Project Play Summit recap: Olympic reform panel explores big changes

COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO – The independent commission set up by Congress to review recent reforms and governance of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee and its affiliated National Governing Bodies of sport plans to do so with an eye toward how those organizations fit into and contribute to the larger sport ecosystem, a co-chair of the commission said at the Project Play Summit.

In a livestream session, Dionne Koller discussed the scope of the work of the Commission on the State of the U.S. Olympics and Paralympics, and the need for better sports policy. The USOPC and NGBs get their statutory authority from the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, the law that created the current U.S. Olympic system in 1978.

“We tend to make sport policy in this country in a very reactive posture, a very crisis-oriented posture,” said Koller, co-chair of the commission. “We’ve made some very important policy changes that way. But this commission is an opportunity to be proactive, and an opportunity to think big.”

The commission held its first listening session this week at the Summit, which marked the 10th anniversary of Project Play and hosted its largest crowd in program history, 625 leaders from across the eight sectors that touch the lives of children. Koller heard from representatives of national sport organizations, community recreation groups, and school sports who shared thoughts on how the USOPC and NGBs can better serve the development of youth sports.

“There’s no way to do that without looking at the original act and accounting for the fact that this is not the 1970s anymore,” Koller said. “I think it’s really important to have an understanding of history, where we’ve been, where sport was at the time, but also where we are today in sports.”

Congress created the 16-member commission as part of a bill that sought better oversight of the Olympic movement in the U.S. The “Empowering Olympic, Paralympic, and Amateur Athletes Act of 2020” came after the Larry Nassar sex-abuse scandal.

Part of the commission’s work includes an analysis of the participation in amateur athletics of women, disabled individuals and minorities. The last Congressional commission examining the role of the Olympic Movement within the larger sport ecosystem came in the mid-1970s, resulting in the Stevens Act that gave the USOPC oversight over amateur athletics in the U.S. In reality, the USOPC mainly focuses on elite athletes given that it is funded by sponsorships and media contracts.

At the Summit, the Aspen Institute shared results from a survey of NGB leaders showing that their organizations want to play a larger role in guiding the grassroots. If the federal government takes a role in improving sports policy, “we as NGBs would be welcome participants in that,” said Kathryn Carson, chair of USA Gymnastics. “There needs to be an understanding of what our role is now and how it’s being expanded. We also need to have additional resources, especially for NGBs who might only have a few people on their staff.”

Rocky Harris, USOPC Chief of Sport and NGB Services, was asked about what an ideal structure for youth sport in this country might include. He said he would “make sure every youth participant is under the umbrella of a national governing body,” noting that “I feel safe and secure sending my daughters to the (NGB) space” given that organizations directly affiliated with them are required to have coaches and staff pass background checks and get trained in SafeSport abuse prevention.

There’s work to do in bridging that gulf, based on insights shared at one breakout session that included 40 people mostly affiliated with parks and recreation departments and community-based organizations. About 80% of the participants in the room said they don’t know anything about what NGBs provide to community-based sports.

“The experience of most in our breakout session is NGBs and the USOPC are about winning medals and elite athletes whereas most community programs are about lifelong fitness and mental and physical health,” said Renata Simril, LA84 Foundation CEO. “How can there be a better alignment? Can there be a youth focus of NGBs that doesn’t compete with the elites?”

The independent commission, which faced a two-year delay getting started, will hold a public hearing Sept. 6 in Washington D.C., with plans to release its report next spring.

“We want to provide the most fair, credible and comprehensive process that’s really ever been done on sport policy in this country,” Koller said.

Credit: https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/