Rocky Harris
The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee occupies a unique place in the national and global landscape. The U.S. is one of the few countries in world without a ministry of sports or some government body to guide and fund sport development. Here, the closest entity to that is the USOPC, a private, non-profit organization that since passage of the 1978 Amateur Sports Act has been asked to “establish national goals for amateur athletic activities” and “encourage physical fitness and public participation” in sports, plus represent the nation in Olympic matters.
It's an unfunded mandate that the USOPC recognizes it cannot take on alone, so it’s been a key member of Project Play since the launch of the initiative in 2013. Over the years, the organization has made important contributions – encouraging its affiliated National Governing Bodies (NGBs) to produce frameworks on developmentally appropriate play, promoting sport sampling, partnering with Nike to create a free website to train coaches, and being the first of more than 150 leading organizations to endorse the Children’s Bill of Rights in Sports.
During that time, the USOPC also has faced great scrutiny around athlete abuse issues, most notably those involving gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. As a result, new leadership has been installed at the top of the USOPC to drive the organization forward. The organization enacted fundamental changes to athlete safety protocols, undertook significant governance reform to elevate and increase athlete representation, and mandated abuse prevention training for all participants. And, signed into law in 2020, the Empowering Olympic, Paralympic and Amateur Athletes Act added additional oversight, requiring the USOPC and NGBs to build on their initial investment in the U.S. Center for SafeSport by increasing collective funding to $20 million a year, while also establishing a commission to produce a report evaluating, among other items, the function of NGBs.
Among the fresh faces: Rocky Harris, hired last year as Chief of Sport and Athlete Services. Formerly the CEO of USA Triathlon, he bears responsibility for NGB services, Olympic and Paralympic sport performance, and college partnerships, along with creating programs to improve and support the mental and physical health of Team USA athletes. He digs in at a time of disruption in the sport ecosystem, when the future shape of NCAA, high school athletics and recreational sports is uncertain — shaken by the pandemic and shifts in the media and legal landscape.
Tom Farrey, the executive director of Aspen’s Sports & Society Program, recently interviewed Harris about the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the USOPC, a member of the Project Play 2024 roundtable of leading organizations in sports and hosting sponsor of the upcoming Project Play Summit (May 17-18 in Colorado Springs). Below are excerpts, edited for brevity.
Tom: Welcome, Rocky. What was your sports experience as a child and how did it develop you as a person?
Rocky: My dad was a coach, so I watched more game film than sitcoms. Sport was embedded in every part of my life, and I played everything from wrestling to football to soccer, basketball, all the typical American sports. But I also ran track and later I decided to be an age-group triathlete. Sport gave me confidence and showed me how to be a leader, a teammate, and a problem-solver, and those are skills I use today in my current role.
Tom: How do we build a modern sport system that meets the needs of young people?
Rocky: The challenges are immense in sport right now. But I want to focus on the opportunities, because sport going through this massive transformation is incredibly good. I really feel like this is the time where we must put all the cards on the table and focus on the entire ecosystem, not just college athletics and not just the Olympic and Paralympic Movement (and its 17 million members). Let’s look at the entire journey that an athlete goes through from the time they start sports when it's supposed to be fun and enjoyable and about learning life skills, all the way up to what tools are needed to be successful and feel supported as an elite athlete.
We have a great opportunity right now to rethink sport in America. What's the right structure for it? What are the right support systems? And then what role do we play at the USOPC to facilitate that? So more people are playing sport, and communities are healthier.
Tom: What is the USOPC’s role?
Rocky: It starts with setting a really high standard for Team USA, making sure the entire journey from the time you become a Team USA athlete until you retire is a positive one. That sets a standard for sport at the highest level. It also frees up the NGBs to focus on the growth of sport and the development of athletes. Our role is to facilitate, support, and share best practices across the NGBs and help them develop what we think is a positive experience for youth. And we want to make sure they're doing it.
Tom: You’re talking about American Development Model, right? Will you modify the annual high-performance plans that every NGB submits (to add reporting on ADM success)?
Rocky: We're working within the high-performance plans. We're adding a section this year on putting your pathway plan together, including the NCAA pathway. We want to understand what the pathway is for athletes (in each sport). And yes, that does start with the American Development Model.
Tom: The USOPC distributes money to NGBs based on the quality of their plans. Will there now be incentives in place for NGBs to do a good job with the pathway piece?
Rocky: We wouldn't invest a lot in the entry part as the NGBs are focused on developing a positive youth experience in their respective sports to attract and retain youth. Where we're really investing is helping the NGBs think through that pathway and make it very clear. And then we would invest in target areas within the pathway that we feel will have the highest impact on Team USA.
Tom: We work with a lot of grassroots organizations. Many don’t understand how the USOPC and NGBs can help them find success at the community level. What do you say to them?
Rocky: We need to do a better job of educating the youth sport community on the value of aligning with NGBs. The NGBs are there to help support the athletes and grow the sport at every level.
When I was at USA Triathlon, we had a lot of success collaborating with grassroots programs. When we learned what their needs were, and they understood why we existed, we could collaborate. That's the way to grow a sport, on the ground in communities. Local grassroots programs are absolutely integral to the long-term success of a sport. When programs aren’t integrated from the grassroots level to the national level, it’s a disservice to the athletes and the sport. So, my recommendation to any grassroots organization is to reach out to the NGBs. Try to work with them, align with them, because we really see the NGBs setting the standard for sport excellence in the US (via mandatory background checks and abuse prevention training).
Tom: What do NGBs need to serve the grassroots more effectively? Is it money? More regulation or oversight of entities that don’t adhere to the standards of NGBs, like the AAU?
Rocky: Open discussions. Learn from each other. When it comes to the private sport groups that are quite frankly living in in the past, they're going to have to change at some point if they're not living up to the standards that have been set in America — whether that’s SafeSport, (the strategic frameworks of) Project Play, the American Development Model, or just, you know, educating parents and coaches about how to have a fun, fair, safe environment.
Right now, the (for-profit sport provider industry) is generating a lot of money off the backs of kids and the parents. But in the future, they're going to have to live up to the standards we're already setting. So, what I would say to them is get in the game now, because if not, it's going to be forced upon you and it's going to totally change your business model. Align with the NGBs and stop seeing them as competition because they're not. They actually want to protect and support the sport and make sure more kids don’t get pushed out by for-profit groups that are not in it for the right reasons.
Tom: The Olympics and Paralympics come to Los Angeles in 2028. Why are these events an opportunity to drive progress?
Rocky: What we see with 2028, and quite frankly the future Salt Lake Games (in 2030 or 2034), is this point in time where we can have all of America focused on the diversity of sports that the Olympic and Paralympic movement provides. We need to leverage that and create a legacy for sport, not only in Southern California but across America. We see this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use the LA28 games to celebrate sport and redefine what that sport experience is for athletes at every step of the pathway.
We need everybody associated with sport to contribute, from commercial partners to the grassroots. Parents, coaches, the school system, every entity that touches sport in any way, we all need to play a part in improving it. It can't only be the USOPC and NGBs defining the future of sport in America for all levels of sport. We all need to come together and play our part.
We're at a place right now where things are broken. But I'm seeing the Olympic and Paralympic movement further along in reforming sports that we oversee than the rest of the sports industry, and we are coming together like never before. With change comes opportunity. We have that, and (the Project Play Summit in Colorado Springs) is a great place for us to start that discussion. How do we want to build this? And what part do we all play in building the future of sport in America?
Tom: How do you think Project Play can help?
Rocky: Project Play can play a central role in driving the progress. There's already the credibility of its research, and it's been applied practically. Now what Project Play can do is bring the sport community together to start having these really open and honest discussions about what we all need to do to improve youth sport in America. I see it as a facilitator, then for us come out with some collaborative opportunities to work together. This is the perfect time. We've gone through a lot over the last three or four years, especially with the pandemic. How do we keep kids active and in sports? We need to have these discussions at every level.
Tom: Thank you, Rocky. Look forward to seeing you in May.
The Project Play Summit (May 17-18 in Colorado Springs) has sold out. Add your name to the wait list here. Some tickets may become available closer to the event.