I've been the coach for nine of the ten seasons I've spent with FIRST. My first year, I was a high school senior, but have been in that role as a mentor ever since. I did not coach in 2004 -- the only year to date I've not attended a competition since 1999.
I don't feel like this, particularly, means our team lacks depth or that we're not doing everything we can to inspire the students.
As an adult in this role, it's my responsibility to do much more than coach the team to a win whenever I can. I'm there to act as a buffer between my kids and other teams -- adult coaches can be intimidating, so I'm there to intimidate right back.
I also act as a mediator between the drive team and the rest of the group. I am not stressed by competition -- gross incompetence not withstanding -- and can protect the kids from a lot of the criticism and backseat driving that can sometimes occur after a match. That said, I don't sugarcoat my opinion of their performance. In Atlanta, I had to tell our driver that he'd played the worst defense that I've ever seen in all of my ten years.
I'm there to make sure that the criticism is taken constructively and to make sure that they move on after a loss -- though we're working on eliminating those entirely. I don't want the kids to beat themselves up over things like that -- it's not worth putting in all of the effort, resources and time to come to a competition and not enjoy yourself, regardless of how well you do on the field.
Above all, I take my job as a coach seriously and do everything I can to be prepared for a match -- but no matter what happens -- I'm there to make sure the kids have fun and are treated fairly. We're working to provide the experience of competing in this "Superbowl of Smarts" to the kids and one of my biggest roles in that is alleviating tension.
The students on our team get along terrificly, but I'd still be a bit worried that leaving them on their own during stressful competition could lead to unneeded tension and additional stress -- and those things do very little to further our efforts toward inspiration.