As he led the campaign to integrate sports into the French education system in the 1880s, Baron Pierre de Coubertin continually emphasized the benefits of exercise for all children.  He also cautioned against the wrong kinds of teaching methods and the damage that could be done if children were ridiculed as they played the games offered.  This passage is drawn from Coubertin’s second book, English Education in France, which was published in 1889.  Almost 130 years later, his insights still ring true on how easy it is to drive children away from sport.

“Children, young and old alike, need to be encouraged to become involved in exercise. One must also exercise great caution, because children are discouraged by inappropriate jests, harsh words, and failure to succeed for reasons that they cannot perceive; they go astray. If children do not have a certain degree of spontaneity or taste for exercise, in other words if they are forced, they will surely have bad memories of the experience, a feeling of rancor and a dislike for the very sport that one would like them to enjoy.”