Improving Events as a Captain

[Anonymous15]

Hey everyone!
When an event you're doing underperforms at a competition, you have direct conrol over improving it. However, how can a captain improve weak events that he/she isn't necessarily doing? Other than encouraging those doing the event to study more or giving them materials, what else can a captain do? Would switching partners in the event help?

Every team faces weak events throughout the season; how do captains of top teams figure out how to improve weak events even if the captain doesn't actually do the event?

Thanks!

[CookiePie1]

We sorta have this issue as well with certain events. In a sense, placements are one way to quantitatively analyze performance in an event but we all know that there are so many different factors that contribute to the success or failure of an event. It's important to really look deeper into the issue and talk to the team that did that event. It might be beneficial to individually interview each teammate and try to have them be as honest as possible.

For example, if the event bombed because one of the partners didn't pull their weight, then it would be perfectly reasonable to switch out that partner.

If they both worked but didn't study very well, then the resources thing is a good place to start. Maybe they need to remake their binder or cheatsheet, or look at another practice test or two. Obviously, you can't do their work for them so it's up to them to take the initiative and work to improve. If their attitude towards the event isn't great or they don't feel like studying, then maybe it's valid to switch to a partner who will work harder.

With things such as build events, it's possible that they had a bad day or the venue wasn't optimal. Wright Stuff is kind of a good example, where if the room is bad or there are bad air currents, then it can really affect your performance.

As a captain, a big struggle is balancing being nice and being firm. I wish I could be the nice teddy bear that everyone loves but if somebody needs that little push to get them going, I guess I'd have to give it to them even if it hurts both of us.

As for dealing with weak events, I agree with you that encouragement and resources are important. But other than that, you need to let them figure it out and get them to perform the best that they can

I hope this helps, and tbh sometimes we dont even know what to do with those kinds of events. Imo there's really not much you can do besides what you mentioned. But I would definitely try to look into the situation more before switching partners.

[sciolygod12]

Hey, I've heard that there was a discord server for science olympiad captains, how could I be added?
I'm also the captain of my school's science bowl team and was interested to see how I could be added to that server too.

[jimmy-bond]

With our school, whenever there is a weak study or practice event, we either have a strong person volunteer to take it up or coerce a fast learner to try it. One of my friends studied density lab and solar systems for one weekend each and beat out the people who were currently in it. As for builds, my team has struggled to find an efficient way to plug up those holes.
Another way is to find an incentive for someone to do well. For example, our coach said that she'd give us a free drink every time we scored 90% or higher on a test. You bet that average scores went up after that announcement.

[BennyTheJett]

Have them take about 1 practice test a week to start with large incentives, then gradually increase the amount of practice tests and lessen the incentives. That's just my take.