The Nautilus Team Earns Montessori Sports Certificate

On Saturday, July 19, the teaching team and all staff members at Nautilus proudly earned the Montessori Sports Certificate, officially recognized by the AMI – Association Montessori Internationale.
This milestone highlights Nautilus Montessori School’s forward-thinking approach: it is the first school in Italy to fully adopt this cutting-edge program, which integrates purposeful physical education into the Montessori planes of development.

Over the years, the principles developed by Maria Montessori have shown their strength in adapting to and enriching various aspects of a child’s growth. Among these, sport plays a key role. Within a Montessori environment, it goes far beyond movement alone — supporting a holistic, intentional, and child-led development while deepening the values that guide daily practice.
A heartfelt thanks goes to Ruben Jongkind, founder of Montessori Sports, who supported the Nautilus team throughout the training journey and was present on exam day.

Ruben Jongkind (Founder of Montessori Sports, Trainer)

Movement and sports have always been Ruben Jongkind’s passions. Starting out as a coach in 2006, he worked with several Dutch champions in athletics, triathlon and pentathlon before taking on the responsibility of coaching at the academy of Dutch Football Club Ajax Amsterdam.  Here Ruben was introduced to the Montessori philosophy through youth player Jamie Lawrence. Between 2011 and 2016, Ruben worked with Johan Cruyff and brought Montessori principles into the training environment of the academy.
 
In 2018, together with Patrick Oudejans, Ruben founded Montessori Sports with the aim of using the power of sports to improve education for all children. Ruben went on to take AMI primary training, and in 2020 Montessori Sports signed a strategic partnership with AMI, with graduates currently spread across 73 countries.  Ruben has recently initiated the Montessori Sports Charity.