[BoilerMentor]

Originally Posted by ldsedam

Make sure to slow down before you shift in matches. Shifting from high to low while moving fast tends to cause wear on the gears (they grind). You should be fine to use high gear at most times in a match. Low gear you really only want to use if you get into a pushing patch.

This is a good suggestion. You can implement a racing trick here and if you do it right your driver probably won't event notice. All you have to do is cut motor power significantly for a very brief time while you shift. This will change loading on the gear train enough for the shift to happen quickly and limit the grinding as described above.