Organizing the Team for Competition Success

Organizing the Team for Competition Success

Have a Plan

In order to be successful in a competition, a team must have a game plan. The plan starts a few weeks prior to the competition weekend. The team must decide when they will compete. The competition window normally opens up at 10:00 Eastern time on Friday and closes at 8:00 PM Sunday evening. Teams can compete during any continuous 6 hour time block over the competition weekend. Note that the scoring system is usually shut down from midnight to 8:00 AM Eastern time.

The team needs to consider other family, CAP and school activities in determining when they will compete. The competition schedule is set well enough in advance to plan appropriately.

A few weeks prior to the competition weekend, the CyberPatriot program office will announce which operating systems will be used for the competition. In early rounds, there will be one or two images. In later rounds, there will be two or three images plus Cisco networking, forensics, and cryptology.

Based on the operating systems identified, the teams can spend the last week before the competition reviewing their checklist procedures for the specific systems involved. Many teams will get together one more time prior to a competition round to finalize the team strategy and the roles each team member will play.

Competition Venue

It is imperative that the team coach ensure a suitable competition venue. Per CyberPatriot rules, observers not authorized by the CyberPatriot Program Office, so it is best to secure a location that will not have non-team members (competitors, coach, mentor, assistants) present in the general vicinity.

Coaches should secure the location well in advance of the competition days to ensure there is no undue stress placed on the team with a last-minute venue change. Since each venue is different in regards to scheduling the use in advance, coaches should endeavor to secure the location with plenty of time to secure a backup location if the primary choice is not available. Classrooms or conference rooms generally make for the best venue but library quiet study rooms will also work well.

Download

On Monday morning before the competition, the coaches will receive an email from the CyberPatriot Program Office with download instructions for the images. The images will be received as an encrypted zip file and the file(s) should be downloaded as soon as they are made available to coaches. CyberPatriot will provide an MD5 checksum that the coach can use to verify their download was successful. Not downloading the file(s) in advance and verifying the download is a very common coach’s error and it can cost the team significant time on competition day and increase the stress on the team members.

Internet Check

If there are any questions about the Internet connection at the competition site, the week before the competition is the time to check. CyberPatriot has a test client that can be used at any time to determine if there is a firewall block to sites required by the scoring engine.

Friday StartEX

On Friday at 10:00 Eastern time, the coaches will receive the decrypt password. This is not an opportunity for the coach to check out the image before the team competes. This would be an ethical violation of the rules. Rather, the coach uses the decrypt password to extract the images for the team at the start of their competition time.

Note that only the coach receives the download and StartEX instructions. The coach is the one and only link between the team and the CyberPatriot Program Office. Neither team members nor mentors can call the CyberPatriot Program Office and request this information.

If a coach is going to be unavailable for a competition round, the coach can request that an alternate be appointed for the competition weekend. Procedures for doing so are outlined in the CyberPatriot Rules Book. It is mentioned here so no one is caught unaware if a coach is unavailable for a competition weekend.

Competition Day

The competition can last as long as six hours. New teams or teams with inexperienced cadets may choose not to compete the entire six hours. For the experienced team that is digging for the last points, however, they will want to use the entire six hours. Someone on the team should help monitor the time, because it will pass quickly if the team stays focused. Each team needs to plan their start and end time to suit their needs. Bringing in pot luck food or pizza and other snacks is recommended to keep everyone active and working hard.

Coaches' and Mentors' Roles on Competition Day

During the competition, coaches and mentors are not allowed to help, teach, or correct. The team members are on their own at that point; they can consult Internet searches but cannot ask or post questions that will be answered by people. Further rules are specified in the CyberPatriot rules book.

Competition Structure

There are three main aspects to the competition:

• Windows (workstation and server)

• Linux (most likely Ubuntu)

• Cisco (quiz and packet tracer exam)

Each team member should try to specialize in at least one of these areas. As cadets become more experienced, they should try to become an expert in one area, competent in another and be familiar with the third. Depending on the number of cadets on the team, you should strive to have coverage with at least two team members in each discipline.

Even the most inexperienced team member can have a role as co-pilot double checking the actions of the more experienced. They can gain experience performing the simpler tasks and watching the more complex tasks.