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Re: Student Coaches
Our team uses a mentor coach.
Last year I was a Senior on the team and a driver so I can speak first hand as to the advantages and disadvantages to both. In the plus column: the drivers have a great relationship with the mentor this builds trust, so when the drivers see something that the coach doesn't he doesn't get all worried because he trusts the drivers as well. If ever there were an incident with a rules question or something that happened during the match, it seems that from experience, the ref's tend to take an adult more seriously when they have a problem. When it comes down to it drivers will probably tend to listen to an adult coach more than a student, this can be both good and bad.
By far I think the best coach is somebody who knows the game to the fullest, doesn't crack under pressure, can clearly convey their thoughts to the drivers without yelling, and ultimately the best coaches are people that has driving experience, somebody that knows what its like to be controlling the robot, and know exactly what to tell the drivers when they need to know it.
essentially the coach is playing the game through the drivers, using them to move the robot to where it needs to be and performing the tasks that it needs to.
This being said the drivers on our team still take part in pre-match strategy building sessions with the other drive teams from our alliances.
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