That starts by helping young athletes understand their emotions and providing the tools to deal with the increasingly high-pressure environment of sport.
Harrison is a leading coach and scientist, focusing on athlete development and helping keep young athletes in their sport for longer.
"It’s the human side of helping young people through the lens of sport both to see their best in sport, but also to make sure that those skills that they’re learning are transferring into their wider lives," Harrison said.
His work takes him up and down the country but will bring him back to Dunedin next week for a keynote talk on the subject.
It will be a welcome return for Harrison, who spent six years studying at the University of Otago and is married to former Silver Ferns and Otago Rebels netballer Anna Harrison (nee Scarlett).
There were big challenges for adolescents in sport, but one of the main triggers came from youth feeling as though they could not be themselves or express themselves in their sport, he said.
That came down to the pressure, managing expectations and not feeling good.
"One of my missions is giving the game back to the kids and making sure that it is inherently joyful.
"It’s about having a conversation about where that pressure comes from and the fact that it’s arguably increased in the last decade or two and there’s a number of factors that contribute to that.
"As parents and as coaches, in the first instance we need to be aware of that to know what’s contributing to the pressure, the expectation and the demand."
Young athletes needed to be given the tools to develop self-awareness and regulate their emotions.
"We’re not very good at teaching the skills that can’t be seen.
"We’re good at the technical, and the tactical, and kids are in the gym more than they were.
"I’m on a bit of a mission to make sure that is developing earlier and we’re giving kids an opportunity just to learn those skills the same as they would in the maths classroom."
Burnout was an "emotional experience" and when youth became overwhelmed they were likely to walk away from their sports early.
Children were being put in "boxes" at a younger age and being told they needed to be part of an academy to be good at their chosen sports, Harrison said.
"We know that’s going to narrow their identity, which is at odds to adolescence — the biological need to explore and kind of figure themselves out, try lots of different things.
"Even from a talent development point of view, kids should be playing lots of sports because that gives them diversity of experience and they’re going to be better learners."
Harrison is speaking at a ticketed event at Tuhura Otago Museum at 7pm on Wednesday.
