The problem
Outdoor sessions live and die by the weather, and the decision to cancel often comes too late to cancel the pitch hire without a charge or before parents set off. A coach running 6 outdoor sessions a week who checks forecasts each morning spends about 30 minutes a week on it, and still gets caught out about once a month.
What the AI does
ChatGPT can run a scheduled task every morning on its own. Ask it once: each day at 6am, check the forecast for your venues and session times today and in 2 days, flag heavy rain, thunder, strong wind or heat, and draft a short message to parents if a session looks at risk. It sends the result as a push notification, an email or both. Scheduled tasks are on every plan: Free runs them in flexible windows such as 'morning', and paid plans such as Go (about $9£7€8A$13C$13 a month) add exact times.
A worked example
A football and multi-sport coach in Gloucester runs 6 outdoor sessions a week on 2 hired pitches that need 48 hours' notice to cancel without charge. A ChatGPT task checks both venues every morning and looks 2 days ahead.
Before
About 30 minutes a week checking forecasts, and about 1 pitch hire a month paid for a washed-out session
After
About 10 minutes a week reading alerts, with that pitch canceled in time
What it's worth
About $101£76€90A$146C$143 a month saved, on the Free plan or about $9£7€8A$13C$13 a month on Go. That is about $48£36€43A$69C$68 of time (20 minutes a week times 4.3, about 1.4 hours, at an assumed $33£25€30A$48C$47 an hour) plus one $53£40€48A$77C$75 pitch booking a month canceled within the notice period.
How to set it up
- Write down each session: venue post code, day, start and end time.
- In ChatGPT, ask: 'Every day at 6am, check the forecast for these sessions today and in 2 days. Flag heavy rain, thunder, wind over 30 mph or temperatures over 28°C during session times. If a session is at risk, draft a two-line message to parents.'
- Open Scheduled to check the task, and choose push, email or both under Settings, Notifications.
- When it flags a session 2 days out, check the forecast yourself and decide whether to cancel the hire.
- On the day, follow your governing body's guidance on lightning and heat, whatever the forecast said.
What goes wrong
- Forecasts change. The task gives you an early warning; the call on the day is still yours, made on site.
- Free runs tasks in a flexible window rather than at an exact time, with up to 3 active tasks. Exact times need a paid plan such as Go (€8, about $9£7€8A$13C$13 a month).
- Tasks can pause when inactive or if their chat is archived or deleted. Check Scheduled once a month that it's still running.
- Don't put children's names or parents' numbers into the task. Send the message from your usual app yourself.