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[gneissisnice]

Seems to me that if for some reason your B division coach CAN'T do C division, then you need to take matters into your own hands. Hold meetings at houses and such

[wyosciencenerd]

It's great that your middle school team coach will coach the high school coach, but I'm more concerned with the underlying problem: you said the C team can't hold a coach for more than one year. This sounds like the real problem. Would you care to expound a little on what's happened? It sounds like you need to fix this before you can really start to build a C team.

From what I have heard from others the only reason why the coach doesn't stay for longer than a year is just due to lack of interest. It seems to me that the reason why the get coaches is because they kids are desperate for one and someone takes pity on them. That's my best guess but I don't really have anything else other than that.

[Matthew]

Well here's my advice then:

1. Ask some of the old coaches (in a polite and non-confrontational manner, of course) what exactly made them leave, and if the students could have done anything to make the coaches stay.

2. Take what the ex-coaches told you and get together with your team before the season starts. Decide how you will address each. In some cases, (e.g. if the problem was student behaviour/maturity/commitment), the fix will be easy to identify. In other cases, you might need to get other stakeholders involved. School boards, teacher's associations and student parents might all be part of the solution.

3. Remember, nothing worth having came easy. If you really love Science Olympiad, this will take some effort- not only because you need to get dedicated coaches, but because your inherited team chemistry doesn't sound so good, and you'll need to overcome it before you get competitive again. The good news is that it sounds like you (and a few other students) really care, and that's the first big step.

Good luck.

[rocketman1555]

i know how u feel, i had to do the same transition, with the advantage that the high school coach knows what she's doing, in the end it should all be fine, and if u want to go to nationals again, just be a team leader and u'd be amazed at how ppl will follow ur example

[Mortem_Haedo]

Our division B team just started last year
We don't have a bus and have to provide our own rides.
Our coach helps us a lot with event information, sign up, etc. but doesn't know much about our science olympiad events.
We do have this awesome person who helps us out with our events (she was the one who started the Division B club) and the Division C people give us a lot of resources ^_^
We still did really well last year and this year (last year 3rd in regionals and this year 2nd) so I think that as long as you work hard, you should be fine. We do have many other teachers who are willing to supervise us after school when we want to hold more meetings or stay longer