Stress

[Keith Chester]

As drive coach, first thing I do in the match queue is make sure that my drivers and alliance partners (and even our human players, which is odd considering that we rarely use them) know exactly what we're going to do, or PLAN to do. Then we all quiet down and watch the match before us. That's all. I don't think it's because we're stressed, but it's more of a "playing the game in our heads" type thing.

Yea, it's stressful and hot under the lights on the field. Especially during the finals. But when you think about it as, "Man, am I proud to be here," and "Man, no matter what happens, this should be a cool match," stress tends to fade away.

It also helps to have a pair of excellent drivers you can be confident in- I've seen these drivers operate, and I know that no matter what tragedy could possibly befall us on the field, they can react excellently to these situations, even better with a bit of guidance from me.

As a side note to fellow drive coaches- I tend to not get stressed DURING a match because I'm too busy trying to take the Field in as a whole to try and see everything and impart that information to my drivers.

In the end, always remember - you should not be stressed, for you have already succeeded! You have built a robot in six weeks in your high school years. If that's not a story to tell the grandchildren as these six year olds watch FIRST on TV, rolling their eyes and mentioning something about you roaming with dinosaurs, I don't know what is.

P.S. - Don't eat spicy food before a match, or a marathon of matches like eliminations. It never ends well. Trust me.