Leçons de Gymnastique Utilitaire

1916 — Leçons de Gymnastique Utilitaire
Librairie Payot & Cie, p. 33–34

Foundational Training as the Path to Becoming a Débrouillard:
“But what is the point of learning the elements of an exercise in which one will not have the means to improve? … That is the objection of the past. To this ‘what’s the point?’ the present time responds: to become a potential débrouillard.”

Context:

• Coubertin directly addresses and rebuts the criticism that basic athletic instruction is futile without guaranteed mastery.

• He shifts the purpose from competitive achievement to practical preparation.

• Early training builds the foundation of adaptability, readiness, and physical competence necessary to become a débrouillard.

Alphabet of Action:
“The alphabet of exercises contributing to rescue, defense, and locomotion is today the basis of the physical education of the normal adolescent.”

Context:

• Coubertin uses the metaphor of an “alphabet” to emphasize that foundational physical actions are universal and essential.

• Just as literacy enables all further learning, basic rescue, defense, and movement skills are prerequisites for effective débrouillard capability.

Disruption of Mental Habits:
“This is the great principle that is the essential foundation of utilitarian gymnastics and which, because it disrupts established mentalities and habits, has taken so long to establish itself.”

Context:

• Coubertin positions utilitarian physical education as a deliberate break from elitist, rigid, or ornamental models of athletic training.

• Preparing débrouillards requires reshaping educational values toward resilience and real world application.

Functional Purpose Beyond Mastery:
“Cycling, driving, skiing… experience alone gives mastery. Acquiring this experience is not within everyone's reach… But to benefit from improvement… one must have completed one's initial training in time.”

Context:

• Mastery is rare and often circumstance dependent, but foundational preparedness is universally achievable.

• Early physical training ensures that individuals can respond effectively even when perfect skill is unattainable, a critical principle of débrouillardise.

Key Insight:
In this text, Coubertin decisively shifts the aim of physical education from producing champions to producing débrouillards — resilient, broadly capable individuals who are prepared to navigate unpredictable challenges with practical competence and internalized readiness.