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Kit is an AI assistant that works across a coach’s existing applications and workflows.

UW MHCID x Adobe

Designing an AI Assistant forSoccer Coaches

Timeline

Spring–Summer 2026

Role

Product Designer,

Project Manager

Team

Chandana Mekala

Madhurima Chatterjee

Madeleine Iribarren

Nivedha Shanmugam

Umi Chen

Adobe Industry Advisor

Daniel Robbins, Principal Designer

Project context

Collegiate soccer coaches make recruiting decisions across fragmented platforms, data, and communication channels. We designed an AI-assisted workspace spanning web, mobile, and watch to bring those workflows together, informed by research with Division I coaches and experts across collegiate and professional soccer.

Expert Contributors

Amphone Keovongmanysar · Columbia University

Nicole Van Dyke · University of Washington

Whitney Pitalo · University of Washington

Impact

  • Led stakeholder outreach and research across 15 coach and expert interviews
  • Owned product strategy for an AI assistant embedded in coaches’ existing workflows
  • Defined the cross-platform framework across preparation, live scouting, and roster decisions
  • Owned design and prototyping for the core AI-assisted workflow and key annotation interactions; led user feedback across all major flows

Smart Summaries

Relevant information and recommendations surface as coaches move through recruiting—adapting to what they’re doing in real time.

Problem

Coaches are making high-stakes decisions with fragmented information

Recruiting a collegiate soccer player isn’t a single workflow. Coaches move constantly between recruiting platforms, spreadsheets, email, text messages, video, calendars, and conversations with their staff, piecing together information about hundreds of prospective players.

The information they need exists, but rarely where or when they need it. Coaches rely heavily on memory and manual work to connect what they’ve seen, heard, and recorded across tools, adding friction to an already time-constrained decision-making process.

Research

We went directly to coaches to understand how decisions get made

We interviewed 6 collegiate soccer coaches and followed 3 onto the field to observe recruiting firsthand. We also consulted 9 subject matter experts across collegiate and professional soccer to understand the broader recruiting and soccer ecosystem.

These insights pointed to an opportunity: help coaches turn fragmented information into shared, actionable judgment.

I led stakeholder outreach and research coordination, participated in all but one interview, initiated and conducted field research, and helped to drive synthesis from raw findings into product direction.

  • Recruiting is messy and fragmented.

    Coaches gather and manage recruiting information across disconnected tools, leaving critical context scattered across their workflow.

  • Time is coaches’ biggest constraint.

    Coaches are constantly balancing recruiting with the day-to-day work of running and developing their team.

  • Recruiting decisions are shared.

    Staff make decisions together, but traditional lists and rankings can hide the tradeoffs they need to discuss.

Capture

Interviews & notes

Code

Dovetail

Cluster

FigJam affinity map

Synthesize

Key insights

Research workflow: Capture interviews and notes, Code in Dovetail, Cluster on a FigJam affinity map, and Synthesize key insights.
Remote user interview

Opportunity

Meet coaches where they are

Our research showed that coaches didn’t need yet another tool to manage. They already worked across a wide range of digital tools, but technical constraints and paid tiers often limited what those tools could do. Time was also their biggest constraint. They needed support that could work within the messy, fragmented reality of recruiting.

I pushed our team toward an AI assistant that could meet coaches across the tools and devices they already use, rather than asking them to adopt an entirely new workflow.

Solution

Introducing: Kit

Kit is a context-aware, agentic AI system designed around the realities of collegiate soccer recruiting.

It moves with coaches across desktop, mobile, and smart watches, helping them make sense of information before, during, and after the moments where recruiting decisions happen.

01
02
03

Prepare

Make existing information actionable.

Capture

Preserve what happens in the moment.

Decide

Make tradeoffs visible.

01

Design decision · Prepare

Let coaches show Kit, not just tell it

Coaches already manage recruiting information across spreadsheets, schedules, emails, and other tools. Rather than asking them to translate that context into a prompt, we designed Kit to work directly with the information already in front of them.

Bring in existing information

Annotate or share the spreadsheet, schedule, or data already being used.

Kit makes sense of it

Kit analyzes information across different sources and applications.

Turn it into action

Get an actionable recruiting schedule coaches can use and share with staff.

Kit's generated ECNL recruiting schedule for Wednesday, with live and upcoming games and the players to watch at each.
Share with staff

Shareable Schedule

So coaches know exactly where they need to be

02

Design decision · Capture

Save what matters in the moment

Coaches make observations while watching players live, often with little time to stop and document what they see. We designed Kit to move with them, making it easy to capture key moments without pulling attention away from the field.

Capture on the field

Capture on WatchContinue on Mobile

Quickly log key moments from a watch or phone without pulling attention away from the game.

Kit on Apple Watch: Julia Smith selected among watched players with a large Log moment button.
Smart Watch View
Kit on iPhone at Field 7: live GA Aspire vs FC Dallas score, cards for the players being watched, quick tags, and a Log moment button.
Mobile View
  • Log moments on the field
  • Stay oriented throughout the day
  • Keep key players in view
  • Log observations in the moment

Preserve and share context

Player Video Highlight ClipsShare with Staff

Connect observations to players and share them with staff so important context isn’t lost afterward.

03

Design decision · Decide

Make tradeoffs visible

Recruiting decisions aren’t made in isolation. We designed Kit to help coaching staffs compare prospects in the context of their roster, making tradeoffs easier to see and discuss together.

See the bigger picture

Player ProfileShortlistDepth Chart FitUpdate Roster

Evaluate prospects alongside roster needs, position gaps, and other constraints.

Compare what matters

Roster ViewTrade Off BoardSee Kit’s Recommendations

Surface meaningful differences between players so staff can weigh tradeoffs together.

Final Offer

Less time managing recruiting, more time coaching

Designed to be agentic around the work, not the decision, Kit gathers context, synthesizes information, surfaces recommendations, and suggests next steps. Coaches make the final call.

Making an offer with Kit

Testing & Iteration

Testing the assumptions behind Kit

We tested early concepts with coaches throughout the design process. Their feedback pushed us to simplify the experience and rethink how AI should fit into their existing workflows.

Explore iterations

Spreadsheet with Kit visualizations sidebar — filters, charts, and send to Kit flow.

  1. What we tried

    A conventional chatbot for interacting with Kit.

  2. What we learned

    Agentic interactions needed to be intentional, not added for their own sake.

  3. What we changed

    We became more deliberate about when Kit should act proactively and when coaches should remain in control.

User Feedback

Coaches saw value in meeting them where they already work

What an incredible final product you've designed! Truly impressive and a testament to your research, creativity, and hard work. I'd love to use an AI service like this help me prep for 'ECNL Phoenix.'

Participant #5

Assistant Coach, D1 Women's Soccer

Being able to manipulate a spreadsheet like that is exactly what coaches want and need.

Participant #3

Assistant Head Coach, D1 Women's Soccer

Reflections

Designing for AI meant deciding where agency belongs

Kit began as an exploration of a messy recruiting workflow and grew into a cross-platform AI system spanning desktop, mobile, and watch. The project reinforced that designing with AI isn’t just about what a system can do, but deciding what it should do, when it should take initiative, and where people should remain in control.

  • Designing for AI

    I learned to think beyond chat as the default AI interaction, exploring how context-aware and agentic experiences could support coaches throughout an existing workflow.

  • Leading through ambiguity

    I drove research, stakeholder communication, and key product decisions while helping the team turn a broad, complex problem space into a focused product direction.

  • Protecting human judgment

    We designed Kit to take on more of the work surrounding recruiting decisions without automating the decisions themselves. The coaching staff always makes the final call.

  • Room to grow

    As a prototype, Kit would need further testing across coaching staffs, recruiting contexts, and competitive levels before measuring long-term impact.

On a sunny soccer field, the project team stands with Columbia Soccer staff during field research for Kit.
At ECNL field research for Kit, waving from the sidelines near the ECNL HQ tent.
We’re grateful to the soccer community for teaching us where AI can help and where people must stay in charge. Kit was shaped in conversation with many coaches and other experts in the soccer community, thank you to everyone who made space for those conversations!