Advice for transition from student to mentor, too involved?

[wesbass23]

My team (and many others) still use paper scouting at regionals and at worlds without any major hiccups. The biggest thing you need to do is have an excel program ready to receive the data after each match. Depending on what type of scouting is needed for that year we usually have 6 scouts plus one person entering in the data. The paper is then put into accordion files. The downside to using paper is having to go back through the cards if you think data was entered incorrectly and the plus side is having the ability to go back through the cards if you want to look closer at a teams notes or if you think the data was entered incorrectly. I would be careful using your new scouting system without first testing it at an event. You would rather sift through a thousand scouting cards than have no data at all.

[Skyehawk]

Originally Posted by wesbass23

The biggest thing you need to do is have an excel program ready to receive the data after each match.

When I say historically I mean historically, for us paper means just that; ONLY paper. At this point the tablet system (which worked flawlessly at Central Illinois) is better than an untested excel system(despite excel systems being relatively easy to set up). Does anyone have success with pure paper scouting in the past few years?

Thanks for the replies,
Skye

[Briansmithtown]

Its a hard translation from student to mentor... if you were on the drive team, now if you go to a regional with your team, your going to be watching what you were doing and get a sense of loss. Also it becomes very difficult when it comes to out of state regionals and even championships... I was lucky that when my team went up to Troy, I was on spring break. If they went to championships, I wouldn't be able to afford it and lose the days at school. Its a difficult change, but remember, if you do go back and mentor, this is for the kids, so make sure your not getting too involved.

[Fields]

Keep in mind what it is that FRC is for. It's not for winning. It's not for building a freaking awesome robot. Not about being the best strategist or even being prepared for the game.

It's about getting students interested in engineering, science, media and business. Teaching them how what they learn in school can actually matter.

It is very hard for a lot of mentors (myself included) to not jump in and do things their way because it's faster, easier and better. I still spend lots of time outside of the team researching and doing calculations for ideas to share with the students. There are times when I get shot down for what I consider bad reasons, and early on I'll be honest it pissed me off.

I had to forcibly separate myself from the competition. Now I'm more focused on the students and getting them to think critically and work out problems. If they ask for it, I'll tell them how I might solve a particular problem or ideas/concepts they never had a chance to learn yet.

If they make a bad decision on how something should work, I let them try it and find out the hard way why it won't work. It often causes extra work for them and myself, but in the end they can learn and own it rather than be the underlings. What's awesome is that a few times the "stupid" idea they had actually worked and it blew my mind cause I didn't see it till it was done!

Right now I have a lot less stress and a ton less pride holding me back. We don't compete until next week and even if we fall dead last, I can honestly say now that I am very proud of what the team was able to do this year. I'm also excited for the season to be over so we can start preparing for next year.

I suggest not pushing the scouting system. Present it and give examples of why it will be better and leave it at that. If a few students want to try it then great, you'll have a great case study to show how it really is better. If they want paper, let them use paper and try not to take it personal. As you gain experience you'll have lots of other cool stuff to share with them.

I don't have any qualms about mentors doing any of the work. Sometimes it's necessary. What bugs me is when I see a mentor drilling holes with a student holding the other end and playing on their phone.

[wesbass23]

Originally Posted by Skyehawk

When I say historically I mean historically, for us paper means just that; ONLY paper. At this point the tablet system (which worked flawlessly at Central Illinois) is better than an untested excel system(despite excel systems being relatively easy to set up).

Thanks for the replies,
Skye

Only paper?! Oh boy, now that would be difficult. I say go with what you have tested.

[Jon Stratis]

Every team dynamic is different. You need to do what fits best for your team... and I would start by listening to the more experienced mentors on your own team. It's hard to make the transition from student to mentor, especially when it happens immediately. It's easy to be sucked back into the "student" role, as you have a bunch of friends on the team, and most of the students are probably closer in age to you than the other mentors.

Using my own team as an example, nothing gets done without student involvement. As a mentor group, we pushed the team to explore tablet scouting options this year. They embraced it in concept, but were slow to adopt and figure out how to make it work. As a mentor, I stepped in and helped them figure out the basics, by taking an off the shelf system developed by another local team and setting it up as an example. The metrics that were present on it were completely non-sensical, but having that example in place the students could see how it would operate at the event, I could walk them through the setup procedure, and then they could develop the actual metrics and set it up for themselves.

One of the hardest parts of being a mentor, in my opinion, is knowing when to step back. You may look at an issue, know how to solve it, and know that you could get it done quickly and easily... but also know that you need to hand it off to a student, coach them through it, and that it'll take 3 times as long and may not end up being what you had envisioned.

[Carolyn_Grace]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

Every team dynamic is different. You need to do what fits best for your team... and I would start by listening to the more experienced mentors on your own team.

This is the most solid advice I see in this thread so far. Just this.

Every team is different.

You need to do what fits best for your team.

Listen to more experienced mentors: mentors need mentors too.