Trainer

Trainers
"Being a licensed Trainer is more than being a handler. You won't need to rely on lead sticks. You'll have him to translate for you. You will also be responsible for a lot more than just moving them around; you are going to be medic, teacher, coach, therapist, and matchmaker." -Johnny Constalioga, Master of Residency Training
To explain Trainers, you need to understand stables.
Racing Drivers live a lot like the race horses they are named after. They are born and start from an early age working towards the goal of driving on a team. They live the first 3-4 years of their life in a stall with their mother, and usually a twin, since Racing Drivers tend towards twins. At this point their mothers are fully responsible for them. When they are weaned, they are moved into a wing of the stable with other foals age 3/4-10/12 (depending on the stable) They live there in a dormatory, with group facilities. They eat in a mess hall and they work out in groups either in the excercise yard or in an indoor gymnasium. They go to the kart track (outdoor or indoor) and drive at least one session every day. (Racing Drivers have to drive every day.) They sometimes get free time, either in the yard or the gym, where they are heavily supervised, usually by unmatched humans FIA has hired to manage them. They aren't babysitters, they are prison guards. The handlers are responsible for moving the groups from one location to another and supervising them and making sure they do what they're supposed to be doing while they are there. There are lead sticks/catchpoles (a loop on the end of a pole usually used on vicious dogs) available in every room, and at least one of the handlers will be armed with one. If a Racing Driver is causing problems, they can be easily removed from the situation with the lead stick. If the problem escalates to punishment levels, they usually use blunt weapons (night sticks, truncheons, etc). Corporal punishment is standard practice, as long as they don't damage the livestock too badly. Each handler is armed with a taser as well. Racing Drivers are built differently than humans and a high powered taser will kill them. Handlers will use this as a last resort, because a Racing Driver is a very expensive animal. 16+ years of care, training and equipment before the stable even START to see a return on their investment.
Handlers always have Double Oh status. They are usually people who have Double Oh status but have no particular use to the FIA. People who have accidently found out about Racing Drivers are made to sign the non-disclosure contract, or else are prevented from telling in other ways. Some of those people become handlers. Some people who have family members who are involved in the automotive world become handlers. People who get Double Oh status for some job or other and then don't make it, as a caterer for a team, for example, can't be released from their Double Oh status and have to remain in FIA control. There are a lot of disgruntled people with Double Oh status, and a lot of them end up as handlers.
Granted, some of them aren't disgruntled. Some of them are just people doing a job. Like prison guards, they run the spectrum from kind to monstrous. Some handlers are very empathetic towards Racing Drivers. Some of them learn the basics of gesturingeither for good or bad reasons (no unmatched human can really learn to gesture fluently, because it relies on the telepathic component, even Racing Drivers without access to the context provided by telepathy can't understand gestures, it's not actually a functional sign language.)
Trainers are different.
For one thing, they are all matched. Being licensed as a Trainer requires years of learning. It starts out with an aptitude test that determines the match and Racing Driver's intelligence and different skill levels. Then they spend 3 years learning more about Racing Drivers than most matches ever learn. They learn about their biology, social structure, and a little of the history. They get a little rundown of how a stable works, how a team works, and what other parts of the business there are, beyond "meet your Racing Driver for testing, meet your Racing Driver at races."
The human learns more about the business aspect, things like how Racing Drivers are bought and sold, what a stable's breeding plan consists of, relevant alliances and rivalries with other stables, and what Racing Drivers do other than race. This will be the first time most matches ever knew that there are Racing Drivers doing tests for regular car manufacturers, tire manufacturers, etc, or Racing Drivers who specialize in not driving, Track Experts, Track Designers, etc. Mostly they learn how to talk to matches. What to say and how to act to keep the matches in line. To keep them happily (if possible) working towards FIA's goals (unhappily if necessary.)
The Racing Drivers, meanwhile, learn from the Trainer Racing Drivers things like how to spot talents, how to encourage Racing Drivers to do their best in certain areas and improve in others. They learn how to prevent trouble, and in severe cases, how to deal with troublemakers. Trainers learn how to control other Racing Drivers. Sometimes in violent ways. Since they are not always as strong mentally or do not have as many wins as the Racing Drivers on teams, they have to be better at other things. They learn vulnerabilties most Racing Drivers don't even know they have. They have to know how to take control of another Racing Driver's body, make them believe things they wouldn't otherwise, stop them from speaking to others. The further they progress as Trainers, the more skills they learn.
The upshot is that to become Trainers, Racing Drivers have to be among the best, and with that, almost universally, comes moral fortitude. Most Trainer Racing Drivers will do their absolute best to really help a Racing Driver before resorting to FIA's approved means. Trainers can solve a lot of problems, because they have a LOT more resources than most Racing Drivers.
A bond pair learning to be Trainers will usually be taught by a Trainer at the stable they are owned by. Most stables are big enough to have an entire group of Trainers. If they are a small stable, they might only have 1, or they might not have any Trainers who have the time/capacity to do a good job of teaching. If that is the case either a bond pair is leased to a stable which has an appropriate Trainer, or rarely one is brought in, if the bond pair needs to stay on their team.
Trainers are a FIA resource. They are taught and certified under FIA guidance, rather than any specific stable. (You don't have a University professor come to tutor you, you go where the professor works and teaches.) Like University professors, some are better than others.
After 3 years, if the bond pair has completed their apprenticeship, (entirely made of lessons and observation) they are granted a Trainer license and can begin a Residency.
This is when they learn the practical aspects of Training. They learn a lot more specifics about how stables work and the automotive world as it applies to Racing Drivers. They learn things like first aid, basic coaching, how to find a match, how to teach the things Racing Drivers need to learn that they don't learn as part of their own society, and how to help them get over simple emotional and behavioral problems.
This is when they start learning the hard lessons, and this is when FIA starts making them REALLY prove their loyalty.
This is the first time they see the matching process from each others' side. They will be directly involved in coaching(seperately) a young Racing Driver and human about how to match. They will walk the young Racing Driver from his stall to the matching room and the human new Trainer will be one of the handlers helping to hold him down while he struggles.
This is the first time the human will ever see a stud trip. They'll be in charge of bringing in either the stallion or the mare, and part of the team who makes sure they do what they're told.
This is the first time they will ever be required to punish a match who resisted the company in some way. For small offenses, this means moving the Racing Driver to a smaller team, or preventing them from rising to a higher divison. For larger offenses it means the end of their career entirely.
This is the first time they will ever be required to punish a Racing Driver who has caused problems for the stable. For small offenses this means a beating. For large offenses this means it's also their first time administering the death penalty.
This is the first time the human will ever be required to put a Racing Driver down. They will do it alone. Their own Racing Driver will absolutely know what is happening.
This is all designed to be a slippery slope. If they resist, they are put in a situation where there is no choice, and then they are made to feel like they are a part of the company, and the only way to keep on the company's good side is to do what they are told.
Once the Residency is done, they are full Trainers and can practice any aspect of basic Trainer services at any stable, track or facility. They are also given the option to specialize.
Trainer specialties are medic, teacher, coach, therapist, matchmaker, and breeder. (The quote at the beginning lacked the listing of breeder because the bond pair being spoken to had already proved to be completely unsuitable to the task.)
Medics can go as far in medicine as they have time to pursue lessons. All Trainers can perform advanced first aid, but medic Trainers can perform more complex procedures and can deal with ongoing problems. Trauma and Obstetrics are pretty much the only fields of medicine deemed relevant to medic Trainers. Occasionally one will show an aptitude for dealing with disease, but mostly Racing Drivers who come down with chronic illness are easier to put down than treat.
Teachers are mostly seen in stables, they help the resident population learn the life skills they need to get by. Teachers also share the history (as approved by the company) of racing and of the stable in particular with the Racing Drivers. They sometimes travel around to the smaller stables. They work with foals on things like self care and managing their belongings, how to fold clothes, etc. To the teens about the different things they'll need to know as Team Drivers, like signing their name and how to get around at tracks without anyone noticing that they aren't humans. They also teach driving basics. Racing Drivers have an instinct for driving, but they need to be taught the layouts of vehicles and the rules for their sport. Teachers test the foals for potential as Team Drivers.
Coaches identify a Racing Driver's strengths and weaknesses and teach them to overcome them. This is highly personal and goes beyond driving advice. It goes into things like how a Racing Driver walks differently than their match and needs to adjust to make them more seamless. A coach will usually be the one who identifies that a certain Racing Driver needs very dark sunglasses because their eyes are light sensitive, or that they should always get into the car from the left. They also help Racing Drivers understand their mechanics and crew. A coach is usually the one who chooses a Racing Driver's physio. They know what to look for to find someone who will be the best fit for the Racing Driver's needs.
Therapists don't usually specialize in therapy like human therapists do. Racing Drivers pretty much have one problem- they live in constant fear. Therapists learn to get to the bottom of what the Racing Driver is afraid of and to curtail any negative effects. They teach them to solve their problems or to cope with them better. If they can't help them cope, they teach them to learn to ignore it. Racing Drivers can't get away from their problems, so they need to learn how to not be as negatively affected.
Matchmakers specialize in matching. The human matches go through months of intensive lessons learning to gesture and take care of their Racing Drivers, before they ever even meet them. Matchmakers teach these classes. Once the new bond pairs have matched, the Matchmakers teach them how to understand each other and work as a team. They also travel around to the lower racing divisions doing things to encourage potential matches to be open minded to the offer of matching that will come later on.
Breeders can be considered a subset of the Medic specialty. No trauma treatments, but they learn obstetrics and the same therapy techniques as the Therapy Trainers. They research bloodlines, keep records of breedings and pedigrees, they broker deals between stables (sometimes even stables that are not their own.) They arrange breeding trips for Team Drivers and make sure the unmatched breeding population don't get too unhappy. They determine which stallions and mares are suitible breeding partners, and they, along with the Teacher Trainers, test and assess the foals. While the teachers test for abilility to drive, the Breeders test for suitibility for breeding, until matching age, these two tests are the same, but after a Racing Driver is old enough to breed, it becomes a matter of whether they are producing offspring with desireable traits.
Once a specialty has been chosen (this is more heavily dependent on what the Racing Driver is good at) the bond pair spend years honing their skills in a sort of self directed learning program. They seek out Trainers from their specialty and others and learn the skills they think will advance their abilities. Since Trainers are FIA agents, they are not required to only use their services for the stable that holds their contract. A Trainer whose contract is owned by Ferrari (Kimi Raikkonen) can contact another stable and offer his services in his specialty, for a price he negotiates. A certain amount of the fee is sent to FIA and another portion to the stable that owns his contract. He is required to first fulfill his obligation to the stable that holds his contract before his own personal Training contracts. Since the home stable portion of the fee is automatically discounted for contracts with his own stable, and stables like to keep control of their assets, most of the work a Trainer does will be for their home stable. Some specialties are more likely to be mobile, and their home stable fees tend to be a lot lower, since it would be silly for a stable to pay to keep around someone whose services are only needed once or twice a year, when they could be travelling around bringing in money through outside contracts.
A Trainer's license (class 1, as earned at the beginning of Residency) entitles the Trainer to stable 1 Racing Driver at their home, if it can be certified as a stabling facility (meaning a Racing Driver can live their without the neighbors noticing, even if there are unexpected visitors, service people, etc, and the Racing Driver is in no danger of being spotted by the paparazzi, or escaping. -FIA gets extremely pissed if your Racing Driver takes off-)
Since most Trainers are in or just beyond their rookie years and don't have the financial resources to build a fortress in the middle of nowhere, most Racing Drivers don't get to live with their match, even if they are Trainers. They have choicer accomodations at the stables, though, since Trainers don't live with the general population of the stable.
A Trainer's license (class 2 as earned at the beginning of Fellowship) automatically gains the option to be upgraded to entitle 3 stabled Racing Drivers, if the stabling facility allows. Licenses can be upgraded to allow as many Racing Drivers as a facility can be certified for, and any stabling facility over a certain population requires a handler to be present at all times, and a Trainer for a certain percentage of the time.
A Trainer's license (class 3 as earned upon finishing Fellowship requirements) doesn't make much difference in stabling, but it does put the Trainer at quite a high rank within FIA and opens a lot of doors. The bond pair have spent years and years of their personal time proving that they are not going to object to FIA's methods, and they have earned a lot of trust, and a lot of watching. FIA will have an incredible amount of data on them by this point.
The upgrade (Master Trainer) requires a broad knowledge of how, not just one stable, but the network of stables and automobile manufacturers works. It is necessary for anyone who will be put in charge of a stable. Stable Managers and Stable Owners require this level of training.
Team Owners require a similar level of training, but training that can be accomplished without being matched or specializing.
Handlers have a similar system of ranks, but handlers will never be allowed the same level of clearance. Most handlers, in most stables don't realize Racing Drivers are telepathic. They have classes of certification based on clearance and the number of Racing Drivers they can be trusted with.
level 1 is basic Double Oh Status, it allows people to know Racing Drivers exist, but not to have any prolonged contact with them.
level 2 is advanced Double Oh Status, it allows people to interact with Racing Drivers. Crews, team members and any personnel where Racing Drivers are housed (stables, facilities, tracks) are all required to have this level of clearance.
level 3 is the handlers permit, it gives the person authority over Racing Drivers. At least 2 members of the team, in addition to the match, and the team manager have to have this status. A Racing Driver outside an access controlled stabling facility has to have 1 handler present at all times. (At tracks this almost never includes the match, because they can't be seen together. On larger teams, at least 1 mechanic/engineer plus the press officer and any personal assistant of the match.)
level 4 allows a handler to make decisions in a match's prolonged absense. Physios are required to have level 4 status, since they are responsible for the Racing Driver's health.
level 5 allows a handler to make decisions over riding the match's decision. Team managers are required to have level 5 status. This status is advanced upon only with the purchase of a facility (holding facility or track) this status allows for 2 permanent residents (for example, a track expert RD and a medic RD. Facility population can be increased with the addition of Trainers and handlers, as the facility's certification allows.)

Type

Consulting