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Los Angeles Times
27 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Trump plans to revive the Presidential Fitness Test for American schoolchildren
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday plans to reestablish the Presidential Fitness Test for American schoolchildren, a program created in 1966 to help interest young people in following healthy, active lifestyles. Children had to run and perform situps, pullups or pushups and a sit-and-reach test, but the program changed in 2012 during the Obama administration to focus more on individual health than athletic feats. The president 'wants to ensure America's future generations are strong, healthy, and successful,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, and that all young Americans 'have the opportunity to emphasize healthy, active lifestyles — creating a culture of strength and excellence for years to come.' In a late afternoon ceremony at the White House, Trump intends to sign an order reestablishing the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, as well as the fitness test, to be administered by his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The council also will develop criteria for a Presidential Fitness Award. In 2012, the assessment evolved into the Youth Fitness Program, which the government said 'moved away from recognizing athletic performance to providing a barometer on student's health.' Then-first lady Michelle Obama also promoted her 'Let's Move' initiative focused on reducing childhood obesity through diet and exercise. Reinvigorating sports council and the fitness test fits with Trump's focus on athletics. The Republican president played baseball in high school and plays golf almost every weekend. Much of the domestic travel he has done this year that is not related to weekend golf games at his clubs in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia was built around attending sporting events, including the Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and UFC matches. The announcement Thursday comes as Trump readies the United States to host the 2025 Ryder Cup, 2026 FIFA World Cup games and the 2028 Summer Olympics. The Youth Fitness Test, according to a Health and Human Services Department website last updated in 2023 but still online Thursday, 'minimizes comparisons between children and instead supports students as they pursue personal fitness goals for lifelong health.' Expected to join Trump at the event are several prominent athletes, including some who have faced controversy. They include Trump friend and pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau; Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker; Swedish golfer Annika Sorenstam; WWE chief content officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque, the son-in-law of Trump's education secretary, Linda McMahon; and former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, a registered sex offender. The NFL distanced itself from comments Butker made last year during a commencement address at a Kansas college, when he said most of the women receiving degrees were probably more excited about getting married and having children than entering the workforce and that some Catholic leaders were 'pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America.' Butker also assailed Pride Month and railed against Democratic President Joe Biden's stance on abortion. Butker later formed a political action committee designed to encourage Christians to vote for what the PAC describes as 'traditional values.' Sorenstam faced backlash for accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump on Jan. 7, 2021, the day after rioters spurred by Trump's false claims about his election loss to Biden stormed the Capitol in Washington. Taylor, who has appeared on stage with Trump at campaign rallies, pleaded guilty in New York in 2011 to misdemeanor criminal charges of sexual misconduct. He was sentenced to six years of probation and ordered to register as a sex offender. Price writes for the Associated Press. AP writer John Wawrow in Buffalo, N.Y., contributed to this report.
Chicago Tribune
27 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
President Donald Trump plans to revive the Presidential Fitness Test for American schoolchildren
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Thursday plans to reestablish the Presidential Fitness Test for American schoolchildren, a program created in 1966 to help interest young people in following healthy, active lifestyles. Children had to run and perform situps, pullups or pushups and a sit-and-reach test, but the program changed in 2012 during the Obama administration to focus more on individual health than athletic feats. The president 'wants to ensure America's future generations are strong, healthy, and successful,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, and that all young Americans 'have the opportunity to emphasize healthy, active lifestyles — creating a culture of strength and excellence for years to come.' In a late afternoon ceremony at the White House, Trump intends to sign an order reestablishing the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, as well as the fitness test, to be administered by his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The council also will develop criteria for a Presidential Fitness Award. In 2012, the assessment evolved into the Youth Fitness Program, which the government said 'moved away from recognizing athletic performance to providing a barometer on student's health.' Then-first lady Michelle Obama also promoted her 'Let's Move' initiative focused on reducing childhood obesity through diet and exercise. Reinvigorating sports council and the fitness test fits with Trump's focus on athletics. The Republican president played baseball in high school and plays golf almost every weekend. Much of the domestic travel he has done this year that is not related to weekend golf games at his clubs in Florida, New Jersey and Virginia was built around attending sporting events, including the Super Bowl, Daytona 500 and UFC matches. The announcement Thursday comes as Trump readies the United States to host the 2025 Ryder Cup, 2026 FIFA World Cup games and the 2028 Summer Olympics. The Youth Fitness Test, according to a Health and Human Services Department website last updated in 2023 but still online Thursday, 'minimizes comparisons between children and instead supports students as they pursue personal fitness goals for lifelong health.' Expected to join Trump at the event are several prominent athletes, including some who have faced controversy. They include Trump friend and pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau; Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker; Swedish golfer Annika Sorenstam; WWE chief content officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque, the son-in-law of Trump's education secretary, Linda McMahon; and former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, a registered sex offender. The NFL distanced itself from comments Butker made last year during a commencement address at a Kansas college, when he said most of the women receiving degrees were probably more excited about getting married and having children than entering the workforce and that some Catholic leaders were 'pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America.' Butker also assailed Pride Month and railed against Democratic President Joe Biden's stance on abortion. Butker later formed a political action committee designed to encourage Christians to vote for what the PAC describes as 'traditional values.' Sorenstam faced backlash for accepting the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump on Jan. 7, 2021, the day after rioters spurred by Trump's false claims about his election loss to Biden stormed the Capitol in Washington. Taylor, who has appeared on stage with Trump at campaign rallies, pleaded guilty in New York in 2011 to misdemeanor criminal charges of sexual misconduct. He was sentenced to six years of probation and ordered to register as a sex offender.
NBC News
28 minutes ago
- NBC News
Trump to revive Presidential Fitness Test
The Presidential Fitness Test is coming back. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order Thursday afternoon reinstating the national fitness assessment implemented in public schools from 1956 until 2013, a White House official told NBC News. The role of administering the test will fall to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been vocal in his concern about childhood obesity and whose 'Make America Healthy Again' report in February attributed the issue, in part, to sedentary lifestyles. The White House official said Trump aims to address Americans' declining health and physical fitness, including 'crisis levels' of obesity, chronic disease, inactivity and poor nutrition. 'President Trump wants every young American to have the opportunity to emphasize healthy, active lifestyles — creating a culture of strength and excellence for years to come," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. The original Presidential Fitness Test was established under the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s and underwent several iterations in the decades to come. Students were generally asked to perform some combination of push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, running and reaching for their toes while seated. Starting in the 1960s, those with the highest fitness scores were eligible to receive a Presidential Physical Fitness Award. The Obama administration replaced the fitness test after the 2012-13 school year with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, which focused more on individual health than athletic prowess. Trump's executive order Thursday tasks the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition with developing criteria for a new Presidential Fitness Award, a White House official said. The council's chair, professional golfer Bryson DeChambeau, will be present at the signing Thursday afternoon at the White House, the official said. Several other professional athletes are also scheduled to attend, including Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker, football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor and Swedish professional golfer Annika Sorenstam.
