Student or Adult Coach

[mjc49]

Since I've been involved with my team, we have always had a student as drive coach. That said, going forward we will have an adult coach on standby in the event someone to help manage situations with other adults.

Being a drive coach is a leadership position on our team and we provide leadership training. Dealing with an aggressive mentor from another team is asking a lot from a student so having someone available for them to help in that situation is teaching moment. In most cases, adult drive coaches are doing a great job, but there are cases where they are way to intense and intimidate students.

[IronicDeadBird]

One thing that I don't like about this entire scenario is that a lot of heat is being generated around students or coaches feeling uncomfortable in a situation where we all are supposed to be working together.
If people are on the same team nobody should feel bad for trying to help but a lot of the time thats how I end up feeling when in Q.

[beurwonderwall]

As a the student drive coach of my drive team, I totally think it depends on the dynamic of your team. For my team, we've always had a student coach, but that doesn't mean we're right-or wrong. This weekend at the St Joseph District in Michigan, I was very impressed by 3620's drive coach. He's a mentor, but he does a very nice job in the role, without being overbearing in strategy sessions.

I think that a student can also become overbearing in situations, so it is extremely dependent on how your team functions.

So, whether your drive coach is a mentor or student, I think it is very important that your coach is polite, strong-willed, and knowledgeable when it comes to the game.

It all really comes down to exemplifying the qualities of FIRST; not how old your coach is.