View Single Post
  #11   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 24-03-2004, 21:45
westfalia's Avatar
westfalia westfalia is offline
Custom User Title
AKA: Doug
FRC #2234
Team Role: College Student
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Rookie Year: 2000
Location: Ambler, PA
Posts: 44
westfalia is on a distinguished road
Send a message via AIM to westfalia
Re: Pressure on Drive Team

On our team, being a driver is more or less an earned position. We have tryouts (when the robot is capable) and that usually puts us in the right direction. I've been more than fortunate to have been a driver or operator for all four years now!

It's funny, but I feel absolutely no pressure when I go into the booth anymore. It's almost like riding a bike- the confidence that I've achieved is all because I'm familiar with the stance I'm in and the manuevers I'm going to make. I usually worry more about the robot working correctly, or a program put in the correct way for a given place. I usually do a little dance before each round- watch for me (the guy with long hair for 341) and you'll notice it.

With our team, we have our coaches and whatnot in the booth as well, and they are always told to do the strategy, but it always ends up being the drivers who both do all the stategizing (play by play during the match) and when we mess up, we're the ones who face the consequences of guilt and worry about repetition of the same problem.

So yeah- that's the story. I LOVE being an operator, I'll tell you that though!

One more thing- all us drivers seem to agree it's a difficult task. Let's all try to realize that when either one of our robots doesn't perform well during a match, it's not what we intended!
__________________
~Doug

Former 341 team member... Now attending Drexel University and mentoring team 2234!
Reply With Quote