11/11/07

The Greatest Adult Challenge
The greatest challenge for adults is to resist the urge to provide outside assistance to a team. All adults associated with an Odyssey of the Mind team should review the Outside Assistance Guidelines.
Volunteers
The Coastal Region of the North Carolina Odyssey of the Mind relies on adult volunteers to help make our Coastal Region tournament a success. We welcome parents, friends, relatives, co-workers or teachers. No experience necessary, we will train/teach you. It is a 'golden' opportunity to directly benefit many children in an educational program.
If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Betsy Adams or Carolyn Braly.

Coaches (Role of the Coach-From the Odyssey of the Mind Program Guide)
The most important thing for a coach to remember is that Odyssey of the Mind is an activity for students. Teams must succeed and fail on their own merits, and achievement is rated on effort, not necessarily on results. The role of a coach is to offer guidance and encouragement to team members. Coaches are to teach team members how to open their minds to new ideas, how to accept the suggestions of others, and how to evaluate potential solutions. They are not to give the team ideas or tell how to solve a problem. Responsibilities of a coach usually include recruiting, selecting and training team members.
Other responsibilities include:

• Explaining the long-term problem to the team,
• Supervising all practice sessions, conducting brainstorming sessions for long-term and spontaneous problems,
• Holding and evaluating spontaneous problem practice sessions,
• Helping the team obtain the materials and knowledge necessary to solve the long-term problem,
• Contacting your local Odyssey of the Mind organization for information,
• Registering the team for competitions,
• Accompanying the team to competitions, and 
• Representing the team if a problem occurs.

Coaches: You must read the Odyssey of the Mind Program Guide and stay up-to-date with problem clarifications.
Refer to the guide often and check clarifications on a regular basis. Be aware of the clarification cut-off date for your regional tournament. If you don't know the date you should consult your materials or contact your local coordinator or regional director.  NOTE: most mistakes made by teams are the coach's fault.


Judges play a key role in the success of the Odyssey of the Mind program
To provide the best experience possible at our tournaments we must have trained and certified judging teams. All judges are required to attend training to become certified. Please check the events page to verify the date of the Judges Training.
Judges need to study the problem and program guide prior to Judges Training and should also stay abreast of clarifications issued for their problem.
 

Parents are a vital part of Odyssey of the mind! There are many ways to help:
 

• Please volunteer as a judge. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Betsy Adams or Carolyn Braly.
• Try to make sure your child attends practice whenever possible. If your child is absent, please contact the coach after the meeting in case there are any announcements or schedule changes.
• Provide snacks.
• Help supervise the team members if asked.
• Help with Spontaneous Practice. If you would be willing to gather up the supplies for a spontaneous problem, the coaches would be eternally grateful.
• Shopping. If you happen to be making a trip to the mall, or Wal-Mart, please and see if there is anything you can get from the store.
   

On competition day:
 

• You may help the team get props in and out of the building.
• Please move your car from loading and unloading areas as quickly as possible.
• Remember that Murphy’s law is an Odyssey of the Mind condition, so a good sense of humor is a parent requirement!
• Cheer and applaud A LOT at the end of your team's competition and help get props offstage afterwards.
   

Parents, PLEASE DO NOT:
 

• Offer suggestions or ideas to your son/daughter regarding how to solve the problem.
• Help them make or create anything used in the performance.
• Help them apply make-up or fix their hair for the competition.