Just to get the threads of talk going.
What do you drivers do to cool down after a match when your heart is beating out of control or does that not happen you calm drivers?
For me i sit in the crowd and have a water and chill out untill a 5 minutes before we are called and check with the other team we are with. This helps and i just want to see if you cool down or build of the past match.
If the match was really upsetting, I stay away from the crowd and let me get rid of my anger/whatever, and then come in and join the party.
But really what helps is my attitude before the match, I don’t take it so seriously. I just play the game and do my best, and play to win(no politics)(Ofcourse without hurting others).
Also, no matter how fast my heart is beating, if we caused any damage during the match, it is my first priority to go and check up with the other teams if they are doing allright.
After a match, we usually take the drive team off in a corner and go over what we did well and what went wrong, why it went right or wrong and what we can do to fix it if it was wrong. After that we’re free to go. I usually go find another corner and think some more.
Before matches, we try to get at least 2 people the drive team to go around and scout the teams we’re against/with, so they also know the robots. Then we strategize and go over the strategy and just calm ourselves by relaxing and saying everything will be ok. Generally in the que, we talk about random other stuff to keep our minds off or worrying, and then right before the match, go over the game plan 
I had an incrediable coach, hands down all I can say is he was incrediable. He drove our teams first year '97 & it was his senior year. He coached on and off for various driver teams since then, and we asked him (actually begged) to stick around for our driver team duration from '01-'03. His talents of everything from strategizing, to communications with others, to alliance selections was overal amazing - I owe large portions of my FIRST knoewledge and experiences to him.
Due to that influence… I really was able to learn every intricate part of competition, and in the process - when the driver team slowly started ‘fending’ for ourselves … stress toys became a huge part of my life, I feel sorry for all of those stress toys that have perished, or have crossed my path over the years. :o
I usually just try to assess the damage on our bot, and our opponents, and see where i can help out. Normally at some point during that, my coach or the engineers will come over and discuss strategy, problems, or anythign really. I normally just zone out after that until about 20 mins before a round, i go out and scout the opponents for the next round, and then talk to our alliance partner. And anywhere in between if i see someone i know ill talk to em, or people that i want to talk to but never have.
Just when i zone out, its kind of like meditation, i let nothing bother me whatsoever. Sometimes ill just sit in the pit, or ill just start to go walk around. At nationals i was able to find small little areas where i could be alone and just sit and think and plan my next round, and try not to get made fun of by my team, for an infinite amount of things.
Then when i go to the queue or im at the control station, i try to keep my anxiety down, and just do some small stretches of my legs, or jogging in place. And i dont really talk-i just keep to myself and zone out the crowd and my coach lol. I try not to be bothered by others voices, although i am paying attention, to what they are saying, i dont pick up any tones or side chatter. and then i just play the match out in my head, but i plan on everything going wrong.
does anyone have the feeling of your heart pumping nonstop and that driving is the best thing that has happened to you or your just that your alive and you need more. sounds like a drug.
If it’s a good match and everything went well, the whole team is very excited and congratulates one another. (This happens often, even when we end up losing the match) If the match didn’t go so well then driver talks to the operator to figure out how they could work together better (regardless of who made mistakes). After that we just check over the bot and run a few tests if we need to before taking out the battery and letting the motors cool before the next match.
With our team… during regionals, i was the back-up coach and one of the top mechicanical students, our coach would run up to the stage at UTC tell us (me, another student, and the advisors) what he thought was broken or what we need to fix, then pretty much we’d run to the pit area and most of the drive team would physically fix the robot with us, they really didn’t get a break… If the drive team had nothing to fix then the drive team and myself and a few of the other team members who had a good friendship going between us would go to the back of the arena and throw balls around or something…