The USOPC’s collegiate athlete thought leader group was established to integrate feedback from current and graduated student-athletes into the collegiate partnerships department's priority areas: NCAA policy initiatives (pathway project), leadership structures (alignment project) and advocacy efforts (messaging project). The thought leaders are comprised of sport-specific collegiate national team athletes that are at different stages of their performance journey and represent a variety of schools, conferences and sports.   

 

Headshot of Jamie
Jamie Redman
Chair, AAC representative
Yale University
Rowing

 

Headshot of Alison
Alison Gibson
University of Texas
Diving

Headshot of Kathryn
Katie Holloway
CSU - Northridge
Sitting Volleyball

Headshot of Rachel
Rachel Garcia
University of California,
Los Angeles
Softball

Headshot of Ashton
Ashton Eaton
University of Oregon
Track and Field

Headshot of Hunter
Hunter Woodhall
University of Arkansas
Para Track and Field

Headshot of Sara
Sara Studebaker-Hall
Dartmouth University
Skiing

Headshot of Daria
Daria Schneider
Columbia University
Fencing

Headshot of Megan
Megan Keller
Boston College
Ice Hockey




Headshot of Sho
Sho Nakamori
Stanford University
Gymnastics
 Headshot of Haleigh
Haleigh Washington
Pennsylvania State University
Volleyball

  Headshot of Nathan Adrian
Nathan Adrian
University of California, Berkeley
Swimming		  Headshot of Tony
Tony Ramos
University of Iowa
Wrestling

The thought leaders are assembled into three subcommittees and have been charged with developing short- and long-term recommendations that will shape key projects within the collegiate partnerships department’s priority areas: pathway, messaging, and alignment.

The pathway subcommittee aims to identify and remove impediments facing athletes (current and post-grad) that are utilizing the collegiate system and competing internationally. Specifically, the group is focused on challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, including improved communication across all stakeholder audiences and collegiate training facility access.

The thought leaders are assembled into three subcommittees and have been charged with developing short- and long-term recommendations that will shape key projects within the collegiate partnerships department’s priority areas: pathway, messaging, and alignment.

Given the continued evolution of sport at the collegiate level, the messaging subcommittee focused efforts around the relaunch of the Olympians Made Here and Paralympians Made Here collegiate solidarity campaigns. The group has created new narratives for the campaign, which are focused on the value of college sports, unifying school communities and exploring why athletes play their sports.

The thought leaders are assembled into three subcommittees and have been charged with developing short- and long-term recommendations that will shape key projects within the collegiate partnerships department’s priority areas: pathway, messaging and alignment.

 The alignment subcommittee recognizes the importance of aligning stakeholders between the collegiate and Olympic/Paralympic landscapes. The group provides guidance in shaping and formalizing athlete engagement at multiple levels of sport (colleges, National Governing Bodies and USOPC).