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Don't knock experience...
Posted by Chris Orimoto at 2/2/2001 2:40 AM EST
Student on team #368, Kika Mana, from McKinley High School and Nasa Ames/Hawaiian Electric/Weinberg Foundation.
In Reply to: one more thing to look for
Posted by Joe Ross on 2/2/2001 2:14 AM EST:
Well, I think that the previous posts have answered the original question quite thoroughly, but I do have one tiny thing to say. Although it does not seem as important as other qualities, experience does play a factor in determining how one reacts to pressure and adversity.
Being the driver from last year, I can say that it is not an easy task, despite any propaganda about it. I quickly found that I had to be able to strategize just as well as my coaches in order to be successful. Maybe it's just the egocentric student's point of view, but I think that a driver SHOULD, in fact, be able to make his/her own decisions on the field and not RELY on the coaches for everything. By proposing a lack of "reliance" does not mean a complete discernment of open-mindedness. The driver should be able to constructively take criticism.
As far as personal qualities are concerned, I believe that the driver should be intelligent and able to handle pressure (as previously stated by others). I think that the driver should also be enthusiastic to a certain degree, so that he/she is able to "boost" the team's morale as a potential leader. An experienced driver would have assumably developed these qualities previously, but then again, you don't want someone who lets the glory get to his/her head.
I'm not sure if I shall drive again this year (a little reinforcer saying that experience isn't EVERYTHING). Cracking under pressure was my main fault, and that was a huge reason why we lost the final in the regionals last year (well, that and the fact that we were up against a Kingman #60/Broadway #254 alliance).
Well, I hope I haven't murdered anyone with my "robotic" life story here. Just my personal thoughts...
Chris, #368
PS...Thanks again to #330 BeachBot, you guys were the best!
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