Off season drivers: HELP

[IndySam]

I agree that during regular season and at hi-caliber events like IRI you need to stick to a set drive team but does it always have to be about winning?

Off season events are great way to get more people the experience of being "behind the glass." So few students ever get that opportunity to do so, why not spread it around?

Originally Posted by IndySam

I agree that during regular season and at hi-caliber events like IRI you need to stick to a set drive team but does it always have to be about winning?

Off season events are great way to get more people the experience of being "behind the glass." So few students ever get that opportunity to do so, why not spread it around?

I may have come off that way, but it is in no way about winning. Our goal is to be successful as a teaml. We want all of our students to get something from the competition, but we can't have everyone driving, since wee need other people, like a pit crew, human players, maintenance, etc.

I am starting to understand the other side of the debate, and I may have a good solution.

NEW question: What do you think of this: Everyone can drive, as long as they have had x hours of practice, and can get within the top 3 or 4 drive teams. We only have 5 drive teams at practice today, so I think we won't be excluding too much if we have 3 teams that switch out every match or so.

[Ankit S.]

EDIT:

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

I have come up with a solution that we agree on.

Thanks all for your help, and I hope I didn't come off the wrong way.

oops.

/EDIT

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

NEW question: What do you think of this: Everyone can drive, as long as they have had x hours of practice, and can get within the top 3 or 4 drive teams. We only have 5 drive teams at practice today, so I think we won't be excluding too much if we have 3 teams that switch out every match or so.

My team is diong this: Our route is stating "If you come to driver practice on this day, and get some stick time, you will be able to drive during the qualifiers as long as the robot isnt broken". However, we have less prospective drivers than you.


What I would suggest for you is to have 3 or 4 teams.

This way:

Two drive teams will drive in the eliminations: the main set of drivers (who are not allowed to drive during Qualifiers) and the best set of drivers out of the remaining 2 or 3.

Those other 2 or 3 drive teams will compete in the Qualifying Matches, for the match and for a chance to drive in the eliminations. It also becomes a small friendly competition at this point, and hopefully that will bring out the best in your drivers.

I am assuming that since you are the only returning driver, you will be on the best drive team, and thus will be able to tell the others on your drive team that they are not driving in Qualifiers. Just in case you aren't, it may be best to only tell your mentor this plan, and keep it a secret from the other drivers so they don't purposefully try to suck during practice, and suddenly do really well during Cal Games.

See you in a week!

[Phyrxes]

Last year at our off season, and I presume this year as well, we rotated students through during qualifiers and and then substituted our "main driver and operator" in the elimination.

Given that we found our current "main driver" at an off season when he was a Freshman driving the our Lunacy bot, I doubt we will change our approach.

The other thing we did was our usual coach stepped back from the qualification rounds so we had students filling all four roles, which has made for some interesting matches.

[Thad House]

How we do our offseason is we take out competition robot and our practice bot to the events. We have a main drive team on the competition bot, and we have have our practice bot switch between drivers and see who all is competition ready.

Originally Posted by BeltSanderRocks

EDIT:

oops.

/EDIT




My team is diong this: Our route is stating "If you come to driver practice on this day, and get some stick time, you will be able to drive during the qualifiers as long as the robot isnt broken". However, we have less prospective drivers than you.


What I would suggest for you is to have 3 or 4 teams.

This way:

Two drive teams will drive in the eliminations: the main set of drivers (who are not allowed to drive during Qualifiers) and the best set of drivers out of the remaining 2 or 3.

Those other 2 or 3 drive teams will compete in the Qualifying Matches, for the match and for a chance to drive in the eliminations. It also becomes a small friendly competition at this point, and hopefully that will bring out the best in your drivers.

I am assuming that since you are the only returning driver, you will be on the best drive team, and thus will be able to tell the others on your drive team that they are not driving in Qualifiers. Just in case you aren't, it may be best to only tell your mentor this plan, and keep it a secret from the other drivers so they don't purposefully try to suck during practice, and suddenly do really well during Cal Games.

See you in a week!

Thanks beltsander! What we're trying out is very similar to what you said. I am on the drive team, getting the fastest run, but I also want the other drivers to get enough practice. Too many drive teams, and each drive team will get less participation time. 1 drive team doesn't let the others show what they can do. Depending on our opponent (or ally), we may not have just the other drive teams drive if they don't think they can take on the opponent *cough cough 254 cough cough*

[Siri]

I won't tell you the right way to do this, but do consider that off-seasons aren't just about winning, and they're also not just about practice. Sometimes, they're about tryouts and familiarization.

On the one hand, I may have a great at-meeting driver, only to find out s/he can't or doesn't want to handle the stress of an actual competition. (If they can't do this at off-seasons, just wait for Worlds.) This is worth finding out early, but not at an official event or high-caliber off-season (read: IRI).

On the other hand, you may find that someone originally uninterested in driving gets completely addicted to it after a few matches, and becomes part of your future Einstein ticket.

On another hand (foot?), you might have two excellent at-meeting drivers, only to find out that, while neither buckles under pressue, one utterly excels under it.


As a three-year driver and three-year-and-counting coach, these are all far from unheard of circumstances. Each can help with inspiring students (FIRST), in addition to helping your team win. Just a thought from someone who's been around that block for a little while.

[Chexposito]

As number of drivers increases; confusion, stress, complication, etc increases. I think it's better to stick with one drive team, but it's up to your team. It kinda depends on how competitive your team wants to be at the competition... just some thoughts

[Brandon Holley]

The experience is probably different on the east coast, especially for me coming from the New England/Mid-Atlantic region. There are tons and tons of offseasons here, so theres not as much of a 'build up' to them as there may be in other areas of the country that have fewer events.

For us, we put out our regulars at IRI and went for it. At BattleCry we mixed it up a bit through the qualifications, but settled on 1 constant (usually experienced) drive team for elims. For other events such as our own Beantown Blitz, River Rage, Where is Wolcott, Bash at the Beach or Mayhem in Merrimack, we let as many people drive through qualifiers as possible. We then will pick a drive team for elims and let them have at it.

We've found this to be a happy balance of getting new people experience, and still "going for it" come eliminations time.

-Brando