Jacques De Rette before the “Republic of Sport” (1958–1962), a breeding ground of promises

Jacques de Rette is best known for having implemented and spread nationwide the organization of physical education (PE) as a “Republic of Sport,” an experiment conducted in Calais in the mid-1960s. Our goal is not to analyze this concept, but to explore de Rette’s previous, little-known publications so as to shed light on the ideas he had and experiments he conducted that enabled him to go beyond the principles of the PE of his time. Indeed, he adopted the position of a teacher, which made him very close to today’s educational recommendations. His first writings developed an approach toward the discipline and students that was quite new in the mid-1950s. To enrich his ideas, he proposed discussing this approach with colleagues via mimeographed publications and the journals EPS and Hyper. While these ideas are still relevant today in the Republic of Sport, they have become secondary to the sportsperson and to the organization of the class. However, de Rette was a real “pioneer” as his propositions were so ahead of his time and groundbreaking in the 1950s, when the theories of the time mainly focused on the practice of physical exercise.