Burnley Grammar School

I left school just wo years ago and I can say that we did have optional shirts vs skins in our school due to the awful quality of bibs. Basically, what happened was the teacher would ask if anyone objected to taking off their shirt. Usually, around a quarter of boys (who tend to be less good at sports in general) would put their hands up to be selected for the shirts team along with a few really good players to balance the teams better. Then, the rest of us would take our tops off and join the skins team. The teams were always slightly different to ensure good competition.

It was pretty embarrassing at first to see the other team fully clothed while i was in just a pair of shorts (it did give the less able shirts guys a bit of a confidence boost though) it was something I learnt to accept and in the summer it was definitely an advantage

At my school the teacher sometimes put us in teams of 5 then picked 2 boys to drop their vests and we played 3 against 2 basketball. We also did the full skins and shirts teams like Chris2 mentioned but indoors in the summer we all did athletics as skins.

Ouch!! Who says girls aren't devious?

I readily admit to enjoying being a skin, though I have absolutely no idea why I was picked so often. We did skins and vests both indoors and outside. The teacher always had a skins team regardless so for me and a couple of others it meant a lot of time being made to strip off outside too.
One thing I wondered about was why he just didn't make us strip off before we went outside instead of waiting until we were either on the yard or the field.

John and Jack - well I haven't come across that before. I did get into a fight outside of school, the only one I ever had! The girls egged us both to strip to the waist, which we did. I didn't realise it was a trap and after we'd been fighting a few minutes one of the girls who had soaked my vest in water, hit it hard across my bare back four times and it killed. Strangely the PE teacher made no mention of the marks during PE though other lads did.

Hi Chris2,
Looking back, do you feel it was a good thing to be picked as a skin so frequently? My feeling is that it probably was as ultimately I felt more confident about my body.
Did you ever have shirts against skins outdoors, by the way, or only in the gym?

Chris2

Hello, Jack beat me to it, describing 'Running the Gauntlet', it was exactly the same at our School, which was a Co-ed Independent Grammar, I attended 1963-68. Gym was single-sex.
We loooked one in Awe at the first "Running the Gauntlet" on our First Gym Session in our First Year.
The Gym Teacher selected a Couple of the 2nd-Year Lads to "Demonstrate Running" with the rest of the Second Years doing the "Gauntletting".
If you were a slow Runner you just got more Slaps and Hits. It was as simple as that!

Hi Chris2

Running the gauntlet was a great piece of old-fashioned schooling. In my PE lessins the two last boys entering the gym after having got changed into proper kit (which was always bare tops, bare feet and just white shorts btw)had to run the gauntlet. The other boys formed two lines and those two had to run in between them getting slapped on their bare backs and chests. As you can imagine, we got always got changed at the speed of lightning.

Hi John and Simon, thanks, it's interesting you both had different experiences. Our teachers didn't bother with any kind of rotation and like you I was picked for skins more often than not throughout school.

John, what on earth was "run the guantlet" and what happened if you didn't survive?

Hi John and Simon, thanks, it's interesting you both had different experiences. Our teachers didn't bother with any kind of rotation and like you I was picked for skins more often than not throughout school.

John, what on earth was "run the guantlet" and what happened if you didn't survive?

Hi Jack, One has a mole on their right forearm and no parting while the other had no mole and no parting. I know they had a great deal of fun. I thought they'd be put in different classes at High School but academically they were virtually the same too. Being on the skins team would be tough for anyone to pick them apart - even mum and dad got them confused at times but it didn't stop them from stripping off.

Hi Claire, were there any physical characteristics with which you could distinguish your twin brothers from each other?
There were two sets of identical twins in my neighbourhood when I was at school and there was no way anyone could distinguish between them. It always amazed me how their parents could easily distinguish between them on sight, and called each distinctly by name.

Hi Simon, My twin brothers were exactly the same. From the age of 9 to 18 they were both nearly always made to strip off. My friend's brother who was the same age and in the same class was rarely picked to strip. It's strange how skins teams were picked.

To Chris2
Hi Chris, an interesting Question , but actually No, Our PE Teacher tended to alternate Skins Teams each Week - we only had 1 x 1.5Hr PE Session p/w so generally Lads didn't have to strip off more than that unless of course they were slow in getting changed at the start of Lesson in which case the Last 2 Lads from each (2 of ) House had to 'Tops Off' and "run the Gauntlet" before we started the Session, in which case assuming they survived that, they stayed Topless for the rest of the Lesson , only putting tops On again if they were in the Shirts Team for Team Games eg Killerball, at the end of the Lesson.
Hope this Clarifies.
John

I don't know how it was at John's school but at mine it was certainly the case that some boys were skins more than others. For some reason I was one of them. We were actually divided into four teams rather than just two and only one team had to take their vests off. The first time we did PE I was on the skins team, but the teacher said he would pick different teams for the next lesson. So I was a bit taken aback to be a skin again. Next time we were told to keep the same teams, so yet again I had to go bare chested. Sometimes I did get to keep my vest on, but more often than not I took it off. In theory there was only a 25 per cent chance of that so it seemed a bit unfair. It wasn't just me though, there was another boy who usually played skins as well and we ended up becoming good friends as we were on the same team so often.

John Lavender. Hi John, did you find having skins vs vests that some boys were made to strip to the waist more frequently than others.

I think it is their usual PE kit, this was 1972.
Still I don't think this was really such a hot day there in Denmark because nearly all the people watching are wearing jackets.

If you watch this video from 5:45 you can see students doing gymnastics in a danish secondary school. Boys are shirtless. I wonder if they wear their usual PE kit because it is a sports day.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2562gKeVZfE

Hello Chrid

Interesting to read that you had no hang ups about the exposure of your body. I an all boys Secondary school in the early 60's, and As I think I remember,it was common getting changed for pe meant all the boys stripping off together and changing into white shorts and no pants. No tops. Of course communal showers after. Like you this was the norm. I do not know what happens nowadays, but it was the same at Scout camp. Six to a tent and all undressing for bed in the one tent, bearing in mind it would be a patrol of different ages from about 11 to 15. ( the youngest soon learnt about puberty from the older boys) perhaps this was the idea.

At camp we were supposed to all take some form of nightwear, but being away from home it seemed daring to sleep au natural.

Are lads as adventerous nowadays all is it all cover up. I am sure pe is now longer shorts, underwear and tops. Does any one know?

Hi
I think there appears to be different aspects to PE depending on school type and size.
I went to a small private school from 73 - 78 in the UK. The school was a converted large house in which residents still resided between floors.
PE was very much part of this all boys school.
We had no changing rooms and had to get changed st our desks when ordered to do so, where you would strip down to your underwear and we had a dare of not wearing any to school on the day when we were 12/13 as we had a female elderly teacher whom would walk around and examine boys for marks and bruising (signs of abuse) I was examined once in side room or small book room because of marks on my buttocks from a belting my step dad gave me the night before - they rang home and were satisfied it was a valid and justified punishment so those and future markings were dismissed.
PE was performed only in white shorts or underwear if you had neither you were caned.
We had two shower heads on the corner of the toilets - which meant going back to your desk - stripping naked and wrapping a towel around yourself or just sitting on a towel until you were called up for the shower in pairs.
Any fooling in the shower which were overseen by prefects would result in lines (issued by the prefects) or a report for a caning by the headmaster.
Post shower and to speed things up, you returned to class to finish drying by the gas heater (warm) and get dressed.
I had no issues with the process and found that it removed my hang-ups on my body with regards to being a little chubby.

Hi Joe, It was just a very ordinary mixed school. The way the gym was with reinforced glass running all down the corridor side meant it was unavoidable that girls would look in, especially with one of the dinner halls just opposite and with staggered lunchtimes, barechested boys provided their distraction when queueing up . There was always friendly banter exchanged and it common for girls to point out an older/younger brother in the gym, and even sympathy if they sometimes thought it was just a bit too cold to be barechested on a particularly cold day. It always meant you went that bit harder to attract a girls attention. Happy days!

I did PE and also cross-country while stripped to the waist in the 1960's
It was the normal practice and we thought nothing of it.

Click on link for image

Can anyone confirm that some schools in Belgium impose a shirtless PE uniform on boys in 2015 as seems to suggest the photo posted earlier. Is there a comeback of the shirtless PE lesson in continental Europe??

[img]http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/s463/hagi52156/13304105325_2b9e52d27a_o.jpg[/img]

Jono, thanks for the additional details about your PE classes - sounds fairly intense! From your comment at the end I just wondered; were girls often present when you did PE then? If so how did boys feel about being barechested in front of them? I'd imagine it was an extra incentive to work hard and look good.

It's Burnley Grammar School, Lancashire, England.
About 1977. Remember it well. Mr Parry taught PE and Geography too I think.

Joe and John, thanks for your comments. Having the whole group split into different coloured shorts worked well, with the only occasional grumble from some coming during the winter. Our timetable always gave 3 double PE sessions and 2 singles a week. We did do indoor games like basketball, 3 onto 1 where you had to pass a football between the 3 and stop the 1 from catching it, boxing and fitness sessions, which were done alternate weeks indoors then outside regardless of time of year(outdoors was the usual, football, cross country runs and in the summer, athletics) Being worked like that made most of us sweat regulary, regardless of age, and no girl would have wanted to see a vest sticking to you!

Jono has a valid Point, in my Opinion.
At Grammar School (1960s)we asked several times to be able to be allowed to wear just Shorts for PE instead of Tee Shirt and shorts , and to have different coloured Shorts to diferentiate Houses and therefore Teams.
It was to no avail, we had 'skins v.vests'until Form/Year V .
I don't think there would have been a big problem in Games like Killerball ( a sort of Indoor Rugby with fewer Rules) apart from the odd misplaced Pass in a ruck or the odd misplaced Punch!

Don't know, if this Belgium but the brickwork and apparatus look European, could also be Germany.

Sounds to me like Jono's school had the most sensible system for splitting boys into teams. When you think about it there's no reason why different coloured shorts can't be just as effective as different coloured tops. I also think it might be better if every boy was barechested than just half the class, if it's the same for everyone that might make it easier for those who feel embarrassed about standing out from the crowd.

How do you know this is Belgium, Christophe ? I live here and as far as I know shirtless PE is not common practice here unless it is a special school for gymnastics.