Good Morning!!
Yesterday was a LONG half a day. All the students got through it and I am PROUD of them, This isn’t easy. But they are doing it! Just wanted to recap some things.
There are competitions that are all robotics.. And there are competitions that are filled with long lasting life lessons. This one was more the latter. Still very important and worthwhile.
There are things that will improve with coaching. If students will be coachable, and use the lessons given, their successes will improve drastically. Some quick examples.:
1- Prepare for the day- Students were shocked and obsessed about not having concessions. The vast majority of them hadn’t eaten breakfast. While a parent brought stacks and water for them it became a huge ordeal that distracted them from working on skills. So the lesson here was to prepare for the day.. Get a good night’s sleep. Find Jersey the night before. Take a shower, comb hair, brush teeth and eat breakfast. This will make 90% of the struggles seem lighter.
2. Sometimes things don’t go as planned, move forward anyway. The fields were new, so the switches were tighter, maybe one skills field was built different/wrong, our teams really struggled with scoring. They had a choice.. Revisit some mechanics, or coding and try to overcome the obstacle, or give up completely or try to wait it out and see if other teams will loosen the switches with use. Most of the teams chose the last two. This resulted in low skills scores and running out of time in between matches to do skills. They hit an obstacle wall and instead of thinking of solutions.. They let the obstacle stop them. TOTALLY NORMAL RESPONSE for the most of our community. Part of what Jr. Jackets hopes to do in Robotics is to change that response. So the lesson here is :Grit. How to keep going when it seems too hard
3. Behavior Matters. There were moments in this tournament that I and other coaches were completely baffled. Between kicking the vending machine, throwing balls around, literally hanging from doorways, imbedding themselves in walls, rudeness to one another and lots and lots of drama. It seemed mass chaos was the norm for our kiddos. This was not a judged tournament thank goodness. If it had been we would have been disqualified from every award. We will continue to address the expectations for Jr. Jacket Robotics. The lesson here is more to coaches than students. We need to teach better behavior expectations and follow through with the code of conduct consequences.
4. Not knowing rules creates unintended consequences and limits you from opportunities.. We had very helpful willing students who tried to help other teams. This was AWESOME. But without understanding of the ramifications it created some issues. There are also some fantastic strategies not being used that would benefit the students if they understood the rules. Matt has asked for each student to complete the drive training test. If a student has not completed it, their next practices will be solely on this until it is completed. Here is a link. https://viqrc-kb.recf.org/hc/en-us/articles/9755047283223-VEX-IQ-Robotics-Competition-Drive-Team-Training-Course-2024-25-Rapid-Relay#unit-1-vex-iq-robotics-competition-rapid-relay-terms-and-field-setup-WqJ4o
So the lesson here is to know the rules so you can make great decisions.
5.Drama (not theater, we love theater!) gets you nowhere. Feelings matter, it’s what makes us human. Our humanity is precious. No one is asking us to really be robots. But feelings without applying reason is a recipe for drama. Drama creates discord and it divides people who are trying to find solutions together. This is really hard. It is hard for adults where misunderstandings are a regular part of life. But it is especially hard for middle school students who are learning to stand up for themselves, and be a team player all at the same time. Forgiveness is tough when it seems like another teammate’s growth is in conflict with our own. Drama is contagious and it is a powerful disruptor to cooperation. So the lesson here is, focus on what is really important and learn to discern real injury from internal fears being expressed by others. Forgive what is unintentional.. I haven’t got this down yet. I am still learning too!

I know I wrote a book. I am sorry. But what I am hoping you will all see is that there is so much these young minds are grasping, like sponges soaking it all in and they are overall succeeding. The tournament was difficult but they completed it! The practices have been ALOT they are exhausted and frustrated. They are growing and improving every day. That I hope is what you are all seeing. That these lessons are taking root and in time will show clearly that they are improving in STEM and as young humans.

This next 6 weeks we will only have practices on their assigned days. That way we can focus on one team at a time. :) And they can have some rest!
Thank you always for your support and understanding.