Student or Adult Coach

[New Lightning]

I have been wondering what the ratio of student to adult drive coaches there are. And what are the reasons for using one or the other.

[aldaeron]

Here is data from 2 years ago.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh....php?p=1379592

[IronicDeadBird]

Well I quoted someone and they deleted the comment this is hawkard...

[New Lightning]

I really want to know the data for this year,

[IronicDeadBird]

What if we have both?

[New Lightning]

I was referring to what your using this year. And if you use both throughout the year, then why make the switch.

[Kevin Leonard]

Originally Posted by IronicDeadBird

What if we have both?

Similar to what I was thinking. 20 uses student coaches right now, and 5254 uses adult coaches right now.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by New Lightning

I really want to know the date for this year,

2016... The rest of the date tends to vary through the year.

[New Lightning]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

2016... The rest of the date tends to vary through the year.

Lol, *Data

[PayneTrain]

We let mentors drive the robot since they built it.

[Zebra_Fact_Man]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

We let mentors drive the robot since they built it.

You monster frisbee!!

[marshall]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

We let mentors drive the robot since they built it.

Us too! It's awesome! The best part is the students cheering us on from the stands!

I'll be here all week folks, good night! *drops the mic*

[CalTran]

I believe the party line goes something like "We utilize a student coach, because we are a student lead, student built team. The mentors are only here to supervise and make sure we don't injure ourselves." As well, it means that one more student gets to be on the drive team, the position most teams consider one of the most coveted.

That being said, I believe that a mentor serving as a coach is more beneficial than a student coach. Having a mentor be the drive coach means that they will generally be more level headed during stressful situations, they are able to retain the subtle nuances of matches from year to year, and the are able to consistently train the next generation. A mentor coach means that they're more likely able to bring their knowledge year in and year out. Most teams have their drive team as a one-and-done affair.

[seg9585]

On a serious note to answer the question of "why", there are actually several reasons we have an adult coach but a few of the big ones:

When dealing with other teams in your alliance, things can get a little heated sometimes about which team feels their strategy for the round is optimal. I frequently see other teams with overzealous/bossy adult coaches who feel their strategy for the upcoming round is the only way, and the students get intimidated by it (and will frequently "cower" to the other adult coach when they don't have another adult to stand up for them). My goal is to help the alliance make more level-headed decisions regardless of whether the alliance partners have student or adult coaches.

Students have great decision-making abilities and are very smart, but in the end are still kids and can make mistakes (just like an adult could). What the adult has, though, is experience, and with that experience comes knowing their own history of "what has gone wrong" in the past and what to do to mitigate it. The coach is always the second set of eyes for the students to make sure the robot is configured to plan on the field, the joysticks are plugged into the correct ports, etc. There have been so many times the students forgot some of the important field config steps and it cost us rounds, and sometimes an adult with experience is the best person to double-check their work.

I feel the coach should be the best person on the team for the job, regardless of whether it's a student or adult mentor. A team shouldn't "force" itself to choose between picking an adult vs picking a student because of its team history or because "that's the way it should be".

[MaGiC_PiKaChU]

We always had an adult coach. This year it's me. It has always been a team alumni or a college student. Never a teacher.
Having a student coach is nearly impossible for us, as a french speaking team, since most students have limited english skills.