Adult coach?

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Karthik

When it comes to alliance selection, Team 1114 puts a huge emphasis on coaching. We are much more likely to pick a team who has a coach who has a commanding presence in the box, and has been a proven winner through out the years. We have made picks based on this rationale and have never regretted it.

It probably isn't possible for me to put enough disclaimers on this message to avoid being misunderstood, chastised and "educated" by the Robotic Masses, but I'm going to go ahead anyway.

I learned how to work with youth from the Boy Scouts, where I've been an Assistant Scoutmaster for eight years. In Boy Scouts, the adults have the job of training youth leaders, and then getting out of the way and letting them lead. The boys think it's a camping club, but the adults know that it's about helping young men (and women) learn to make ethical choices throughout their lives. Actually, that's a light paraphrase of the mission statement of the Boy Scouts of America. You will notice that there is nothing in that statement about working with adults, camping, wearing uniforms, leadership, working on new skills (rank), or personal growth. Those are the methods of Scouting. Working with adults, camping, etc. are the tools we use to achieve our aim, which is helping young people grow into mature adults.

The mission of FIRST is quite similar, although in a more narrow focus: Our mission is to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders, (...) (and to) foster well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication and leadership.. The Method is: engaging them (youth) in exciting mentor-based programs that build science, engineering and technology skills, (and) that inspire innovation. I took the mission statement from the FIRST Website and split it into goals and methods. Does this sound familiar? FIRST is Scouting with computers and motors.

The question is not whether an adult coach will be a better coach or not. That is not any part of the FIRST mission -- which, surprise, doesn't even mention robots, just like the Boy Scout mission doesn't include camping. The important question about coaching matches is, does having an adult coach inspire young people to be science and technology leaders and foster well-rounded life capabilities? My belief is that adult coaches can be inspirational to young people. I would also argue, though, that having a mentor train a youth to be an effective coach would be a better lesson on leadership and character building, and would more positively affect both the youth and the mentor.

There are a few FIRST hills I would die on, but this isn't one. (Ask me how I feel about saving blocks of seats at events for a "willing to die on a hill" issue.) Adult coaches are legal, and many teams obviously feel that having a mentor coach is a better solution than training youth for the job. Good for them. Seriously. For me, though, I plan to spend my tournament time in the stands watching the team I help build compete. I guess I'm guilty of heterodoxy, but the FIRST tent should be big enough for both Karthik and me.