Time for a Scouting Award--Eagle Scout???

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by AndrewPospeshil

Personally I think an actual award for scouting would be pointless. Like MechEng83 said, judges would have to be experienced and have a lot of prior knowledge. Plus it would be a nightmare to determine what criteria makes for a good scouting team/strategy. Not to mention it would be mostly the same from year to year. Each game, regardless of how complex/simple/etc requires an easy way to input data, a good way to compile it, etc etc. Although scouting is a vital part of any successful team, it shows itself not through its own award but combines with a good robot to yield results.

I don't think this is much different from the Engineering Excellence, Creativity or Innovation in Control Awards. All of those contribute to team success just as much as scouting (unless you think that scouting is EVEN more important, in which I can use that to lord it over our drive coach!!! ) Should we drop those awards because they lead directly to success on the field? Scouting should be put on par with those other critical elements.

Judges don't need to be experienced in scouting--they need to be experienced in strategic development, statistical analysis, data management, information presentation, and team management. All of these are used by real-world professionals. Remember the success of "Moneyball?" That was about how scouting and strategy made more out of the resources a team had. The public "got it" based on how well the movie did.