[Chris is me]

This was my first year as a strategist or drive coach (hopefully not my last, but if I continue it can't be with 1714), and I really only think I was "prepared" for the job at IRI, maybe Atlanta. It took about two events for me to get a grasp of what I was doing and an ability to make decisions that wouldn't let down my team.

I don't think there's any substitute for on field FRC practice with a drive team you trust and work well with (which can also only be found out on the field). Go to as many offseasons, scrimmages, and practices as you can. It's a little late for the former, but many low team scrimmages will get you plenty of practice. Watching matches in season obsessively helps a lot, as does good communication with the scouting team. Learn how a match in FRC plays out and how long it takes drivers to do tasks or transition to offense or defense until calculating options based on time remaining is second nature.

If you can, pair with veteran drivers when learning to coach, and start building up what information you give them slowly. Start with a countdown in the last 10 seconds, and 15 second clock updates leading up to that, then add in stuff like on field conditions (in Lunacy, empty cells delivered, full hoppers, approaching robots). Stack on some directions on top of that and feel around a bit until you have a good balance and coaching style. At least, that worked for me.

I was a coach and driver in FTC and it didn't help me as much with FRC as I'd have liked. Keep that in mind.

I'll post more when I remember more to add.