Of course, but unfortunately barefoot is going to be relatively boring. I prefer the challenge of heat because, in the process of getting heat tolerance, it helps leatherize the soles to be more like shoes. Everyone knows this by now. You can skip the bracketed section... [Now, if I was in a desert area such as Barstow, CA or Bythe, CA (common refuel stops on the way to Las Vegas), or Las Vegas, NV, or Palm Springs, CA (popular vacation spots), cities with as Phoenix, AZ (been there twice already during two peak summers) or in the hotter areas of TX... in other words, at least sole challenging 90 degrees weather during the hottest afternoon hours for standing now, but still walkable with some burning feeling... without worrying about 3rd degree burn foot damage. Blistering in the lower 100 degrees F range is more of a concern there, because time of day also matters in addition to humidity, but in dry heat, the air is not necessarily burn on contact asphalt. What's potentially ow! ow! ow! hot! hot! hot! 3rd degree burning closer to noon might still be ow hot! faster walking at 9am before becoming needing to hot-foot every step (that is, I flick the sole up in the air at the end of each step) by 10am, but that's also assuming longer walks on unshaded asphalt and there is concrete sidewalk. I've been to Las Vegas a couple of times to advise barefooters that even the sidewalks are red colored concrete tiles, and the only immediate shade I saw was the shaded trees area near the Bellagio water show. Phoenix just a bit past 9am was all over the air hot, almost asphalt heat can be felt on the tops of the toes in flip flops hot, and yet longer stretches on sidewalk would still be doable assuming occasional shade spots on darker gray concrete sidewalk. Barstow... I didn't have the opportunity to go barefoot there but it was almost funny: while filling up the car with gas, a family was seen getting out of their car parked right in front of (if I remember correctly) a Carl's Jr. and when one girl in bare feet so much as touched both feet to the sidewalk they didn't even have time to go back in to the car and get shoes so she hot footed and desperately jumped in barefoot as soon as they could open the door. LOL, I know I could have handled that heat if even for two or three seconds even with hot-footing, since it was that hot and still just a few minutes past noon... if I wasn't with someone who had an aversion to barefooting and especially heat-footing... I would have still removed my flip flops while pumping gas but not gone into the Carl's Jr.] Anyway, once again I prefer extra hot inland heat for difficulty with longer standing and preferably close to desert area heat walking for only lasting a couple of minutes at a time before needing shade or even having to stand on flip flops (and then only doing that too often I will keep the flip flops on... and I'll be lucky if I get the middle 80 degrees F range. Boring barefooting.
Monkee Davy Jones actually died on Leap Day. So instead of Feb. 29th functioning in effect as a sort of 'bonus' gift, shoe-horned into his lifespan, it became the day he was booted into the grave.
barefoot leaping is great; even light shoes feel like they're dragging you downward. you have to make sure you land right though, or you might trade in leaping for limping.
I should think light shoes would help with any leaping-based activity; springy-soled sports shoes might help impart a bit of extra 'omph' in the taking-off department, while they'd almost certainly help absorb and dissipate some of the impact shock you'd receive when alighting on to a surface from a slight height. On a related note: I'd be surprised if any shoeless triple-jumpers could achieve the same sorts of distances that a shod jumper routinely could (spikes at the front of jumping shoes would provide better traction and help build momentum more efficiently).
i've always been more of a standing jump person. running jumps would probably be different (but would also depend on the surface). barefoot triple jump would obviously be tricky, since you need to worry about landings. and i never actually compared shoe jumps versus barefoot jumps; it just always felt like i was flying better when jumping barefoot. now i have minor knee issues that are exacerbated by landings, so i don't jump much anymore unless it's into the pool.
I regularly leap over speed bumps and concrete strips during my 20+ minutes walk around the neighborhood and, as I've mentioned before, it's all blacktop asphalt with some rock covered sections that are more than slightly ouch on not-yet-burned heated soles. Some of those leaps I do with one foot in front of the other, and not gracefully either, so I end up hitting balls of the foot first.. but toes up so I've never sprained a toe. Hitting the balls of the foot or toes on a curb is another issue and maybe I should have leaped slightly (not all the way up in the air) instead of just stepping.
