Activities for Stands-Based Team Members

[tobymc]

My team has 16 stands-based people. We need 8 people for scouting, so each person spends approximately half their time scouting. I'm trying to find ways to better utilize the other half of that time, so that students don't end up hunched in their seats playing on their phones, bored to death.

We've tried having a schedule, so students know when they're needed for scouting, or other jobs, like runner, photographer, videographer, mascot, ambassador, etc. Beyond that, we've provided a list of things to do - ways to soak up all the robotics goodness all around at a competition: Take pictures of robots, talk to teams, find out about a new scouting system, watch matches, etc. But most of our students are new enough or shy enough that they don't do these things.

I want to come up with some more concrete "activities" to complete. I made bingo cards with the team numbers who will be present. Something earns you the square for that team, and prizes are awarded for rows, columns, or the full card.

What have you done on your teams? What do you personally do at a competition when you've got "free" time? What do you think is the most important thing to get out of being at the event?

Thanks for the advice

Toby McAdams
Team 2491 No Mythic coach