[IndySam]

I've been thinking about this thread for a while and the recent comments about team 45 have inspired me to comment.

We have some powerhouse teams here in Indiana and after my first year I had the same feeling as the original poster, especially about teams like 45 and 71. I was a bit frustrated when I saw their resources and designs and I knew that there was no way that students could have built these robots.

Once I was exposed to the adults and students in these programs I realized how wrong I was. These teams inspired their students to do great work, even if adults were doing a great deal of the design work, the benefits to the students on these teams were obvious, especially when you spend time and talk with the students.

People like Andy Baker and Alan Anderson have taught and inspired me how to work with and teach our students and if you have seen the progress team 829 has made you will see that direct effect.

Four years ago I had the attitude of having the students do everything was the correct way to go. Now I know you let the students do what they are capable of and teach them how to do more. Sometime by helping them do it and many times by doing it and having them watch.

One of the things successful teams do is manage their resources well. There are years when you have students that are great at design and some seasons you don't A good mentor will adjust how much of the work he does depending on the students capabilities. Some years a mentor will help a student refine their design and some years the same mentor is doing all the design but using that design to help teach his next crop of student designers. The same goes for electrical programming mechanical and team administration.

Lastly about the GP of these powerhouse teams. You really learn about GP when you are at a regional and a Big All comes to your pit because he noticed you had electrical problems and wanted to see if he could help, when you are at the championship and a Alan A come to see if you need programming help because he saw you had questions on CD. When a Paul C shares a great tip about improving your drive team without being asked, when a member from a 234 hears you need an expensive part and they give it to you without hesitation.