Reaching Critical Mass

[MysterE]

Hello CDers,

I have a bit of a conundrum that I hope you all can assist me in solving. In order to do this, I have to be honest and hope that you can all do the same with me. Let me begin with an honest statement: I, as a coach, can easily fall into the trap of doing too much.

This year's Chairman's Award Submission is a great example of this. We did not start our submission preparation until kick-off - which in itself is a bit crazy. I had found a mentor, a small crew of students, and set a few deadlines that needed to be met. All of these things eventually fell through and we received a fairly lackluster writeup that had to be extensively edited for grammar and flow. I made a choice - poorly I think. I edited the paper. I left the presentation for the students - and - once again it did not get done.

Our school seems to have an overall problem in regards to team sports and clubs. To understand this you have to understand East Baton Rouge Parish. We only came out from under a desegregation case as of 2003 or so and my school is filled with students from different communities, some of which are a one hour bus ride away. Our culture is - much like the rest of the community - a symbol of disunity. On the one hand we are a suburban school with students from the surrounding community of considerable wealth. On the other hand we stand at a 70% poverty rate because of the students who populate our school. Because of this community disparity, our band remains small and under-represented, our home football games are attended by more visiting team fans than our own, and every other club suffers from a lack of cohesiveness.

Part of the reason that Panthrobotics has grown to the largest school club - close to outpacing the band - is because I cannot be a part of something that fails. Its not in my nature. I push and strive to see success. Unfortunately, at the same time I realize this is not how it is supposed to be. As a most recent example before my question - one of my mentors offered students from all teams in the area training in Autodesk. He'd announced it for weeks and in the end we did not have one of our members show up. This has been a bit of a disappointment.

So, I am turning the tables on the age-old "mentor-student" debate. What I want now is your advice. What are some steps I might be able to take to help my team reach critical mass. I want them at a place that - should I need to move to a new career - they are able and willing to continue this amazing pursuit.

Thanks.
Daniel.