This article originally appeared in the Spring 2023 issue of SwimSwam magazine. Subscribe here.
While artificial intelligence (AI) has made significant advancements in recent years, it is unlikely to completely replace human swim coaches any time soon. Swim coaching involves a combination of technical expertise, communication skills, and the ability to observe and analyze the performance of swimmers. While AI can help with some aspects of swim coaching, such as analyzing data and providing feedback on performance, it cannot replace the human connection and personalized coaching that a swim coach can provide.
Swim coaches not only provide technical guidance, but also provide motivation, emotional support, and help athletes develop mental toughness. AI cannot replicate the empathy and emotional intelligence needed to build a strong athlete-coach relationship. Additionally, while AI can analyze and provide feedback on performance data, it cannot observe a swimmer’s technique in person and make real-time adjustments to improve their stroke.
That being said, AI can still play a valuable role in swim coaching. For example, AI can be used to analyze video footage of swimmers to identify areas for improvement, or to track swimmers’ progress over time. It can also be used to create personalized training plans for individual athletes based on their performance data. In this way, AI can assist swim coaches in their work, but it is unlikely to replace them entirely.
Artificial intelligence can use visual inputs such as video footage to analyze stroke techniques. In fact, computer vision and machine learning techniques have been used to develop algorithms that can automatically track and analyze swimming technique.
These algorithms can detect important aspects of swimming technique such as body position, hand entry, pull, kick, and timing. They can also analyze the fluid dynamics of the water around the swimmer, which can provide insights into the efficiency of their stroke.
While these AI techniques can provide valuable information on swimming technique, they are not a substitute for a human coach. A coach can provide real-time feedback and make adjustments to a swimmer’s technique based on their observations. They can also communicate with swimmers to understand their goals, motivations, and emotional state, which can be critical in developing a training plan that is tailored to the individual.
Moreover, while AI can provide detailed analysis of a swimmer’s technique, it cannot replicate the holistic approach to coaching that a human coach can provide. Swim coaches must take into account a wide range of factors that can impact a swimmer’s performance, such as their nutrition, sleep habits, mental state, and more. AI cannot yet match the breadth and depth of knowledge that an experienced swim coach can bring to the table.
It’s difficult to predict the future with certainty, but it’s unlikely that artificial intelligence (AI) will be able to completely replace human swim coaches in the foreseeable future. While AI has made significant advancements in recent years, there are several aspects of swim coaching that are difficult to replicate with AI.
One of the most important aspects of swim coaching is the human connection and personalized coaching that a coach can provide. A good coach can understand the individual needs and goals of each swimmer, and provide tailored advice and guidance based on their specific strengths and weaknesses. They can also provide motivation, emotional support, and help athletes develop mental toughness. It is unlikely that AI will be able to replicate this kind of personalized coaching in the near future.
One of the fundamental truths of artificial intelligence is that tasks that are relatively easy for the human brain are relatively difficult for AI, and vice-versa: tasks that are relatively difficult for the human brain are relatively easy for AI.
- Empathy and emotional intelligence: A good coach must be able to understand the emotional and mental state of their athletes, and provide personalized support and motivation. This requires empathy and emotional intelligence, which are difficult to replicate with AI.
- Human connection: Building a strong athlete-coach relationship is critical in developing trust, communication, and a shared sense of purpose. This kind of human connection is difficult to replicate with AI.
- Real-time observation and adjustment: A coach must be able to observe their athletes in real time, and make adjustments to their technique and training plan based on what they see. This kind of hands-on coaching is difficult to replicate with AI, which relies on static data and cannot make real-time adjustments.
- Adaptability and creativity: Every athlete is unique, and a good coach must be able to adapt their coaching style and training plan to fit the individual needs and goals of each athlete. This requires creativity and adaptability, which are difficult to replicate with AI.
One of the greatest strengths of artificial intelligence (AI) in assisting coaches is its ability to analyze large amounts of data and provide insights that might be difficult for a human coach to uncover on their own. AI can process data from multiple sources, such as wearable sensors, video footage, and performance records, and identify patterns, trends, and correlations that can help coaches develop training plans, set goals, and make adjustments to technique and strategy.
For example, AI can analyze video footage of swimmers and provide detailed feedback on stroke technique, identifying areas for improvement in real time. It can also monitor an athlete’s performance over time, detecting changes in form, technique, and speed that may be indicative of an injury or overtraining. Additionally, AI can analyze the data from wearable sensors that track biometric data such as heart rate, stroke rate, and distance per stroke, providing insights into an athlete’s performance and identifying areas for improvement.
Overall, the strength of AI lies in its ability to process and analyze large amounts of data quickly and accurately, providing coaches with insights and information that they can use to make more informed decisions and provide more effective training to their athletes.
I believe the question is not ‘will AI replace swim coaches’ as in be on a pool deck and give instruction, but perhaps a better question is will individuals be more able to operate on their own without a training group AND a personal on deck coach IF AI is personal enough and more accurately provides the training that must be done. Perhaps the answer lies in the history of all human response to all ‘advanced technologies, so far, which suggests that humans, by and large, need humans – perhaps in the way that sophisticated dog walking AI will prob still lack… other dogs.
Certainly, as Swim coaches, we will need to adapt, same as all areas of ’work’… Read more »
Maybe AI will stop with the ongoing pictures of humans in masks.
can AI throw a kickboard?
One aspect which was not covered is set writing.
I don’t endorse this use, but if I tell an AI “write me a 5000 yard aerobic practice” it would probably spit something useful out
Answer: No.
Just stop.
I hope everyone realizes this article (online and in the magazine) was itself written by AI… 😂 😂 😂
Does AI believe that AI can replace coaches? How big is AI’s ego? Does AI’s lack of ego give it an advantage or disadvantage versus human coaches?
A machine cannot fully coach a human swimmer, although certainly some human coaches think their swimmers are machines…
AI cannot communicate the physical from a weighted environment mindset to weightless environment mindset