[ngreen]

There is a lot of pressure to do well. But it depends more on what you define as being successful and who is defining it.

First, we have a lot of sponsor, a supportive community and high school. They would define success in most cases as winning. They get more recognition for this. I know they define other things as success but this is the main one. They would like you to bring a trophy home and preferably the champion one. This can put pressure on drive teams but is more distant in their minds.

Second, is expectation and past experience. They all say how being a second-year team is the hardest. I agree. Last year, with no expectations, we were able to win 5 awards (4 at LSR, and 1 at Nats). This year the pressure from last years performance is tremendous. I think a lot of people would be dissapointed if we don't have a similiar showing this year and I it is likely that we won't. This pressure is close and very detrimental to the team in general. Forgetting past experiences and looking to how you can succeed this year can help in relieving stress.

Third, the drive team can put a great stress on themselves. This is where choosing the correct drive team can be better than having the best robot. The drive team needs to be able to work together through this high stress situation. They need great teamwork, communication, and cool heads. Our main driver last year was extremely level-headed and was able to do well by not being under pressure.

But like other have said this is like any sports team. You perform as well as you can under the pressure and then left go of whatever has happened.

I always use one of my former doubles tennis partners for this example. He would play great and make great shot until he lost his cool. After that he would hold onto whatever mistake he made or whatever made him angry while he made worse upon worse shots. We went 0-16 that year.

Keep your cool under pressure and let go of whatever mistake you have made and you will perform at your ability.