I would love to hear what the coaches do during the finals at atlanta. I know they couldn’t broadcast it live but maybe record it and put out a sorta documentary latter. At glr, there must have been 3 or more woodie flowers winners out on the field.
So, a question to team coaches. Would wearing a mic cramp your style? Yes, of course it would but would it be overwhelming? What if you could hear yourself first then decide to turn in tape ?
That sounds really interesting… but if I were a coach… I would be afraid of saying something on the field that I would never repeat in public… The thought of maybe being able to hear yourself first would be more relieving, but I feel that most coaches would be against the idea.
As a driver I would like to personally rehear what my coach said to drive team. I think it would be funny because we would laugh or know the exact moment he said it. Though I do agree there are some heat of the moment things that the public wouldn’t want to hear but I think it would be funny for the team to watch.
Having both been a booth coach and been an engineer behind the booth in finals, I can certainly say that such audio would be entertaining, hilarious, and R rated.
Yeah.
I don’t think what goes down on the field is quite ready for a live feed.
Some of the language from the participants can get quite salty.
Also not everyone is so glowingly polite about their assessments of their opponents on the field as they are here (if only life came with an edit button).
Yeahh…as much as I use GP out on the field there may be an occasional word that may slip out under my breath… 
It may change my style on the field being cautious of waht I say rather than paying attention to the field.
If just your team wants to hear what the coach is saying, it’s easy to rig a mic up so that it records the match. In the past, I’ve made a loose necklace through my mp3 player, then draped it over my coach’s neck. Turn on the voice recording function pre-match, then line the audio up with video taken of the match from someone else. You end up with your coach ‘narrating’ video of your match, and it is pretty cool.
Probably not ready for prime-time though. Things that get said on the field should probably stay on the field.
As a coach, i think it can be hillarious!
another thing you can do is broadcast one of the coaches simultaniously, like in the NBA games when they have a mic on one of the players or refs… ithink it can add a very entertaining aspect to the championship!
I am not sure but I think our student coach Katie has worn a wire a few times as part of the PBS Documentary. Maybe I will finally find out what goes on in the booth?
Katie is courteous, professional, and polite as a coach and as an individual.
I just worry that you’ll be able to hear me over her microphone from 30+ feet away.
If that is the case, PBS might need to show this after midnight.
Turn left! Leftleftleft! Now!
Not that much! Back to the right!
Look out behind you!
Grab that tetra – not that one, that one! Backbackback!
Argh! Drop the arm it’s going over!
No. NONONONO! Nooooooo!
At least that’s how I remember it when I coached in 2005. I think it’s better if students coach.
Our team was the subject of a documentary in 1999, and I was mic’ed as a coach when we made a run to the final match on Einstein at Epcot. We had a robot called TKO that was very, very defensive. Some highlights:
a. Paired with team 122, during a qualification match:
“holy cow… 45 seconds into the match and it’s over!.. we’ve got this one easy, boys, just sit there on the puck… way to go, 122, you guys are awe-some” (or something like that)
b. After Friday’s qualification matches, when we were seeded #8, Raul (Olivera, from 111) talked to me after our last match:
“Raul, in a raspy voice: Andy, you guys need to pick us.”
“me: that would be great… but why do you say that?”
“Raul: If you don’t pick us, we will beat you, and here is how…(proceeding to tell me the strategy that will defeat us)”
c. Quarter-final match 1, against 157 and 131:
“don’t let them on the puck… push them off… aaaaaagh… get back up! get back up! now, knock them off… that’s it! … keep pushing… aaaaaaah… they’re off!! woooooaaaah!” (or something like that)
The only part that made the documentary was c. I tried to find the video for b, but to no avail. It would be classic.
I would recommend recording what the coach says. And, yes… a good coach can keep the discussion lively and still PG-rated.
Andy B.
I think in 2004 when tech tv did the thing on the champions they had to beeps several words out.
I think it would be cool to listen what I said in some of the match this year probably not to nice.
one time this year our drive went to pick a red ball and we were blue. that was bad.
I would love to hear what other coaches say during matches. My experience has been that I’m one of the most vocal coaches around, though I don’t think that I scream or am very emphatic about things. I move around a lot and talk to all three teams, though, which seems pretty unusual.
I am planning on Mic-ing myself while in Atlanta. I’m also going to try and get interviews immediately following matches and throughout the day. It’s something that FIRSTcast has up our sleeves for Championships.
I’d also be willing to let other people borrow my setup and record themselves or get a small interview in.
“whatever happens on the field, stays on the field”
my definition of GP is “you compete like crazy ON THE FIELD, but respect the other teams OFF THE FIELD”
just liek some teams help their oponants during time outs other teams disrespect their oponiants on the field, which frankly, im fine with.
I don’t quite understand what you mean by that. Sometimes you need to work together with the opposite alliance. What if two robots get stuck together? We’ve communicated before cross-arena with an opposing team to get unstuck. Granted, it was to get us back to scoring but it was still teamwork. Yes, I try to win matches, but you don’t want to disrespect opponents…just get on their nerves an awful lot!
Those planning on recording their alliance zone conversations should get permission from the event directors first. There are rules against communication devices, and it should be made clear that this is recording, not transmitting to someone else. Also, radio communication is prohibited so as to not interfere with the field controls. You would either need to get the radio channel cleared by the technical folks, or use a self-contained recorder.
Competing like crazy on the field is not the same as disrespecting opponents on the field. At the IRI 2007 this past summer, I had the privilege of watching teams competing like crazy with each other with respect for the matches, the teams involved, and the competition, itself. It was a fierce, intense, and thrilling competition and it was filled with respect.
Disrespect isn’t anything I would like to see promoted or accepted anywhere in FIRST or in FIRST teams, on the field or off.
At the CT Regional, a group followed 5 teams around on camera for a video they were making for the new science center. My team was one of those teams. They decided to focus everything through one perspective, so they chose me as the main person on my team since I’m the team president and the drive team coach.
After following me (and the rest of the team) for Friday and half of Saturday with their cameras and microphones, they finally hooked me up to a wireless mic for alliance selections and elimination rounds. I think they took it off of me just before the finals, which they probably regretted since we were pretty energetic through the finals.
I have to say, the mic didn’t bother me; I barely noticed it. I acted like I always do while coaching. I’m sure a few silly things probably ended up on there… like our conversation before a match about if the mic was recording all the time or not. It would be interesting to listen to a tape of all the funny stuff that happened that day, and the energy as the day progressed.