Coaches/Mentors on the Drive Team

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by MentorOfSteel

This is an interesting thread. As a FIRST newbie, I was surprised when I learned that it was legal to have a mentor in the coach position during competition. I was even more surprised when I started going to competitions and saw the number of teams that take advantage of this rule and the level to which some mentors get involved in the execution of the actual game. I was also surprised to read about the aggressive role that Amir Abo-Shaeer takes as described in The New Cool. My first year in FIRST and FRC has been full of surprises, but frankly, this is one of the less pleasant ones. I am against having adults in the coach position. This discussion so far has been excellent and has presented compelling arguments on both sides of the issue. I do not have much new insight to add, but I will try.

I would just like to point out that Amir has created the most innovative FRC team structure I have ever seen; It truly is a blueprint of what effective FRC teams should be at the educational and institutional level. He routinely inspires a consistant and large group of students; His methods work.

One could argue that the fact that Amir, and the entire team for that matter, is so intense gets the students and team more excited, and more likely to learn how to do xyz to make component abc 2% better.

For students that are only on the team a single year, they do amazing things. I wouldn't argue with his methods one bit.