A landmark for physical education and for athletics was the year 1880 when the Minister for Education, N. Mavrokordatos, decided to bring back the 1862 decree. Conditions were favourable at that time because training for physical education teachers had already begun. A significant development in founding school sports was the expansion of sports facilities within the framework of the secondary school system. On the one hand, gyms were founded at the secondary schools in Syros, Tripoli, Patra, Zakynthos, Messolonghi and Volos, and on the other, physical education as a lesson became compulsory for at least three hours a week.

Snapshot from a physical education lesson at the beginning of the 20^th century

A decisive factor which aided athletics in the newly formed Greek state was the development and establishment of athletics clubs and associations. The first Greek athletics club was founded in 1877 in Constantinople. It was established by prominent Greeks in Constantinople and they named it after the winged god of antiquity, Hermes. Following the Asia Minor Disaster, the activities of this club which had won many championships, came to an end. The members of Hermes brought their interest in sport with them to Thessaloniki and they became the nucleus around which the PAOK athletic club was formed.

In the capital, the first athletic club to be established was Athinaikos in 1882. The gym was on Sophocleous Street and its first president was Nikolaos Pyrgos who remained at the helm until 1886, when the club was restructured and renamed Athletikos Syllogos (Athletic Club). The activities of the club came to an end in 1903 when the land on which their gym stood was developed. Distinguished physical education teachers began their careers in the Athletic Club, while its athletes later set up the well-known Panellinios and Ethnikos Clubs.

In 1890 the Orpheus Club was established in Smyrna. It aimed to spread the fine arts, particularly music, and sport. The artistic events prevailed in the early years. The athletic activities of the club quickly developed to such an extent that in 1898 it was deemed necessary to change its name into Panionios Athletic Club which was renowned in Asia Minor until 1922 and whose activities have continued in Athens from 1923 until today.

In February 1891, on the initiative of N. Kotselopoulos - according to P. Savvides- notables in the fields of physical education and athletics in Athens formed the Panellenios Gymnastikos Syllogos (Pan-hellenic Athletic Club). Important figures of the athletic world such as Ar. Ioannides, Sot. Peppas, S. Arvanites, Sp. Athanasopoulos and I. Fokianos, who later became its president, joined the club. Two months after the club was founded, a decision was taken to organise games which successfully took place in the Kentriko Gymnasium.

Despite the success of these games, the disagreements which arose amongst the members of the Club on matters such as the venue, the method in which the Games were to be carried out and the outlay of expenditure, led in 1893 to its break up and to the foundation of a new Club, the Ethnikos Athletic Club. This new club not only acquired new members, it also acquired its own gymnasium on Kifisias Avenue.

In the summer of 1891, yet another great athletic club, Panachaikos, was set up in Patra by second lieutenant I. Kritikos of the Reserve Forces. The success of this Club was instrumental in the dissemination of classical athletics, rowing, swimming, shooting and cycling in the Peloponnese. For years, the president of this Club was the distinguished doctor Christos Koryllos.

Athletes and officials of the Athletic Club of Volos at the end of the 19^th century

The foundation of the first clubs in the capital was followed by similar efforts in provincial cities such as, Corfu, Messolonghi, Sparta, Pyrgos, Kymi and others, who also organised athletic competitions. Slowly but surely, clubs began to be founded in all areas where the Greek element dominated. In 1892, the legendary Ga-Si-O Club (an acronym for the Greek “Athletic Club - Olympos”) was founded in Lemesos, Cyprus. In 1893, the Greeks of Smyrna founded Apollo, while in the same year, both the Corfu Athletic Club and the Trekkers' Athletic Club of Piraeus, were also established.