seniority as a factor in drive team decision

[BurkeHalderman]

On 3266 we place a priority on students who had been on the drive team last year or we feel have earned a spot, not necessarily seniority. We consider the drivetrain operator as the most important member of the drive team. We have had driver tryouts every year but we've had the same driver (me) for the last four years, just because I had the most experience "behind the wheel". Our decision on driver this year will be based around the student's knowledge of the robot, their commitment to the team, and how well they perform under pressure.

We use the human player position kind of like a grooming tool for future drivers. We want the students to get a feel of the competition and match play up close before they get to operate the robot. This student(s) is usually the one driving in the offseason.

And we've had the coach every single year. One of our original members now three year mentor.

SO long reply to simple question, but generally seniority plays a small role but is not the only factor. The student's commitment to the team and knowledge are the deciding factors.

[JohnSchneider]

To draw a sports parallel, the last 2 heisman trophy winners have been freshmen.

Sometimes raw talent > experience. And drive team is definitely one of those areas.

[Anupam Goli]

In the ideal world, we'd love to have our most talented students drive, regardless of age and class, but it's simply not possible at times for us. We can't send all of our underclassmen to our 1st regional this year because of the school system's liability rules when teachers take students on long distance trips. We only have one driver who would be covered under the school's insurance policy, and if we rent a van, we can only drive 15 students. Needless to say, we're a bit stretched out at competition, but due to our team's size, the 15 most important students to the operation go on the trip, and often times the students will be fulfilling multiple roles (drive team will be doing pit crew stuff, scouters may be in the pits, Coach might be scouting, etc.) so we need some experienced members to handle the immense amount of work to do with a smaller base of people.

[Tom Line]

We always have a primary drive team and a backup drive team. Generally speaking, I like to see it when the primary has the best driver, period. I do not want a senior on the backup drive team, because I expect the backup driver will be the future driver when the current one leaves.

That doesn't always work, and we haven't really followed it as a policy, but it's what I prefer to see.

[Aetas]

It seems like our team factors in a lot of things other than seniority, since we have had diverse drivers quite frequently. The thing is, it's usually whomever shows the most commitment. There's no use for someone with "raw talent" to be on the team as a primary driver if they cannot be counted on to show up. Regardless of this, the drivers with the most talent do seem to be the ones that are also seniors, due to commitment level and such by maturity.

So essentially, seniority is important on our team to an extent, but not necessarily the only thing.