Trump to Sign Memorandum Restoring Presidential Fitness Test Award

President Donald Trump will sign a presidential memorandum on Tuesday to restore the Presidential Fitness Test Award, the White House said. The move revives a competitive school-based fitness program phased out during the Obama administration.

Members of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition will attend the signing, along with National Fitness Foundation board members. Those include golfer Bryson DeChambeau, retired professional golfer Gary Player, Baltimore Ravens cornerback Amani Oruwariye and MLB pitcher Noah Syndergaard.

The action reintroduces performance-based benchmarks for student fitness. It echoes the Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again push.

Trump signed an executive order last year to reestablish the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition and the Presidential Fitness Test. Tuesday’s memorandum will allow the administration to restore the test and awards at all American schools, Fox News Digital has learned.

The revitalized award stresses measurable athletic performance standards. Those match earlier versions of the test, which ranked students on physical achievement, according to a copy of the National Physical Fitness Award obtained by Fox News Digital.

The original Presidential Physical Fitness Test ended during Barack Obama’s second term. It was replaced by the Presidential Youth Fitness Program under the Let’s Move initiative. Critics then said the test stressed performance and competition too much, discouraging less athletic students.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower created the President’s Council on Youth Fitness after studies found American children less physically fit than European peers. Schools started giving a fitness test under President John F. Kennedy, which launched the President’s Council on Physical Fitness.

The Obama-era Presidential Youth Fitness Program focused primarily on assessing health versus athleticism for America’s youth, according to the Let’s Move website.

Fox News Digital reached out to Obama’s office for comment.

More than 21 percent of Americans ages 2 to 19 were obese from 2021 to 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. Seven percent of American youths had severe obesity, the CDC said.

Trump will sign the memorandum in the Oval Office. An event on the South Lawn with families and children will follow to mark National Youth Sports and Fitness Month, Fox News Digital has learned.