Burnley Grammar School

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.

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!

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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.