[Michael Hill]

This year, we ran strategy a bit different. We spent a lot of time thinking about each match our team was in, delivered a strategy suggestion (including an honest overview of all the teams in the match, defense suggestions, etc.) to the coach and they generally kept to the suggestion. When speaking to the other teams, our drive team was armed with real-time scouting data and the strategy suggestion. Sometimes its easiest to not let people get overzealous in the first place. When approaching, our drive team will say something like, "hey, let's talk about the next match, we see you guys can cross [X] defense pretty well in autonomous, would you like to do that while the other team does [Y] and we do [Z]?" Much of the time, I found all the drive teams are happier when presented with raw scouting data. Sometimes they get overzealous because they don't really know how they actually perform.

Also, being 100% transparent with your own abilities is also key to developing a good relationship. If you know you have a difficult time crossing the ramparts, say that you draw vacuum at it. Complements go a long way when talking to other drive teams. Don't just say "hey, you draw vacuum, go play defense". With scouting data, you can say, "hey, could you guys do [the one defense they're good at] while we go score boulders? Team 12345 is really good at scoring boulders, but they're easily defended and need to be stopped to win the match. Just go push them up on the batter, then when they come after you again, push them back up."

When you put it in the context that the team playing defense is actually contributing to the match win, the "go play defense" is a much easier pill to swallow.