Rehearsal
Great athletes inspire millions. But children don’t only watch how their heroes play. They watch how they behave too.
Year: 2026Client: International Olympic Committee (IOC)Industry: Sports / Nonprofit & Governing BodyTHE ASK
Athletes don’t choose to become role models. Success puts them there. And when millions are watching, a moment of disrespect can travel much further than the game.
How can the Olympic Movement celebrate greatness without letting poor sportsmanship become part of what the next generation learns from it?
THE TURN
Children don’t just watch athletes. They watch people they admire. And admiration turns behaviour into something worth copying.
Research* into observational learning shows that children can learn behaviour simply by watching others, while elite athletes are commonly perceived by young people as role models. (athlete role modelling)
The people we admire become our teachers long before anyone notices.
THE ANSWER
The opportunity isn’t simply to tell athletes to behave better. It is to make their invisible influence visible and make it part of what sporting greatness means.
Make influence part of what greatness means.
THE APPROACH
Instead of showing children watching their heroes, I looked for the moment when watching turns into becoming.
Children don’t just imitate in public. They rehearse in private, repeating gestures, expressions and behaviours until they start to feel like their own. So the campaign goes behind closed doors to capture those quiet moments nobody normally sees.
The idea: REHEARSAL.
Three private moments. Three behaviours learned from the sporting world. No athlete in sight.
They practice this too.
Proactive/speculative project. Not commissioned by or affiliated with the IOC.