Burnley Grammar School

Gavin,
When my son was about 12 I had to buy him a pouch jockstrap and protective cup so he could play cricket for his school team. He didn't wear one for other sports though.

Fred,
When you acquired your jockstrap during your first year at boarding school, was it because you had started to feel uncomfortable without one, or as a sort of 'rite of passage' as your classmates had started to wear them?

Hi Fred
Your experience is remarkably similar to mine. Which boarding school did you attend? I don't think there was anything else on the market other than Litesome in my day. It was either one with a pouch (for cricket) and one without for all other sporting activities. Nowadays one is spoilt for choice and my boys I am glad to say follow their dad and wear a jockstrap for all the sport they do.

Hi Keith,
Was it a mixed school or boys only?
Were there any female teachers or students ever present during your nude swimming sessions?
I had friends in the 60s who went to a boardinf school which had similar arrangements like the ones you mentioned, that is junior boys up to about 12 was mandatory nude for swimming sessions. After that age swimsuits were optional.
I also remember them saying that their swimming instructor in their first years was a woman.
Can you describe under what circumstances your swimming sessions were carried out?

I attended an all boys boarding school in the late sixties/early seventies, starting aged 13 and the gym shown here was almost identical. The lads shown here look a little younger than that. We too wore just shorts for p/e. However, by the end of our first year practically all of us had acquired a jockstrap which was worn for all physical activity. There was no rule concerning underwear for sport or p/e and it certainly was not policed, it was up to us to choose. There was one master however who insisted that jocks were worn in his rugby group, but that was about it. Jockstraps were not on the kit list but were readily available in the small sports shop in the school thereby avoiding any problem one might have with having to ask Mum or Dad to get one for you. As Malcolm noted below, they were made by Litesome and were known to us a jockstraps. I am not aware that any other brand was available at that time.
We also had nude showers after all sport activity, I don`t remember that anyone had a problem with that, it was quite normal for us, trunks were worn for swimming.
My two sons did a lot of sport at school, I haven`t a clue what they used for underwear, I never thought to ask.

Ben said that he had not heard of nude swimming at some schools until he read about it on the internet. I attended a state grammar school, not a private school, in Kent in the second half of the 1950s. Naked swimming periods were mandatory for the first three years until the year we arrived when it became optional. Quite a lot of boys still chose to swim naked, about a third of our class and everyone in one of the other two classes. Up till that year trunks were also optional from year four right up till sixth from level and I understand from my older brother that many boys, so used to and enjoying nudity, continued to swim naked throughout their school career. Seems very strange nowadays to have a naked lesson at school either as compulsory or as an option which many chose.
I well remember one boy still choosing to swim naked at the inter-house competition at the end of our first year and that was in front of the whole school of several hundred and the staff! No one batted an eyelid.
Then a new headmaster arrived and it all changed. Trunks were now mandatory.

Thankfully there weren't too many pranks in my PE lessons and as it was an all girls Secondary, we didn't have mixed PE lessons to worry about
The showers were by no means always warm though!

In my school having your shorts yanked down was also quite a common feature ... you just had to hope it never lead on to a full de-bagging!

Bob,I think we all hated the no under pants rule as it could leave you very vulnerable and potentially exposed,especially when wearing short shorts.
I experienced the same tricks,especially having the shorts yanked down.

John, you were lucky to wear a vest outdoors in winter...we didn't.

I hated the no underpants rule in PE and games, because it made me vulnerable to being tormented in the gym by my classmates. Some of them thought it was fun to run up and slap or kick your sensitive parts, which were barely concealed by the thin white PE shorts. Or they would often yank down your shorts when you were not expecting it, exposing everything, to cause maximum embarrasment.

Calvin/Rob,I agree it was"double standards"where we had to share the gym or vacate it and brave the cold wearing short shorts and vest.
My kit offered very little protection from the cold and yes,it was usually a cold shower.

Similar to James I attended a mixed school and remember the double standards, humiliation and bitter cold in winter that caused lads to shed a tear!
James, you mentioned it was a mixed school. Did the girls have to go outside or, like in my school, only the boys?

We lads also had to endure a shower block that was semi open to the elements and water that was Luke warm occasionally but usually cold. The ladies had individual cubicle showers with variable water temperature!

Sid,I had no problem wearing just shorts with nothing underneath for PE as it was an all boys school, but I was concerned about John's comments that at his school he frequently had mixed PE lessons and the boys were embarrassed wearing short shorts without pants with girls in the gym. I appreciate that you had a very strict regime at your school but you know how some of the boys felt about having to line up nude before swimming lessons in front of female teachers or being supervised in the showers.Even by age of 13 some boys are going through puberty so naturally it was embarrassing for them.

We could go commando or wear a jock. Depended on the activity - and mostly our choice. Personally, I'd rather go free - but I do like jocks - prefer them to traditional underwear, as do my boys. We wear swimmers - so narrow waist and leg bands. But we also go commando.

They were certainly known as jockstraps in our school.
Once you got used to the unexpected draughts they were much more comfortable than underpants and no excess material. Support where you needed it and freedom in all other ways.
Still use them regularly now.

James our shorts were very short but as i say it was all boys school. We just had to "get on with it". Outdoors we were allowed a t shirt no uniform set. However some boys wore white nylon shorts which were just becoming available and if we were caught in the rain it left nothing to the imagination.
After a while they returned to wearing dark coloured or cotton white shorts.

Chris,we were not allowed to wear a shirt or vest during mixed indoor sessions,but we were allowed to for outdoor sporting activities outside.The emphasis was meant to toughen us up and wearing minimal clothing with brief shorts in cold weather could achieve this,however I've remember boys crying when we were sent out in bitterly cold weather.
We were aged 11 to 16 and never allowed to wear track suits.

Giles, that was how it was precisely, but I didn't like doing those handstands and having to hold a boys legs up against my shoulder.Fortunately we had to do it very rarely,almost as though it was on the teachers tick list.
Otherwise,I really enjoyed PE lessons wearing just shorts
and being worked hard so that we built up a sweat and looked forward to the showers afterwards. Like you, though,I don't know how lads today would cope, but it would do a lot of them good.

Rob, there were many customs way back in our time where "schools wouldn't get away with it today". The one you mentioned would be the least of them. We had mandated nude swim classes at our prep school. Showers were compulsary after every PE lesson, sometimes wiith female teachers supervising. Not to mention that spankings and corporal punishment were part of daily school life. So PE in just short shorts was probably the least concern.

James, were you allowed to wear a shirt or vest in mixed sessions? What about when it was cold? What about outdoor sessions? How old were you at this time?

Giles,I attended a mixed school where boys and girls attended.
For some some obscure reason boys were never allowed to wear anything under their shorts and the fashion was for boys to wear extremely brief shorts.
I found it mortifying to be dressed in just shorts for my sporting activities in front of girls.

John, I'm astonished that you had no screen. Even if you were in separate groups at opposite ends of the gym and not actually boys and girls mixed, I don't know how the girls kept their eyes off you boys. To say that some boys were shy wearing those short shorts with nothing underneath must have been an understatement; it was grossly indecent! On the other hand, therefore, as with everything else, most boys must have got used to it and even boosted their self confidence. One things certain, your school wouldn't get away with it today.

Rob,it was totally mixed with no screen to divide boys from girls.
Shorts were very short and some boys were shy when wearing them without underwear.

Like you John, I went to an all boys school and I recall that during certain exercises it was impossible not to show parts of the anatomy and also see other lads as well. This was often the case if you were hanging on wall bars or dangling from ropes with the other lads standing underneath. Handstands were also another example when you were supporting a partner with his legs on your shoulders whilst he was upside down. You could not help but see down the legs of his shorts.
However, like you we got used to it especially as we were naked together in the showers.
Would lads cope with that situation these days?

John, I only remember one occasion when'something dropped out'but fortunately we were still in the school grounds; it was a wonder,however, it didn't happen more often. How mixed were those indoor PE lessons; was it really mixed girls and boys together or was there a screen between you? I went to an all boys school and it was impossible not to show everything when we did all sorts of exercises and used various pieces of equipment in the gym. We got used to it and no-one bothered and we were naked in the showers anyway. If you wore shorts and nothing else like us but in close mixed company with the girls I would say that it would have been a lot more embarrassing for everyone. No doubt you would have got some lads with other ideas.

Rob,the difference was,as you pointed out we had to wear short shorts as apposed to almost knee length.No allowance was made by being allowed to wear any type of support right through school and of course there was a risk of 'something dropping'out which was unavoidable when doing long cross country runs in public.
Also, we frequently had mixed gym lessons which was equally embarrassing.

A jockstrap was known as a jockstrap at my school in the 1970s. However on the games kit list they were refered to as a Litesome, the popular brand at the time, much as vacumn cleaners are often known as Hoovers even if they are another make. I think the term jockstrap was considered impolite and not to be used in print at that time. I had not come across the term athletic support until much more recent times.
I regularly played squash and went running until a few years ago and always wore a jockstrap. A jockstrap gives much better support than underpants and I would not want to play without one.

Willy, for those of us who wore no underpants or jockstraps under our short shorts there was the risk of something dropping out on a run when we might then be seen by a member of the public. The ancient Greek athletes may have exercised naked but it was an all male domain and women were prohibited.

Jockstrapa were never mentioned at my school either, but then we didn't have the no-underpants rule anyway, so jockstraps would have made no sense since we kept our underpants on.
Personally I don't see any risk in not wearing a jockstrap, the ancient Greeks did athletic competitions completely naked and never saw the need for any support.
In any case how many people who do daily jogging runs wear jockstraps? Most find wearing briefs is sufficient.

Btw, they were called athletic supporters until recently in the UK, jockstraps is an American word.

My Ex attended a state Grammar School in the North of England in the early 1970s and his PE teacher advised all the boys that they needed to start to wear a jockstrap for 'support' at the start of their 3rd year (so aged about 13).
So perhaps it was more to do with the attitudes of the members of PE staff at a particular school, rather than anything else?