[Shu Song]

Do you have an adult coach or a student coach?
We had a student coach through qualifications at FLR, and I (college mentor) took over for eliminations.

Why?
I was coach for the team last year. People thought that I was very effective (trying to be as modest as possible, just what I hear). When I came back to mentor to team this year, I told myself that I would not become coach again, and let a student do it. And through qualifications, a student did do the coaching and I was on the sidelines. I noticed that this student wasn't really strategizing before the match, and I was giving him the basic strategy for the match. He wasn't adapting enough during the match to counter our opponent's strategies. So I asked to be put in for elimination matches. Afterwards, I asked for people's opinions and they didn't seem to mind my coaching.

I'm still not convinced that my stepping in was the right move. No doubt that it made me feel special and I would loved to get back behind the driver station. However, in the spirit of the FIRST, I just couldn't see my replacing the existing coach being the right move.

Do you feel it increases your ranking, winning, and success in matches?
I can't really conclude that, since we were eliminated during quarterfinals with a sweep and the student coach held a 6-6 record through qualifying. But IMHO, I think that I was more effective. But this doesn't conclude either way about non-students being better coaches, I just have more experience.

Do you feel it enhances your team as a whole?
Absolutely not. Since two years ago, our team set the precedent that only students will be coaches. I wanted it to stay that way, but apparently the need to win supercedes enhancement of one's team.

Do you feel it enhances the accuracy, precision, and speed in driving and operation?
As I said before, I can't conclude that because I only have such a small base of comparison. Last year, me and the same student coach from this year were switching off during qualifying matches. My drive team was the more effective one, but then I was a student and so was he. So any accuracy, precision, and speed in driving seen during the two matches I coach really has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a college student.

What downsides are there?
Only downside I foresee is that I'm not giving other people a chance to fill this position, but when I stepped in, it was way too late to train another coach, so I was last resort. I hope to run this by my team again and see if they have any problems with college mentors as coaches.

Do you feel intimidated or persuaded by adult coaches on your alliance?
I can't recall a time when I've coached with an overbearing adult mentor. The adult coaches have always been open to the ideas of the other alliance coaches. Though what was said before about adult mentors dramatically overrating the effectiveness of their own robots happens quite often. They generally aren't the coaches for the drive teams, but they are there when drivers meeting to discuss strategy. That's why we always have our own scouting data, which is substantially less biased than their coaches.


Bottom line is that I don't really see any difference in students and adult coaches. I tend to lean towards student coaches because it gets them more involved.