New Head Coach to existing team

[DBortnick]

Hey everyone,

I am taking over as head coach for Team 1850: Mechanicats out of Chicago, IL. As a bit of background: I've been a mentor for the team for the past three seasons. Before three years ago, I had no engineering or robotics experience. I am a high school mathematics teacher and the program is run out of our high school.

This year, I anticipate a few issues:
1) Getting the two new mentors (both other teachers) up to speed. Both of them have prior engineering experience but not specifically with Robots or with FIRST.
2) Me getting on top of all of the paperwork and documentation that is required.
3) Losing a large part of our engineering quick fix (yes, there is a common solution for that problem and here it is) ability when our previous head coach moved to the west coast.
4) Training a large group of new students.
5) Moving the returning students into leadership and more independent positions.

I am struggling to get together an idea of how to tackle all of these large issues before kickoff in January. We currently have weekly meetings for approximately 1-2hours each. I've spent a lot of time on ChiefDelphi looking up resources for rookie teams (wow, that thread started in 2004.) I'd appreciate any help or resources you can point me to. Are there any major pitfalls I need to avoid in taking over as head coach?

-Daniel Bortnick
ACE Technical Charter High School
Team 1850 Chicago IL

[rick.oliver]

First, congratulations and thank you for accepting the challenge to maintain the team.

I see that you are from Chicago - 111 would certainly be a great resource, excellent mentors always willing to help.

Check out 1114 resources on running a team, kit bot, strategies, etc. All excellent resources.

Mentor's guide from FRC site resources, excellent training material for your new mentors.

Make sure that you spend time this fall orienting and enrolling every member of the team. By that I mean, be clear on your team's purpose (mission, vision, whatever you call it). Get everybody on the same page and build a common understanding of your values. Clearly communicate your processes, especially how you will be making decisions. Be sure to engage your students in the process; understand what they want out of the experience and what motivates them.

The common description I hear about healthy, highly-effective teams is "partnership" between mentors and students. Define it, work it, make it happen and you will overcome any obstacles you face.

[Jon Stratis]

To help with all but issue #2, develop a project or two that the team can work on that gives them practical experience with the entire system. Build a practice robot, refurbish an old robot, enhance the capabilities of last year's robot, something of that nature. Design the project so the team gets experience with everything - mechanical, electrical, and programming. By doing so, you'll build experience for everyone, and provide leadership opportunities for your returning students. You might also run into issues that need an "engineering quick fix" while you're at it!

For issue #2, find a local team or two and start talking with their leadership about the paperwork. Beyond that, it sounds like what you really need is a "transition plan" - basically, a document that lists out everything you need to do to keep the team running, along with general due dates and where to find more information about those items. This is something critical for every team to develop, for situations just like this... So start creating one for your team now! Eventually (even if it's 50+ years from now when you're to old to continue helping out), you'll move on to other things, and you'll need to transition the leadership to someone else. Make it easy for yourself by creating and maintaining a comprehensive document of everything that goes on!

[Taylor]

As a warm-up exercise, participate in a fall off-season event. I know of two in Indianapolis - the CAGE Match (10/20) and the BPRC (11/10). Coordinating the logistics of transporting students to and from an event, while managing them at said event, can go a long way toward making yourself comfortable as a head coach and others comfortable with you at that position. Also, fall offseason events can go a long way toward inspiring those new to FRC - students and mentors alike. The 1781 Electric Eagles - another Chicago team, about 4 miles away from you - are registered for the October event.

If you haven't already, make sure you're registered as the Main Team Contact in TIMS. That way you get all official email blasts; also, keep track of the FRC blog.

[rsisk]

I don't think there is a solution for #2

Become good friends with experienced teams near you.

The longer I am in FIRST, the more I realize this is not a challenge for individual heros.

[holygrail]

First of all Congrats on the new role. It is a big, but very rewarding job. All of the other posts are excellent advice, but in the end, it all depends on how much you want to take on and the level of experience, expertise, and resources your team has.

I was in almost the exact same situation last year...New coach with a young inexperienced team. Thankfully the previous coach had done a great job helping me get set up for success. My advice, set reachable and attainable goals as a team. Don't bite off more than you can effectively organize and plan for, and do those things well. Delegate the stuff that you can to others. As for the paperwork, just get a good calendar and make sure to read the email blasts. It isn't as bad as you think.

I have a bunch of documents, tips and tricks I leaned the hard way last year that I would be happy to send your way. Just pm me.

[AlecMataloni]

Congrats on the new position!
I'd love to send you a wall of text but i'm away from wifi right now. A few things:

Rick mentioned team 1114's resources. If you haven't already looked at 1114's website, please head there. They have loads of helpful information. If you haven't watched Karthik's Effective FIRST strategies presentation, it's on there too. If anything, it will teach you the importance of setting team goals. I highly recommend it.

Also, I can get you in contact with a few of our adult mentors if you'd like. Just PM me.

[MysterE]

Hi,

Being a coach is a hard but fulfilling job. Someone on this board recommended a book to me that I'd like to recommend to you. Read "Tribal Leadership". It is pretty amazing and offers some great insights at how to run an organization such as an FRC team. You can find a free audio version here: http://about.zappos.com/tribal and a TED video from one of the authors: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/dav...eadership.html

Good luck - the rewards are more than worth the effort.

[DBortnick]

I've got a lot of work to do looking at the websites and different resources available online. I will probably be pming some of you with individual questions about the things you posted if they arise.

Thanks for all the feedback!

[uboat]

A couple of great resources that helped me out when I first got started are
- NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization). http://www.firstnemo.org/
- Team 365's MOEmentum. http://moe365.org/moementum/moementum.php

I mentor team 1781 at Lindblom Math and Science Academy which is not far from you. I'd be more that happy to provide any assistance. Also as Taylor mentioned earlier we are attending the CAGE match in Indy on 10/20.

[Chi Meson]

Need Parents Help

repeat

Need Parents Help

Insist on meeting the parents of each member; tell them what to expect in terms of time, fees, dedication, etc. Get as much help as possible from parents in carpools, food, arrangements and (big time) sponsorships or corporate-matched personal donations.