Mentors as Drive Coaches?

[GCentola]

Originally Posted by Taylor

The discussions died because the horse just won't get back up.

The consensus at the end of each of the threads is: What works for your team, works for your team. Great. What works for my team works for my team. Great. Let's not impose our will on other teams where it's not necessary or invited. The logic behind both paradigms is discussed at length in the aforementioned threads.

Agreed. Unfortunately, not only is the horse beaten to death repeatedly, it usually ends in a big fight between the sides that involves arguing, anger, hating on teams and generally un-FIRST-like conduct.


Speaking from 2 years of experience, I would like to say the following:

SparX believes in having students as the Drive Coach. I have done so for this year and 2011 and cannot express how much the experience has helped me grow as a team member, leader, and, well....Coach. I think there is absolutely a benefit to having students in this position, as long as there are capable students to do so. In the past, we have had very capable coaches ranging in years of experience. Personally, I am incredibly thankfult hat this is my second year because I can use everything I learned last year to help me even further but I will admit that there is still way more out there that I can learn (if you are a seasoned pro at coaching, check out my other post). I love working with other students, I love doing what I do, and I support student coaches.

That doesn't mean I don't believe in mentor coaches. In the words ok Karthik, "Adult coaches are like the rockstars of the FIRST program." I thionk there is also a great deal to be learned from mentor coaches who have seen more battles than many students. In addition, mentor coaches are constant and do not graduate like students do. Team 1717 is a team full of seniors and the team changes every year. In this case, a mentor coach makes sense. There are many adult coaches I look up to as well for their ability, knowledge of strategy and general technique. FLR 2011: I got to play with 217. Paul is intense, but I definitely learned alot from him. IRI 2011: we had a match with 71 and 111 AT THE SAME TIME. The amount of experience between Hammond and Stang easily outweighed anything I could contribute, yet both teams were amazing to work with, and I got to coach alongside Raul. Same with 469 at IRI, and many of the mentor coaches I encountered (in any comeptition).

To sum it up: I have no quarrel with mentor coaches. They defintitely contribute something worthwhile. I am incredibly happy to have the position of Coach on 1126, and to have learned from many mentors. Please do not let this thread turn into a big hate-fest. As long as the kids are inspired, FIRST is working.