Not everyone is a winner, and President Trump announced on Tuesday that he wants to put competition back at the forefront for American youth.
To prove this, Trump is reviving a nearly 70-year-old policy that was phased out by President Barack Obama in his second term.
‘We want to make sure our kids have the best opportunity to succeed in life.’
The commander in chief brought a number of high-profile athletes, Cabinet members, and children into the Oval Office to sign a memorandum to bring competition back to kids all across the United States.
As part of an executive order signed last July that reinstated the Presidential Fitness Test, Trump announced at the White House that he would bring back the National Physical Fitness Award as well as the Presidential Fitness Award.
According to Harvard Health, President Dwight D. Eisenhower initiated the Presidential Physical Fitness Test in 1956. It included a one-mile run, pull-ups or push-ups, sit-ups, a shuttle run, and a sit-and-reach exercise for flexibility.
The test endured in different forms all the way up until 2013, when President Obama replaced it with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program.
Gone were the awards, once listed on a government website under the President’s Challenge. The president’s award recognized students who scored at or above the 85th percentile on all five activities, while the national award went to those who scored above the 50th percentile in all five activities.
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President-elect John F. Kennedy is credited with popularizing the fitness craze in the 1960s after writing an article titled “The Soft American” for Sports Illustrated.
In his writings, Kennedy cited research he had come across that spanned 15 years, comparing the physical fitness of American children versus the fitness of children in Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. Kennedy wrote that for six tests evaluating muscular strength and flexibility, over 57% of American children failed one or more, while less than 9% of the Europeans did.
Kennedy later proposed the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, which would later establish the awards program under President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. referenced his uncle’s article at the White House on Tuesday, calling the physical fitness program “an enduring right of passage for us that everybody in my generation remembers.”
“It was a benchmark for measuring national physical fitness,” the secretary continued, adding that he hopes Americans “help each other get in shape so that we can prepare for our great future that this administration is providing for this country.”
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Also joining the president in the Oval Office were former professional athletes, including NHL player T.J. Oshie, MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard, and golfer Gary Player, as well as current pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau.
DeChambeau’s remarks were celebrated when he thanked the administration for prioritizing the physical health of American youth.
“We want to make sure our kids have the best opportunity to succeed in life. … Their physical fitness is a huge priority in helping them become better human beings,” he said.
Also in attendance were War Secretary Pete Hegseth, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, and Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
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