OUR STORY
OPEN was created with one idea in mind: provide the highest quality curriculum resources FREE to every school to provide equity of access to the entire physical education community.
The OPEN concept was born in February 2014 by Aaron Hart and Nick Kline. They originally named the project QPEN (Quality Physical Education Network). Later that year, Aaron and Kurt Stone presented and proposed QPEN as a division of US GAMES / BSN SPORTS. In that meeting, BSN SPORTS CEO Adam Blumenfeld suggested a name change – OPEN (The Online Physical Education Network). Aaron agreed to the name change and Adam agreed to make OPEN a public service of US GAMES and BSN SPORTS.
From the moment that Aaron joined the US GAMES team, they worked tirelessly to prepare for OPEN’s official launch at the SHAPE America Conference in Seattle, Washington in March 2015. In July 2014, the OPEN Development Council was formed consisting of Aaron Hart, Nick Kline, Joey Feith, Lori Dunn, Artie Kamiya, Eric Stern, Helena Baert, and Jim DeLine. This group of selfless physical educators helped shape the way that all OPEN curriculum modules would be built. With the unconditional support of BSN SPORTS, the team was able to move quickly and advance their equity of access mission in a very short amount of time.
OUR TIMELINE
Scroll through our history of events from our launch in 2015 to our current achievements.
OPEN Launches in 2015
OPEN officially launched in March at the SHAPE America Conference in Seattle, Washington. In April, 21 school districts committed to hosting OPEN Professional Development. These districts, called the OPEN 1 Million, allowed more than 1 million students to be impacted by the OPEN curriculum in less than 1 year. Aaron delivered the first OPEN Professional Development session for DC Public Schools in May. A month later, the first OPEN Trainers Conference (OTC) was held at SUNY Cortland, New York to launch the OPEN National Training Team.
IN 2016, OPEN Breaks Record
In September, OPEN set a single-day curriculum download record with 1,590 downloads. The annual OTC was held at SUNY Cortland, New York.
OPEN Breaks Single Day Record in 2017
In August, the OPEN website set a new record with 4,943 curriculum downloads in a single day. The annual OTC was held at Asheville, North Carolina.
1 Million Downloads in 2018
Varsity Brands launched the Believe In You® video series starring personalities from around the country who have overcome personal challenges to accomplish the extraordinary. In March, OPEN hosted the first IMPACT OPEN Awards show in Nashville, Tennessee. On, October 10th, at 8:42 PM, the OPEN website hit 1 million curriculum downloads since launch. The annual OTC was held at James Madison University in Virginia and Still Water, Minnesota
In 2019, OPEN Teams Up with Believe In You
The OPEN website averaged more than 2,400 downloads per day. Aaron and the OPEN Team began writing the corresponding Believe In You SEL curriculum for the video series for Varsity Brands. The annual OTC was held in Dallas, Texas.
OPEN Launches National Field Day in 2020
In March, OPEN mobilized to provide at-home physical education resources and professional development in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic lockdowns. In May, the team launched the first OPEN National Field Day featuring all online and at-home field day events. On the day that Field Day launched, the website crashed due to incredible web traffic. The event ran for two weeks with an average of 23,500 curriculum downloads per day. Over 4 million students participated from around the world. The Believe In You Student Empowerment Journals officially launched. The annual OTC was held virtually for the first time.
In 2021, Believe In You Begins Study
A team of university researchers began a pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of the new Believe In You Student Empowerment Program. Varsity Brands is committed to providing all Believe In You resources FREE, following OPEN’s Equity of Access Mission. In July, OPEN went back to in-person professional development. However, the annual OTC was held virtually again.
OPEN’s Youtube Grows in 2022
In January, OPEN transitioned back to providing in-school curriculum resources. The OPEN YouTube passed 10,000 subscribers and the OPEN website surpassed the total of 5,000 pages of FREE curriculum resources. The annual OTC was held regionally in 5 different locations around the country.
OPEN Continues to Expand in 2023
As of today, more than 140,000 educators have registered for an OPENPhysEd.org account. As a public service, US GAMES and BSN SPORTS have provided over $87 million dollars in FREE curriculum resources since OPEN’s launch in 2015. More than 77 million students have been positively impacted by this gift. This year’s OTC will be held in St. Louis, Missouri. In January, data from the 2021 Believe In You pilot study was published in the Journal Frontiers in Sport and Active Living – demonstrating its overall effectiveness.
OPEN Joins Varsity University in 2024
In January 2024, OPEN officially joins Varsity University, Varsity Brands’ educational ecosystem. Varsity University offers curriculum and resources through OPEN, Believe In You, SURGE, and Varsity Spirit. In August, OPEN launched the OPEN Certified Teaching Training course. This on-demand course enables physical education teachers to become OPEN Certified.
OPEN Celebrates 10 Years
In 2025, OPEN celebrated its 10th anniversary! Throughout the year, we launched new on-demand professional development courses, created seasonal holiday-themed modules, and introduced a redesigned website to better serve educators. We can’t wait to see what the next 10 years have in store!
MEET THE OPEN STAFF
OPEN runs off the energy and passion of the OPEN National Training Team and over 100,000 OPEN members. These teammates are tasked with harnessing that powerful energy and helping it come alive through outcomes-driven curriculum resources and a calendar full of professional development experiences. With over 100 years of combined experience as members of the physical education community, the team wakes up every day and works hard to elevate the experience for millions of students and thousands of teachers.
OPEN DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
In 2014, Aaron Hart and Kurt Stone asked 7 incredible educators and administrators to help build the blueprint for what would become the world’s first outcomes-driven, evidence-informed, FREE curriculum project. The mission was simple – equity of access for every school in the world. Each member of this team provided incredible experience, insight and passion as foundational curriculum resources were built and OPEN’s professional development experiences began to take shape.
Nearly a decade later, OPEN’s equity impact has reached over 150,000 educators and 79 million students worldwide. This incredible public service provided by US GAMES and BSN SPORTS has reached a value of more than $90 million over 9 years.
