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Technicians and associate professionals · code 3422

Sports coaches, instructors and officials

Sports coaches, instructors and officials work with amateur and professional sportspersons to enhance performance and encourage greater participation in sport, and organize and officiate in sporting events according to established rules. Tasks include - (a) identifying strengths and weaknesses of athletes or teams; (b) planning, developing and implementing training and practice sessions; (c) developing, planning and coordinating competitive schedules and programmes; (d) motivating and preparing athletes or teams for competitive events or games; (e) formulating competitive strategy, developing game plans and directing athletes and players during games or athletic events; (f) analysing and evaluating athletes’ or teams’ performances and modifying training programmes; (g) monitoring and analysing technique and performance, and determining how future improvements can be made; (h) officiating at sporting events or athletic competitions to maintain standards of play and to ensure that game rules and safety regulations are observed; (i) recording lapsed time and keeping score during events or competitions; (j) judging the performance of competitors, awarding points, imposing penalties for infractions and determining results; (k) compiling scores and other athletic records. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Referee - Ski instructor - Sports coach - Sports official - Swimming instructor Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Fitness instructor - 3423 - Horse riding instructor - 3423

A few tasks are affected, but the heart of the job isn't. It ranks 305 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • sports instructor
  • sports coach
  • sport official
  • artistic coach
  • lifeguard instructor

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

62.6
Holds up
against AI Minimal Exposure

AI could take on 37.4 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 37.4 = 62.6

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

32.1
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs

16.7
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 23.9 · hand skill 19.1 · cramped spaces 7.3 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 32.1 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 66.5, while the average is 37.4. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 66.5

    Compiling scores and other athletic records.

    Medium
  2. 50

    Developing, planning and co-ordinating competitive schedules and programmes

    Medium
  3. 44

    Monitoring and analysing technique and performance, and determining how future improvements can be made

    Low
  4. 38.5

    Planning, developing and implementing training and practice sessions

    Low
  5. 36.5

    Analysing and evaluating athletes' or teams' performances and modifying training programmes

    Low
  6. 31.5

    Identifying strengths and weaknesses of athletes or teams

    Low
  7. 30.3

    Formulating competitive strategy, developing game plans and directing athletes and players during games or athletic events

    Low
  8. 30

    Recording lapsed time and keeping score during events or competitions

    Low
  9. 29.5

    Judging the performance of competitors, awarding points, imposing penalties for infractions and determining results

    Low
  10. 29.3

    Motivating and preparing athletes or teams for competitive events or games

    Low
  11. 25.5

    Officiating at sporting events or athletic competitions to maintain standards of play and to ensure that game rules and safety regulations are observed

    Low

11 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
66
AI does it for you
34

Helping wins by 32 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 4523

Compared with similar jobs

There are 82 jobs in the “Technicians and associate professionals” group, averaging 65.4. This one is below that.