I have been through this with several different teams...
the suggestions above have been excellent... I won't try to repeat any of that fine advice.
I am only going to address the idea of passivity on a team...
We have gone from 18 members on our team in our Rookie Year... to over 50 members on the team this past year...I believe we had more passive members in our 2nd year than any other... and we addressed it by setting goals and putting people in jobs.
We have a pretty intense team... in fact some of the members of our school have referred to us as a "cult" rather than a team...
I many ways.... I kind of like that...
To get students involved you have to have things for them to do.
Even 16 students is too many to work on the robot...you have to find other endeavours...
I would suggest finding out what some of your passive members are interested in.... and then brainstorm activities the same way you probably brainstormed the design of your robot.
Use what you learned....
Every year we have all students do two things at the end of the season.
The have to write a short description of "Lessons Learned"
These are both positive and negative things that they learned or they think the team has learned.
These items can be used to great advantage...
The 2nd thing we do is have student write a memoir... this describes in their own words what happened to them during the season...
I have these for 4 years now and they are very valuable to show a student how far they have come...
Planning activities as simple as all going outside for a soccer game or a game of frisbee... can lead to better relationships and team members feeling like they are more part of the team...
You don't always have to concentrate on learning things that are about having a better robot...
As a coach I am much more concerned about making team members (and mentors) better people... or at least more knowledgeable people...
We have a pretty good team.... but it isn't about the robot...
We are good because we care about each other... and when you join the team you join the family.... the SKUNK family.... everyone is valuable...
We also care about other teams and other people... we like helping and giving... It is actually pretty selfish on our part... we like giving and helping because it makes US feel so good to do it...
Everyone wants to have value.... show them you care about them...
show them you like having them on the team.... help them understand that they have value to the team....
Do this... and I PROMISE.... you will have more fun and your team will prosper in ways you can't imagine.
thanks!! Good luck we hope to see you on the field sometime...
Robert Steele/Head Coach/ "The Skunkfather"
alleged 'cult of the skunk leader'...
