The President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition (PCSFN) is an American government organization that aims to "promote, encourage and motivate Americans of all ages to become

physically active Exercise is a Human body, body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone ...

and participate in sports". It is part of the Office of Public Health and Science, an agency of the

United States Department of Health and Human Services The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is ...

. Prior to June 2010, it was called the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. The Council's work is informed by a Science Board, composed primarily of academic researchers and scholars. The first Science Board was appointed during the George W. Bush administration in 2003 with Charles B. "Chuck" Corbin, Ph.D., Arizona State University, serving as its inaugural Chair. In 2016, Dr. Corbin received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the PCSFN. The Science Board was active for several years, but eventually went dormant. It was reinstated on June 21, 2019, with strong urging from organizations such as the National Academy of Kinesiology. A newly formed Science Board was announced on January 22, 2020, with Bradley J. Cardinal, Ph.D., Oregon State University, appointed as Chair. During their 2 year term, the Science Board established the scientific basis of the National Youth Sports Strategy, including a wide variety of evidence-based documents and reports.

History

During the 1940s, the

American Medical Association The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016. The AMA's sta ...

and the

National Committee on Physical Fitness National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

had a joint committee encouraging physical fitness. The President's Council on Youth Fitness was founded on July 16, 1956, to encourage American children. In 1963, President Kennedy changed the council's name to President's Council on Physical Fitness to reflect its role to serve all Americans. In 1966, President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

created the Presidential Physical Fitness Award, the name of which was later changed to President's Challenge Youth Physical Fitness Awards Program. In 1968, the council's name was changed to President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to emphasize the importance of sports in life. In 1972, the Presidential Sports Award Program was created. In 1983, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

declared May as National Physical Fitness and Sports Month. In 1996, the Surgeon General's Report on Physical Activity and Health was released. In 1997, the Council released its report on Physical Activity and Sport in the Lives of Boys. In June 2010, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

renamed the agency the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, with a new emphasis on nutrition as an element of fitness. First Lady Michelle Obama announced the new commission's goal "to end the epidemic of childhood obesity in a generation" and also announced that the president had named, as the new co-chairs of the council,

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

quarterback

Drew Brees Drew Christopher Brees (; born January 15, 1979) is an American former American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons. A member of the New Orleans Saints for most of his career, Brees i ...

and former Olympic gymnast

Dominique Dawes Dominique Margaux Dawes (born November 20, 1976) is a retired American artistic gymnast. Known in the gymnastics community as 'Awesome Dawesome', she was a 10-year member of the U.S. national gymnastics team, the 1994 U.S. all-around senior Nati ...

. On January 11, 2012, operators of the website for participants of the Challenge and Active Lifestyle programs learned that the site had been hacked, resulting in the release of personal information of the participants. The President's Challenge site displayed a notice that it was down for "Site Maintenance – We're taking a little breather." On January 20, 2012, the site was modified to explain the hacking. On January 27, 2012, The President's Challenge sent out emails to its participants saying that the website was functional as of January 24, 2012, and asked participants to reset their user passwords.

Past chairpersons

* Bud Wilkinson (chairman) 1961–1963 * Stan Musial Consultant 1964–1967 *

Jim Lovell James Arthur Lovell Jr. (; born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of th ...

(chairman) 1969–1977 *

Jerry Apodaca Jerry Apodaca (born October 3, 1934) is an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as the 24th governor of New Mexico from 1975 to 1979 and chair of the president’s council on physical fitness and sports from 1978 to 1980. Pers ...

(chairman) 1978–1980 *

George Allen George Allen may refer to: Politics and law * George E. Allen (1896–1973), American political operative and one-time head coach of the Cumberland University football team * George Allen (Australian politician) (1800–1877), Mayor of Sydney and ...

(chairman) 1981–1988 *

Dick Kazmaier Richard William Kazmaier Jr. (November 23, 1930 – August 1, 2013) was an American businessman and naval lieutenant. He played college football at Princeton University from 1949 through 1951 and was the winner of the 1951 Heisman Trophy, Maxwell ...

(chairman) 1988–1989 * Arnold Schwarzenegger (chairman) 1990–1993 *

Florence Griffith Joyner Florence Delorez Griffith Joyner (born Florence Delorez Griffith; December 21, 1959 – September 21, 1998), also known as Flo-Jo, was an American track and field athlete. She set world records in 1988 for the 100 m and 200 m. During the late ...

(co-chair) 1993–1998 *

Tom McMillen Charles Thomas McMillen (born May 26, 1952) is an American politician, businessman, and retired professional basketball player. A Rhodes Scholar, McMillen represented Maryland's 4th congressional district from January 3, 1987 to January 3, 199 ...

(co-chair) 1993–1997 *

Lee Haney Lee Haney (born November 11, 1959) is an American former IFBB professional bodybuilder. Haney shares the all-time record for most Mr. Olympia titles at eight with Ronnie Coleman and is regarded as one of the greatest bodybuilders to ever grace th ...

(chairman) 1999-2002 *

Lynn Swann Lynn Curtis Swann (born March 7, 1952) is an American former football player, broadcaster, politician, and athletic director, best known for his association with the University of Southern California and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He served on the ...

(chairman) 2002–2005 *

Denise Austin Denise Austin (née Katnich; born February 13, 1957) is an American fitness instructor, author, and columnist, and a former member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. Early life Austin was born in San Pedro, Los Angeles, ...

2002–2009 *

(co-chair) 2010 *

Lou Ferrigno Louis Jude Ferrigno Sr. (; born November 9, 1951) is an American actor and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles; and appeared in the documenta ...

2018 *

Misty May-Treanor Misty Elizabeth May-Treanor (; née May; born July 30, 1977) is a retired American professional beach volleyball player. She is a three-time Olympic gold medalist, and , was the most successful female beach volleyball player having won 112 tour ...

(co-chair) 2019 *

Mariano Rivera Mariano Rivera (born November 29, 1969) is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013. Nicknamed "Mo" and "Sandman", he spent most ...

(co-chair) 2019 * Herschel Walker (co-chair) 2019

Awards

The Council publishes guidelines for awards that are given out. They are the Presidential Physical Fitness Award, the National Physical Fitness Award, and the Participant Physical Fitness Award. However, it has been announced that the Physical Fitness Test on which these awards are based will no longer be available after the 2012–2013 school year. Additionally, there is the Active Lifestyle Award for staying active and the Presidential Champions Award for raising one's amount of activity. The Champions awards ended on 30 June 2018. There is also a Community Leadership Award that is given out annually to 50 people or organizations for encouraging physical activity, fitness, and nutrition.

Standardized tests

The award was given to students who achieved the top fifteenth percentile cumulative scores across these events and were based on age/gender and were taken by all participants. Pull ups/flexed-arm hang was based on gender and was the only event where one was done by boys and the other by girls: * 50-yard dash * 600-yard run * Standing broad jump *

Pull-ups {{unreferenced, date=March 2017 Pull-Ups is a brand of disposable training pants made under the Huggies brand of baby products. The product was first introduced in 1989 and became popular with the phrase "I'm a big kid now!" which is the product's ...

(boys) * Flexed-arm hang (girls) *

Sit-up The sit-up (or curl-up) is an abdominal endurance training exercise to strengthen, tighten and tone the abdominal muscles. It is similar to a crunch (crunches target the rectus abdominis and also work the external and internal obliques), but s ...

s * Shuttle run * Sit and reach

References

External links