Adult vs. Student coaches

[StephLee]

Do you have an adult coach or a student coach?
We've had a student coach (me) both years we've been a team.

Why?
I was always standing with the drivers during our practices at home, and I knew the rules best, so the mentors decided to make my position official by making me coach. Plus our mentors feel the drive team should be entirely students.

Do you feel it increases your ranking, winning, and success in matches?
I really don't know. That involves so many factors and I really couldn't analyze them enough to know for sure.

Do you feel it enhances your team as a whole?
Definitely. Students are more comfortable talking to other students most of the time, so if one of our team members has a concern or an idea, they don't feel like they can't approach me to discuss it. Plus, the drivers feel like they can be more frank with me than they could with an adult, which really helps with communication within the drive team.

Do you feel it enhances the accuracy, precision, and speed in driving and operation?
The driving is up to the drivers. I'm there to communicate with the other teams and to plan strategy beforehand. I help them keep track of time and what mode we should be in, but any coach, student or adult, could do that.

What downsides are there?
Being a student coach has few downsides except when it comes to coaches who don't want to listen to your ideas and come up with a mutually beneficial strategy. Whether or not they mean to, some coaches automatically try to take charge when the other coach is a student. So long as the mentors are willing to work together (which the majority of adult and student coaches alike are) and the student coach is assertive enough to speak up, there should not be any problems.

Being a sophomore and having coached for two years (as anyone at Pittsburgh during the finals or awards ceremony will know, thanks to Wayne ), I think it's a great experience for the student if there is a student competent enough to handle it - or willing to become competent enough. I was really shy last year, but being thrown into the coaching position as a freshman on a rookie team was the best way I could have ever asked for to break my shyness. I'm much more outgoing and assertive now, because of coaching. However, if no students step forward, I don't see anything wrong with having an adult coach.