Can parent be a coach of a team?

VEX IQ General Discussion VEX IQ Product Discussion
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Hi everyone,
I am a parent and my daughter is interested in robotics. She would love to go to more competition but its hard to find a coach in the area.

We have vex and lego robots at home and she is asking me to help her for competitions.

So my question is can I as parent help her and a team to prepare? As what is required from its just to buy board and game setup, and help them with the questions, i see kids are amazing all they need its just getting together…

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Definitely! As long as there are at least 2 students (see the game manual for that definition), a parent can definitely be a coach. I’m one of several parent-coaches in our (not school-affiliated) club, and I know that there are parent-coaches of private teams as well.

If you’re able to get a field & game elements and a robot kit, I think that would be pretty much what you need to get started. From there, the RECF & VEX Libraries are great resources for learning more about competitions and the hardware/software platform respectively, and this forum is a great place for asking questions and getting support from other folks.

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Anyone can be a coach, and many teams have parents as coaches! There’s a lot of information in the REC Library that can help, including this article in the “Get Started” section: https://viqc-kb.recf.org/hc/en-us/articles/9752295544087-What-Does-a-VIQRC-Coach-Do-

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In terms of helping to prepare, absoluteley! Although the way you worded the question made it seem like you would be a member of the team, ie building the robot, programming, driving. So, to be a coach, yes! But it is extremeley illegal for a parent to actually compete.

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Thanks everyone. I appriciate responses. Yes we do have vex education but this is why i was thinking to buy extention, field and game play.

In terms of help yes its completely understandable that kids have to work on it. I did prepare my kid for robocup.junior and what i learnt they dont need answers they need right questions when they stuck and they can figure out.

Agan thanks for such a response

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Must dos:

  • Provide a workspace
  • Help with registration
  • Help with coordinating travel logistics
  • Figure out which/what computer(s) are used

Should dos:

  • Coordinate with other parents for time to work (age dependent, high schoolers probably not needed)
  • Encourage a safe workspace (safe as in no sharp metal- use files and safe as in safe culture)
  • Have more then one person on a team- robotics is generally a team sport, and while some people do participate individually, teams with more than one student have more resources
  • Be enthusiastic — considering that you are posting on this forum, I assume that this is already covered

May do:

  • Provide food during meetings, preferably away from the robot (applicable for teams)
  • Not need to know a thing about engineering (although it sometimes helps)

For VEX robotics, see robotevents
For Lego robotics (FIRST Lego League) see Home Page | FIRST LEGO League

For clarification, can you share the age range your daughter is in (middle school or high school), if she is entering high school, you should look at VEX V5 for competitions, not IQ (this post is in an IQ topic) which has metal structural parts and not plastic ones.

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Thank you for your input. My daughter is grade 6 (11 years) so i think Vex IQ is good. I know about next level but that maybe end of high school

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