Baron Pierre de Coubertin recognized the tendency for human beings to become couch potatoes long before television fixated millions in their living rooms. He believed that through the rigors of training, the individual would come to appreciate and even love the physical benefits of exercise, ultimately developing the habits of mind necessary for a lifelong commitment to physical fitness.  By pushing for the integration of sport and physical training in schools on the one hand, and the establishment of the Olympic Games on the other, the Baron sought to deliver the full spectrum of opportunities for people to engage in sport at all levels.  Throughout his life, he stood firmly behind the idea that organized athletic activity would contribute to the development of a better world. Today’s quote comes from “Olympic Letter IV: Olympism as a State of Mind,” which was published in 1918.

“Neither the tendency toward effort nor the habit of eurythmy (harmonious movement) develop spontaneously in us. They require apprenticeship and training ... These virtues become part of our nature, taking root in us through practice. That is what makes organized athletic activity superior, the fact that it imposes both measure and excess on anyone engaging in it.”