Additionally, an adult drive coach does not automatically mean that students are not involved with their team's design/strategy. Each team has different student dynamics, thus we should maintain respect for other drive teams regardless of the age of their drive coach.