Training Rookie Drivers

[BRAVESaj25bd8]

I was actually currently having this very same dilemma only a few days ago. I was the manipulator as a freshman, manipulator as a sophomore, and main driver last year. I was almost certain that last year was going to be it for me until I saw our results. We attended two regionals and got two silver medals. This made me wonder if perhaps I should tryout once again for the driveteam my senior year. I was on the fence about this for the entire offseason and half of this year's build season until the other day.

I realized with help from my mother that whomever picks the drivers is the one who should make the decision, not the driver. There are two main types of teams in professional sports (sorry for the analogy to sports but it really fits here). You have the teams that are rebuilding and training their young talent. Then you have the teams who go for the championship. What you have to decide is... is this a year that your team could possibly compete at a very high level or is it a year where you should think about having one of those great years in another 2 or 3 years down the line? Even though we won two silver's last year, I feel like this could be our best robot since I've been on the team. That's why I decided that I'll be trying out to be a driver. If, however, after our first competition, we see that we are in a rebuilding year, I might step down as driver for nationals (if I were the one chosen to be a driver in the first place).

It boils down to the fact that it's not the driver's decision to make which direction the team wants to go. It's up to whoever picks your drivers to decide if you have a serious chance of kicking butt like you guys did last year. Just my $0.02

By the way, congratulations on your FLR title last year. What a GREAT final round we all had. Hope to see you guys back on top this year.

-Bobby D