A respectful, forward-looking call for grassroots soccer coaches and club directors in the Midwest and beyond.
There was a time when people didn't wake up to alarms. They woke up to a person. In the early 1900s, workers relied on someone like Mary Smith — a "knocker-up" — who walked through the streets before sunrise, tapping on windows with a long stick, and sometimes using a pea shooter with dried beans to reach higher floors. She was reliable. She was trusted. She was part of the system. And then the alarm clock was invented. Quietly, her role faded away. Not because she failed, but because the world around her changed.
Before anything else, this needs to be said clearly: grassroots soccer — especially across the Midwest — exists today because of dedicated coaches, volunteers, and families.
Coaches balancing teams with full-time jobs. Parents stepping in to film, organize, and communicate. Clubs operating with limited resources but strong commitment.
This system is not broken. It is working because of people.
Not suddenly. Not dramatically. But steadily.
Some clubs have already taken small steps. A parent sets up a camera on the sideline. Platforms like Trace capture the game. Players receive clips and highlights. Many clubs also rely on SportsEngine for scheduling, registration, and communication.
These are meaningful steps forward. But in most cases, they are still added on top of the same system — not fully connected into it.
AI is not here to replace the coach. It is here to reduce the invisible gaps that keep good coaches from spending enough time on the work only humans can do.
It's better connection.
In many grassroots clubs, the reality looks something like this: schedules are still adjusted manually each week, communication happens across emails, texts, and apps, game footage exists but is reviewed inconsistently, and player development is tracked mostly through memory and observation.
Not because coaches do not care. But because time is limited — and systems are fragmented.
A club can have video, scheduling software, and group messaging — and still rely on the same old coordination habits underneath. The opportunity is not just to adopt tools, but to connect them in a way that supports better coaching decisions.
A practical way to think about this is to divide club work into three buckets. This framework is adapted from Open to Work: How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI, applied here to the context of grassroots soccer.
Right now, many coaches spend most of their limited time in Bucket 1 — which means less time for Bucket 3. AI does not change what matters. It simply gives us a chance to spend more time on what matters most.
You can spend years climbing a ladder — only to realize it was leaning against the wrong wall.
In grassroots soccer, it is easy to become very good at managing schedules, handling logistics, and keeping everything running. But the real goal has always been developing players — and people. The opportunity now is not to work harder. It is to shift where we spend our energy.
In education, people talk about the "Lost Einstein" — brilliant individuals who were never fully recognized. In soccer, we may have something similar: players who had potential, but were never fully seen.
Not because of lack of effort. But because time was limited, visibility was incomplete, and decisions had to be made quickly. The quiet player. The late developer. The one who improves steadily, but not loudly.
Work from Google DeepMind, such as their TacticAI system, has shown that AI can analyze patterns in soccer — like corner kicks — and generate insights that even experienced coaches found valuable. At the professional level, this kind of analysis is already being explored.
At the grassroots level, it will not look the same — and it does not need to. But the direction is clear: tools that once only existed at the highest levels are gradually becoming more accessible. Not to replace the coach, but to support the coach who is doing everything — often with limited time and resources.
Technology alone does not fix systems. But used thoughtfully — even at a grassroots level — it can extend what coaches can see, add memory to what we observe, and support fairness and consistency.
Not replace judgment. But support it.
Seeing Players
Decision-Making
Time and Capacity
Looking Ahead
Mary Smith did not fail. The world around her changed.
Grassroots soccer is not failing.
It is evolving.
And with thoughtful steps, we can make sure that evolution supports what matters most: every player being seen.