The Coach in the Loop

Coaching expertise is formed in the gap between a plan and an athlete, through deciding, observing the consequence and adjusting. An AI tool that makes the planning decision closes that gap, and it does so most completely for the coaches who have least judgement to spare. This paper distinguishes chat-based tools from measurement tools, since the former draft the coach's own product in fluent prose that invites acceptance, and it maps them onto the functions of an automated system to show that the choice of plan, the function most tied to judgement, is the one most exposed. Its central framework sets out four roles AI can occupy in that decision, being reference, adviser, co-planner and substitute, with the role set by the user rather than the software and a documented tendency to drift from adviser to substitute on busy weeks. Four design principles and a staged permission scheme follow, tying permitted roles to stages of coach development and excluding the substitute role from work with young athletes. The transfer from aviation and process control is analogy, and the paper asks that it be tested.