Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Kit Gerhart
What both Andys, and all good FIRST coaches have in common is good knowledge of the rules, good game strategy skills, and maybe most importantly, good communication and negotiating skills. It shouldn't be that way, but when the teams within an alliance are discussing how to play a match, adult coaches are going to get more respect than student coaches. In the eliminations rounds, the alliance captain team will presumably call the plays, but in the Q matches, a well respected adult coach is going to be more likely to "get his/her way" in calling the plays than a student coach, even a very good one.
|
I couldn't agree more with the three most important qualifiers for being a coach!
I am a advisor coach (21 y/o, driver for 3 years) who spends little if no time with the students or robot during the build period. I usually spend a weekend of my Spring Break at a regional observing the strategies with other members of our team. During the week of Spring Break I (and my brother 19 y/o, driver for 3 years as well) am in the shop driving the robot and learning the workings of it. The following weekend is almost always our first competition in which I get to know the drivers (I have always known both of them from previous years). For me knowing the game is the most important factor; however you need a strategy that you are able to execute and make changes on the fly if your alliance partners or even yourself have a breakdown. Another important factor for both student and adult coaches, you need to have a strategy based on the other robotics abilities before meeting the other alliance members. This allows you to sell your strategy based on what the other teams are good at and from what you have observed they like to do. If your team comes in to the meeting and is the most organized and planned out it is much easier to sell your idea as opposed to someone that isn't prepared at all. For us we typically wait until we are in the "on deck" area to talk to other teams about the strategy for that match. This is due to a number of reasons primarily both the drivers and I enjoy watching other matches (good strategy). I find that by discussing what my strategy team wants the drive team to accomplish right after the previous match it allows us "down time" to watch these matches and to digest what will be happening during the next round.