Barefoot in Gym/PE?

Thanks for your reply. At my school in the UK in the 1970s and 1980s, we were able to choose seemingly whether we wore footwear or not in indoor PE lessons. Quite a few in my class didn't seem to either have inside footwear or just kept what they had for if we had an outdoor lesson. I did have plimsolls, but my best friend only had outdoor footwear. I used to wear plimsolls for everything except gym work which was mandatory bare feet. My friend went barefoot for everything.

I began to notice how he seemed to enjoyed his PE more than me, ready for the lesson much quicker than I was, sat changed whilst I was tying laces. He and others in my class seemed to be a lot more nimble footed than me. I began to ask what it was like. He was very encouraging, and tried to get me to shed my shoes and socks. After a short while, I did and loved it.

Going barefoot had nothing to do with the floor. Through school, it was either a multi purpose school hall or a school sports hall. Quite often it would be dusty, meaning we would often end up with black feet at the end of PE. Interesting you mention squash, one of my favourite activities was badminton which I loved doing in my bare feet.

 

I began going barefoot when I was 13 or so, but until high school, wore sneakers in gym class, because everyone else did. In high school, I did volleyball barefoot, and when I saw some of the other guys doing softball in bare feet, I took that as my cue to, as well. We had another class that involved games like chess, etc. And for some reason, it was in the PE dept. I figured what the hell and went barefoot in that one, too.

 

I remember not wearing pumps! In school around the same time.. but my own children had to wear them.. seems we left an epidemic of varukas for them... lol

 

Did they start off not wearing their pumps and were then asked to put them back on? I don't remember suffering too much from verruca's, how about you?

 

I’m 20 so when I was in school not too long ago the only sport where bare feet were required was gymnastics in the older school gym. This gym had the old wooden floors but with a sort of shiny film over it that held on to a lot of dirt, so while it wasn’t so dirty that everyone’s soles turned black, everyone did finish each gym lesson with the soles of their feet a fairly dark grey colour haha

My school also had the rule where if you forget your P.E. trainers then you would have to do whatever the sport was barefoot (only if it was an indoor sport though). They didn’t allow you to wear just socks as they said it was easier for you to slip than with bare feet.
All the rest of the indoor sports we did required shoes and socks and were in the newer gym (which didn’t really get your soles dirty at all) but if you happened to be one of the people that forgot your shoes and had to do the lesson barefoot then you would have to walk for about 30 seconds across the playground barefoot to reach the gym in the first place, which usually did get that person’s soles a little dirty.

The only time I remember everyone being forced to go barefoot for an indoor sports session was the first lesson back after Christmas break, and about 40-50% of the people forgot their kit for it. So the teachers made everyone go barefoot for the whole lesson (which a lot of people hated, especially the boys) as they were worried that it could cause a health hazard if any of the 50% wearing shoes stepped on any of the 50% that were barefoot.

 

Hi thanks for your reply, I remember things such as those wearing footwear being asked to remove their footwear to 'protect' those of us in bare feet. I remember them not liking it too, though those of us in bare feet loved it. Were you one of those who didn't wear footwear or not?

 

I like in situations with people who don't normally go barefoot I have such an advantage from being used to it.

 

Hi Geoff, in that situation I was one of the people that was already barefoot so I enjoyed that day, and occasionally I would try and ‘forget’ my gym trainers so that I would have to attend the lesson barefoot, especially when we were in the older gym haha

 

Hi Erad02 I recognise the 'forgetting' of footwear in indoor lessons. I think I'd have been in trouble if I'd forgot my whole kit, but I and many others in my class were able to 'forget' our footwear when we were in the hall or gym with out being told off. The teacher would just tell us 'You'll have to do it in bare feet', which is what many of us wanted lol.