Burnley Grammar School

This photo looks very recent indeed. Thrilled to seen that in some countries and schools old PE traditions are still respected. The boys look fit and strong and seem not bothered at all about having their photo taken which seems to suggest that this is actually their normal PE kit. Even the slightly fat boy on the right doesn't seem unduly concerned. They are really at ease with being stripped to the waist for PE. Good for them, great school!

We were split the same way except half in white shorts and half in white. Which colour you wore was down to which class you were in. Odd no's wore black, evens wore white. This meant all boys had shirts off regardless. Simple but very effective!

[URL=http://s1053.photobucket.com/user/hagi52156/media/13304105325_2b9e52d27a_o.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/s463/hagi52156/13304105325_2b9e52d27a_o.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

Christophe:

I - and I assume others - have tried to copy and paste the Link you gave in your comment but it doesn't seem to work . The URL seems to be repeated in the text.
My email is shown on the heading at the top if you hover your Mouse above the email symbol, could you email a copy of the image , or show a working URL , please?
Thanks

John

A photo from a Belgian school where school uniform for boys is black or blue shorts for making up teams. No shirts allowed!

<a href="http://s1053.photobucket.com/user/hagi52156/media/13304105325_2b9e52d27a_o.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1053.photobucket.com/albums/s463/hagi52156/13304105325_2b9e52d27a_o.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 13304105325_2b9e52d27a_o.jpg"/></a>

Ren,

Were you forced to perform in that video, or did you and the other boys volunteer? And were girls present at that? If they were, how comfortable were you with it?

To Richard,

My school is a co-ed school and P.E was done separately from the females. I dont think so because our P.E was done in different locations.

To David G,

We performed for 30 minutes. I was 15 during the video.

Ren Hello,
Thank you for sharing the video with us. I am amazed how you all remembered the routines you had to perform because the video was over eleven minutes long and came in after you had started and stopped while you were still performing, so I don't know how long in total.
I thought you all were excellent and I didn't think you were at all awkward looking. I wondered how old you were at the time - I guessed around 15-16 but you said you were in Junior High School so I'm not sure. In England at 15-16 I think that would be called our senior school.

Greetings Ren,

Was your school a boys only school, or co-ed? If you had female classmates, were PE classes mixed with them, or gender segregated? If they were mixed, how did you feel about being shirtless in front of them? And if they were segregated, were there any occasions where they would see you shirtless, aside from the video you shared?

Greetings from Japan, back then during my junior high school a few years back, P.E was indeed done barechested and barefeet with only a pair of shorts allowed (underwear was allowed). Here is a video somebody took during our sports day where we had to perform in our usual P.E. uniform.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZO-MZLfMfw

I was in the video, the shy and awkward looking kid 3rd from the front on he left row at 0:13 also the first kid on the left at 0:42

When I was about 14 or 15 the doctor at the school medical said that I was growing too fast and that my muscles couldn't follow and that I had to take physical therapy. The sessions were two or three times a week at the local hospital. There were two other boys there and the exercises were done in shorts only. For the back massage afterwards you lay on a bench and most therapists pulled your shorts down to halfway your buttocks so that your lower back could be treated properly. Strangely enough this was never discussed among the pupils. That was in Belgium in the 1970ies.

Hi Sam,
Being made to strip down outside in winter was definately manly. I know the male teachers were quite brutal expecting boys to strip regardless of the temperature outside in the winter. Were you, or your PE group, put in the same situation.

Hi Sam! Let me ask you my questions below:

Were you shirtless for outside lessond for example track and fields and cross country either?
How did you play team ball games everyone being barechested.
How did you get to know your PE kit for the first time.Was it in a PE uniform list that you have to do PE shirtless or the teacher was the one who told it to you?
Have you ever had some lessons or sport events with the girls together?
What was the reaction of boys about the PE kit. Was it ever a topic of conversation amongst you?
When (decade) where (country) were you a student? What kind of school did you go?

Claire, it was interesting to read your comments about watching the boys take off their tops because we had that kind of set up at my school too. And as a teenage boy I did enjoy it when I realised the girls were watching me go shirtless. It was a big boost to my self confidence and yes, I did feel more manly when I was chosen to play skins. Probably not every boy felt the same but it seemed quite natural to me.

Chris, from a female's view I never objected to watching boys taking off their PE vests. At school there was one yard/car park and then the field and given the age range (9-18) it was a good bet you'd see a lesson outside either starting or underway.

Quite often you would share the yard, with the netball courts away from the cars we often played and just a few steps away were the boys doing press ups, sit ups and the like.

The male teachers would pick either skins vs vests or simply make all the boys strip. When we had the chance, we'd stop and watch them strip.

I do feel this is the proper way for boys to do PE, it is definitely a more manly option.

I remember this gym so well and Mr Parry (Ron), I went to BGS between 1959 and 1965, he was a bit of a hard taskmaster and very disciplined which meant that we as boys had to be, but he was fair and commended our respect

Chris, we were expressly forbidden from wearing shirts and I don't remember anyone asking to wear shirts when participating PE with the girls. It was just accepted and no one complained or objected.

John, did any of the boys try asking permission to wear a shirt when you had classes with the girls? Or were you expressly forbidden from wearing shirts? How did that go down?

Dave, we had a uniform list and the required kit for PE was just shorts. It was never mentioned what we had to wear between us and we were identified by the colour of our shorts. We frequently had mixed sessions with the girls and that could be a bit embarrassing at times. Wearing short trousers was not compulsory but at the parents discretion.
I had to wear them all the time and I suppose it would have been alright in warmer climes but here I used to freeze wearing them.

Shirtless PE sometimes happen if our PE Master felt inclined to let us take or Tops off or if he wanted to give us a good Workout; and sometimes he would go Shirtless as well, although he always wore Tracksuit Bottoms unless it was a very warm day, in which case he'd wear Shorts.
He would go topless if he joined in our Indoor Rugby on the 'Skins' Team as well, particularly if we were a Man or two short.
That meant there was no Referee though, so the [few] Rules the Game *Did* have tended to be ignored in those Situations!
That was a great Opportunity to settle Scores or even have a go at Him! Good Fun unless you were on the receiving End..
Last 2 Boys from each House in the Gym after getting Changed Always had to get their Tops off and 'Run the Gauntlet' of the others before the Lesson strted as well.

Re: Dave's Questions to all of you who had to be shirtless for PE lessons:

My Observations.
1. We didn't have to *be* barechested ; quite a few of us wanted to be, and took any opportunity so to be. Also outside, for XC Runs.
2. Not really applicable, it was "Skins v. Vests" for us.
3. It was on our Uniform List, White Shorts, White S-S Top and Plimmies for both "Houses" .
4. PE at our [Independent Grammar] School (1960s) was single-sex.
5. We occasionally discussed it; as above, quite a few Guys wanted to go barechested for all PE and get different coloured Shorts to differentiate the 'Houses'.
We approached the PE Teacher and Headmistress but to no formal avail but the Teacher didn't mind if we dumped our shirts, although when it came to Indoor Rugby if we were already stripped off and were designated "Vests" for the Game, we were not too pleased!

I have questions to all of you who had to be shirtless for PE lessons:


Were you shirtless for outside lessond for example track and fields and cross country either?
How did you play team ball games everyone being barechested.
How did you get to know your PE kit for the first time.Was it in a PE uniform list that you have to do PE shirtless or the teacher was the one who told it to you?
Have you ever had some lessons or sport events with the girls together?
What was the reaction of boys about the PE kit. Was it ever a topic of conversation amongst you?

Toby, I agree that having to be stripped to the waist did certainly help to put us into our place. Our teachers were never seen shirtless, they mainly wore tracksuits, but for us it was shorts only. For cross country plimsolls were allowed but many of us choose not to wear them as they would often get very wet.
I just read yesterday in the Daily Telegraph that it has been proposed that boys do more 'female' activities in PE, such as cheerleading,(no joke!) etc. This is miles away from how boys PE used to be, when boys were treated as boys and PE teachers helped to shape them into young fit respectful men.

I agree Ryan - that's pretty much how my PE lessons were too. It was interesting to see the two boys near the end of the clip, about to start having a chat, but as soon as the teacher speaks they stop and listen.
We had that same kind of discipline in PE and I think being bare to the waist partly contributed to that - somehow the fact the teacher wore a shirt signified his authority over us boys!
We were also barefoot in the gym but we were allowed running shoes for outdoors. How about you?

Great to see that Russia doesn't feminize its boys as we do.

This clip reminds me a lot of my PE lessons in school, stripped to the waist, serious exercise, having orders barked at you and being expected to execute them swiftly, etc

Real boys PE if you ask me. The only difference is that we were barefoot too!

http://www.gettyimages.fr/detail/vid%C3%A9o/boys-practice-trampoline-in-a-gymnasium-uk-vid%C3%A9o/mr_00106364

As Dave pointed out 13 Oct, Russian lads still complete Phys Ed without impediment of shirts, as this 'day in the life' of cadets article confirms:

http://m.inkazan.ru/zhizn-v-alyx-pogonax/

1000 Posts Up! Congratulations!

Kenny,

Our Primary School Uniform was similar to yours: white shirt, grey skirt and cardigan for us girls and white shirt,grey shorts and grey jumper for the boys.

I went to an all girls Secondary School and the uniform varied according to the year group and term. In the Autumn and Spring Terms the first and second year girls wore a blue 'gymslip' style dress with a white blouse underneath and a navy blue blazer on top. The older girls wore a blue skirt, white blouse and blue jumper together with the blazers. In the summer term we all wore a blue gingham style dress. The uniform rules were quite strict; our skirts or dresses had to touch the floor when we were kneeling down and we had to wear berets when we weren't actually in the classroom. Another thing that seems strange now is that we weren't allowed to wear tights. It was long socks in winter (so cold legs cycling to and from school!) and ankle socks in summer.
Did you have any uniform rules that would seem outdated or strange nowadays?

Andrea, it was very similar at both our schools, just as you describe.
The only difference is that in the final year of primary we had separate classes for boys and girls. We still changed in class for PE but were same sex, although teachers could be of any sex.
It was also the same as you describe at our boys only secondary school. There we had a qualified PE teacher or coach instead of the class teacher.
Did you wear any sort of school uniform at either primary or secondary school?

Hi Kenny,

At Primary both girls and boys used to wear a T shirt and shorts or a skirt for PE. We used to strip down to our knickers or underpants and vest (if we were wearing one) and then put on our PE kit. Boys and girls did this in the same classroom (girls on one side and boys on the other, but without any screen etc between us). In the final year a few girls who had started to wear bras rather than vests were allowed to go and change in the toilets. Were there any special arrangements like that at your Primary?


At Secondary School (all girls) indoor PE was in Gym Knickers and a Polo Shirt and but we all had to shower afterwards (there hadn't been any showers at Primary.

Andrea