Effective Coaching

[Jeff Rodriguez]

How does one be an effective coach?

What role does the coach play on a drive team?

What are the qualities of a good/effective coach?

How do you learn and practice those qualities?

What are the benefits and disadvantages of a student coach or an adult coach?

If someone wanted to learn how to coach well, where would they learn from? Well, let's make the ultimate coach's guide.
I'll throw in my two cents in a little bit.

[henryBsick]

I don't coach, but I drive... a lot; so I think I have some ideas for good coaches, as I happen to be coached by one of the best (IMHO).

1) Co-ordinate with the other coaches in game, you MUST be able to let everyone know what is going on at all times. Communication is KEY.

2) Think of yourself as the driver, you watch the field and tell you robot where to go, it just so happens that the drivers do the physical implementation of that.

3) Watch the entire match. Give the drivers a commend, and take a step back to review the over all match situation.

4) Don't be afraid to move around to better talk to the other coaches.

5) Don't be jumpy with commands to the drivers. If you tell them to do something, make sure you want them to do it so they don't have to change in mid operation.


I am waiting for Karthik to hop on this one, I remember him from one of the minis last year as one of the best coaches I have seen, which says a lot.

Other names for great coaches I can think of off of the top of my head:
Team 33 coach who I believe is Jim Zondag
Paul Copioli
Cliff Mock (call me biased w/e. he has got some skill)

[AmyPrib]

I know I won't capture everything, but a few thoughts.....

Originally Posted by Ogre

How does one be an effective coach?

Communication is key.
Good rapport with the driveteam
Have good strategy sense
Be willing to work with other team's strategies and driveteams and compromise.
Be able to think on your feet
Give short commands for drive team to follow easily
Know the rules

What role does the coach play on a drive team?

Big part of strategy
Keep drivers on track with strategy
Keep drivers calm under pressure
Know other team capabilities, opponents and alliances, get info from your scouts to help you play each match better and different depending on teams
Watch what other robots are doing and adjust your game play accordingly on the fly
Know the rules, even better than the drivers/hp
WATCH MATCHES. A coach should not spend all their time in the pits or elsewhere. They need to be watching matches and planning their strategies. How else will you learn what the other teams can/can't do..

What are the qualities of a good/effective coach?

Same as first question
Calm, quick thinker, not too hot headed.

How do you learn and practice those qualities?

You can learn from other experienced coaches
Some of the qualities you're just born with. Some can be learned and practiced, but I don't have any specifics how at the moment
For example, If you're not a natural people person or good communicator, it may be more difficult to be effective.

What are the benefits and disadvantages of a student coach or an adult coach?

There's been debates before on this but...
Maturity can be a big factor as well as level of experience.
Rapport with drive team - as far as students respecting another student yelling at them as coach
Adults sometimes have better communication skills, quicking thinking, and stronger focus than students
Adults may have better negotiating skills than students
I don't have much experience with student coaches so I can't really judge, but these are just comments based on general traits of age I guess. So don't take this as me saying that "adults are the only good coaches". Because that's simply not what I imply.

If someone wanted to learn how to coach well, where would they learn from? Well, let's make the ultimate coach's guide.

From others. From threads like this. From being open-minded to different ways of doing things and trying things. From team forums, workshops, etc. From listening.
There's no one way to learn to be a good coach, some people will be better than others, some may never be good at it.

[Andy Baker]

A good drive team coach does these things:

1. Takes full responsibility for all negative happenings on the field
2. Gives full credit to driver, operator, and hp for all positive happenings on the field
3. Shields the drive team from distractions
4. Never argues with the drive team in public
5. Evaluates the drive team and robot after each match, and allows the drive team to evaluate them, as harsh as they wish
6. Keeps the drive team calm and loose
7. Says as few words as possible
8. Thinks fast
9. Speaks clearly
10. Listens to drive team, pit crew, scouting crew
11. Listens to alliance partners and knows when to take their leadership
12. Knows when to tell alliance partner to hush and do what they are told
13. Knows more about their competition than the competition knows about them
14. Knows their alliance partner's strengths and weaknesses
15. Can handle the pressure of an entire team (and 2 partner teams), while keeping this pressure off of the driver, operator, and hp.
16. Knows the #1 person on the other teams who makes the strategy, scouting, and alliance picking decisions... and has their ear.
17. Encourages the rest of the team to be honest with the ability of the robot and current repair status.
18. Is a role model
19. Contributes to the decision regarding who is driving, operating, and hp'ing
20. Knows all of the game rules, and even the Q&A nuances
21. Knows how to talk to the head ref, and teaches that to the drive team
22. Always keeps GP in mind
23. Competes as hard as they can on the field, but offers help to other teams off of the field
24. Prepares a 16-team pick sheet, even though they are not in the top 8 teams.
25. Is responsible for the drive team to be on time for each match
26. Delegates responsibility to drive team to check robot readiness (after depending on the pit crew for preparing it)
27. Visits other team pits to see how they are doing and to do pre-match strategy and scouting
28. Watches matches with drive team, asking them what they would do in certain positions
29. Prepares "scripts" for each match, depending on alliance partners and opponents.
30. Makes sure that all alliance teams know what the "plan" is during the match.
31. DOES NOT change this "plan" 1 minute before the match starts.
32. DOES NOT dictate to alliance partners
33. Knows the score (approximate) and time of the match at all times.. and communicates this, as needed to the drive team
34. Alerts the drive team if a penalty is about to happen.
35. During the finals... if their team is the alliance captain, tells the other team that they are the lead team, but will listen to all input (or, they delegate this leadership role to a picked alliance partner)
36. During the finals... NEVER demands to be in control of the alliance if they are a picked team
37. During the finals... checks to see if the pit crew has prepared all tools and parts needed for their run to be Champions.
38. Keeps very open communication to fellow alliance coaches.
39. Asks permission from another coach if he/she can give direction to the alliance's drive team member (a coach on one team giving direction to a driver on another team).
40. Keeps alliance partner coaches off the backs of your drive team members (no other coach should be yelling at your driver)


I am sure there are more... this is enough for now. I don't want to make it tooo easy on everyone.

Andy B.

field coach in almost 300 matches, from 1998-2003, 2005 (not in 2006)... 3 Regional Championships and 1 National Championship

[George A.]

I always thought of a coach as the strategist or the team...basically like a guy playing a game of chess. He shouldn't be telling the driver/HP what the robot should do, the driver should already know that. The coach should take all things going on the field and in their head create a plan of attack. They should know their partners capablities, the happenings on the field and the time, and tell the driver what to do next.


That's what I think at least.

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Henry_222

I am waiting for Karthik to hop on this one, I remember him from one of the minis last year as one of the best coaches I have seen, which says a lot.

Thanks, Henry. That means a lot from someone who has driven as much as you have. Here's my list, which duplicates many of the things Andy has already said. (I use the male pronoun for simplicity, but remember, there are some amazing female coaches)

1. The coach must not get zoned into his own robot. It's the coaches job to keep the driver's appraised of the whole field. If the coach focuses on his robot, he will not be able to make the right decisions.

2. The coach must be respected. He's the field general. The driver's need to trust the coach and take his word as gospel. It's the driver's job to focus on the robot. Hence, they will not be able to make strategic decisions, since they will not be fully aware of what is happening on the rest of the field. They need to listen to coach's every decision, and act on them immediately. Remember, respect is earned. So in advance of the competitions, the coach must work hard to earn his student's respect and trust.

3. I've always said a FIRST match is like a high speed game of chess. The coach is the player. He needs to make quick strategic decisions. This is not an ability that everyone has, and is very hard to teach. Basically, the coach need to be able to freeze the match in his head, evaluate the situation, recognize the possible moves, evaluate the ramifications of each move, and choose the most advantageous one. All of that in a split second. (A lot easier than it sounds, but not as easy as most people think)

4. The coach needs to recognize his place within the alliance. For each match, it needs to be established which team is "in charge". A good coach will step up to the task when it's appropriate, and allow other coaches to when it's warranted.

5. Strategy does not only take place in a match. The most successful teams are those who work with their partners before the match, and come up with a plan. This allows for less in match decisions, where people are prone to mistakes. Part of this process involves having fall back plans. You need to be prepared for most every outcome.

6. Communicate efficiently with your drive team. Enough said.

7. The coach must not be afraid to deviate from plan during a match. Many teams fail, because they behave in a static manner. If the strategy involves actions A through G, you cannot get stuck on B. Have time limits for each action, and if they are taking too long, move on. Nothing drove me more crazy then watching teams spend 30 seconds trying to adjust a precariously positioned tetra in 2005.

8. The coach has to know the rules better than anyone on the team. They need to understand every aspect of game play, and all possible strategies. A coach who says "I didn't know they're allowed to that" needs to catch up quickly.

9. The coach is a visible Representative of the team. He must act accordingly. As competitive as he is, he must remember to act graciously and professionally. Temper tantrums, disrespecting partners or opponents is not appropriate.

10. The coach needs to take responsibility for all defeats, and let the drivers bask in the glory of victories. I know it may not sound fair, but it's the way it is. Never blame your drivers for a loss, no matter how badly they mess up.

11. Never get stuck thinking about a previous match. Learn from both your defeats and victories, and move on.

12. Be objective. The coach needs to honestly evaluate his team's strengths and weaknesses. Otherwise, he'll be designing implausible strategies.

That's a good start, I'll add more if anything pops into my head.

[Tim Delles]

I don't know if there is much left to be said. Karthik and Andy have summed up most everything that a coach needs to be / be able to do.

I am waiting for Karthik to hop on this one, I remember him from one of the minis last year as one of the best coaches I have seen, which says a lot.

I'd have to agree with that, and Karthik look for that canadian flag again this year on the back of the green and gold bot.

[Ricky Q.]

Most of the things I was going to add have been summed up by Andy, Amy and Karthik.

I have had had the fortunate experience of being a FIRST driver for 3 years, and now a field coach. The mentor on our team that was my coach jokes that I was groomed to be a coach, but I kind of was.

Personally I think the greatest thing a coach can do is be very close to the drive team. I try and always be around them, in the pits, sitting in the stand watching matches, driving in the vans. I am my drive team's stalker. Having a good relationship with them enables so many things.

Also as a coach and as others have said, you can't take crap from anyone. You have to be able to hold your own and keep everything away from your drivers, let them do their thing.

I cannot stress enough the importance of pre-match strategy sessions. Make it happen.

That's about all I can say for now, listen to the others

Ricky Q.

driver in 100+ matches, up and coming field coach

[Jeremiah Johnson]

This is all awesome information. I was approached tonight by the student leader and the team coordinator and asked to be field coach... I'm still considering it. My little brother is a driver and he doesn't like to listen to me. That's why I'm still considering it. Anyways... If I am, then I'll use this info as best as I can. This is gonna be a tough decision.

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by Karthik

4. The coach needs to recognize his place within the alliance. For each match, it needs to be established which team is "in charge". A good coach will step up to the task when it's appropriate, and allow other coaches to when it's warranted.

Exactly. There is only one exception where the decision is always obvious: If you are partnered with team 71 and they have a tall, brown haired man named Brian Beatty as their coach. ALWAYS follow his direction, no matter what your robot can do or what your strategy ideas are. Give him the long straw.

AB

[Lisa Perez]

Originally Posted by Karthik

6. Communicate efficiently with your drive team. Enough said.

Communicate with the other coaches. If you see that there is obviously going to be a change of strategy in the middle of a match, make sure the other teams know so that there isn't a repetition of action by two or three robots from the same alliance.

The coaches also have to know when the communication needs to be between the driver and the operator. If a coach spends too much time telling his or her drive team how to get their arm unstuck from a tetra, for example, he or she isn't watching the field as efficiently as possible.

Lastly, be loud and confident in your decision making. If your driver and operator sense the tiniest bit of hesitation in your voice, that is going to affect the way in which they carry out the task.

[Raul]

I agree with all the other talented coaches who have already given advice and want to add one more thing:

Go watch a regional before yours. For many matches, pick a robot that is similar to yours and watch carefully (don't allow yourself to get distracted) and pretend you are coaching and think through what you would do in each situation. It gives you the opportunity to learn so much about what strategy works and what doesn't in a large variety of situations.

If you are in the first week of regionals, then watch as many matches as possible from the stands.

[Frenchie]

A coach has to keep track of the score while the drivers are focused on the driving. And when I say keep track, it's not "look at the screen every 10 secs", no, its more "keep a personal count". As our coach (Dan Kimura, simply amazing !) says, "I kind of get a feel of how many ball we shot and how many time I heard the chains of the center goal over my head".

[Beth Sweet]

Coaching has to be one of the toughest things I have ever tried. If you would like a list of the things for an ineffective coach, I could probably think back to everything that I did at the one event I was allowed to coach at.

Word to the wise: Coaching is not as easy as it looks.