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Outside Magazine August 2001

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Better Shape Up (cont.)

RECENTLY MY daughters brought home a note from their elementary-school gym teacher informing my wife and me that they would be taking a series of physical-fitness tests called the President's Challenge during the next few weeks. I didn't know this program still existed.

The battery of tests was an outgrowth of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, a federal advisory group established by Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956 to promote the health and fitness of American children, who had scored dramatically lower on physical-fitness tests than European kids. The tests were designed to meet these criteria: They had to involve activities that were reasonably familiar and required little or no equipment; they could be administered to boys and girls, grades five through 12; they measured different components of fitness; and they allowed for easy self-testing. Some of the tests have changed in 45 years—the current five are sit-ups, a shuttle run, a measure of flexibility called a V-reach, a one-mile run, and pull-ups or push-ups—but the combination still provides a good gauge of overall physical fitness.

"The President's Challenge is primarily a motivational program," says Christine Spain, director of research, planning, and special projects for the Council. "The whole purpose of the program is to encourage students to be more physically active, to compete with themselves, and to be rewarded for their efforts."

Spain has overseen the President's Challenge since 1985. In that time it has expanded to include four levels of recognition: the Participant Award, for those who score in or below the 50th percentile; and the National Award, for those who score between the 50th and 85th percentiles; the Presidential Physical Fitness Award, for those who score in the 85th percentile or higher. The Health Award can be given to all fit students should a teacher not wish to use the other distinctions.

"Everybody gets an award," Spain explains. "As long as you've tried your hardest, you should feel good about whatever you scored."

That's not how I remember PE.

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