Hesketh Fletcher Gym Team

I see from the recent posts that detentions and punishments were an important part of most boys PE experiences in the 50s and 60s. But these contributed to the regime that made us fit and I think contributed to increasing longevity.
I know it was not pleasant for us at the time. I never liked being punished at school, especially the blet, but I think we owe a debt of gratitude to our PE teachers for giving up their time to do it.

Charles re the pe in underpants, I suppose in those days the style of underwear was briefs, which would add to the punishment. whereas today(if such a punishment was allowed) the lads underwear would look like shorts and not so embarrassing.

As you say then there was the additional punishment when you got home, because you had had a detention

In reply to Palmer's question about enforcing the no pants rule - Individuals were sometimes stopped by the teacher, who would pull out the elastic waistband of their PE shorts and look down the front. Alternatively the whole class would line up before the lesson and be made to pull their shorts down. It was sometimes possible to get away with wearing underpants if you could hide them as you pulled the shorts down. (Of course in bright light, pants would show through translucent PE shorts anyway). Offenders would have to strip naked on the spot in front of everyone, and wait for the teacher to lecture the class on correct PE kit before being told their punishment and allowed to put their shorts back on.

We had punishment PE detentions at Secondary school. Boys did it just their underpants. It was an hours intensive circuit training in the gym.
What made it worse was the thought that Mum would be waiting for me when i got home late, with the strap or hairbrush!!!

William, in the same way I think we all became used to wearing nothing under our shorts, which were also shorter than the ones in the photo. As you say the only exception was when doing handstands. We had a partner supporting us and as we raised our legs and there was exposure to our partner, however the same thing happened when it was our turn to support our partner. But then we saw everything when we were in the showers.

William,
My PE time at senior school was just as you’ve described. I enjoyed PE and don’t think that the rules at the time did me any harm at all.

Palmer, Our gym master was present when we stripped for the showers and could easily see if any boy was wearing pants. We would not have dared to break the rule even if we had wanted to. After the first lesson I never gave it a thought, except perhaps when doing handstands. Our shorts were much shorter than those in the photo.

Bob
In the same way for pe and games we wore shorts with nothing underneath. The teacher never inspected us for pants. I remember that once a boy got caught wearing pants because the teacher saw them through his shorts. He was made to go and remove them and then had to remove a plimsoll which was then wacked across his backside.
How was the inspection carried out? These days it would be irrelevant because I do not think a school could impose a no underwear rule.

Hi. It was very unusual to do PE naked. That made it all the more humiliating. Normally we were required to wear short cotton or nylon shorts, with nothing on underneath, subject to regular inspection by the teacher of course.

Bob, the way I read your message it seems naked PE wasn’t unusual and you all complied and participated naked. Are my assumptions right? How often would a fellow student be naked?

I was at school in the nineties and I can’t imagine that happening in my day. Although we were often compelled to do PE in our underpants and bare feet.

Re your PE naked experience. Did you tell you r parents and if so what was their reaction? I imagine nowadays the school would be shut immediately and the staff suspended

Hi Dave,
Stripped to the waist for lads PE was a common policy at many schools in the 1980s and well into the 1990s. It was considered dangerous for boys to wear tops because they could get caught in wall bars and other gymnastic equipment.

Also it was considered more hygienic for lads to strip to the waist for PE because many schools had no shower facilities. In the 1970s/80s it was common for many lads to wear a vest underneath their school shirt, and often this would be the same vest that they would wear for PE and then keep on for the rest of the day after working up a sweat doing PE.

I much preferred not having a sweaty vest stuck to my back and appreciated the freedom of movement being shirtless. I’m glad that I had to do PE topless, it was a completely sensible policy and should have continued. Wearing a top for indoor PE is totally unnecessary as well as being unsafe and unhygienic.

This photo makes me realize what I missed out on when I went to school in the 1970s/80s.
Our PE kit indoors was the same as this photo.

Hi John! Were your PE kit was shirtless in the 80's too?So it seems topless PE continued into the 80's. Was it common then?

looking back at posts made on one of the other headings in July 2017, I saw the discussion about doing PE naked. Has anyone else been made to strip naked for PE? In my all boys Grammar School it happened once to me, along with a gym full of other nude boys. PE was not expected that day. The reason was that not all pupils had been told to bring shorts on this day, repair work going on in classrooms.

Gavin A, We weren't told about jockstraps by any of our PE instructors although when a new young PE teacher started at our school when we were in the sixth form, we learned that he wore one under his shorts.It made no difference to us but hopefully when we left perhaps he influenced the powers that ruled that when boys reached puberty they needed some support especially when they had to go cross country running. My dad also knew that I wore nothing under my PE shorts but never mentioned about a jockstrap. However, when he was young and in photos of him in soccer kit he wore those long shorts so there would have been no danger of losing anything.

All as Rob says with one exception (thank God)

Senior lads 13 + were entitled to wear an athletic support (jockstrap) for a cross country run if they felt the need, and quite rightly so!

John, this photo was taken in 1935 and was also the same basic kit as we wore in the late 1950's although without socks and our shorts were shorter.We kept the same shorts that we wore when we started aged 11 until we left and the gap between the waistband and our navels got progressively wider. We had to strip off completely for all PE lessons and wear nothing more than a pair of shorts and plimsolls, not only in the gym but also when we were sent out on a cross country run. We didn't need a vest or shirt to stick to our skin and being bare chested made men of us and felt great. Round off each PE lesson with everyone naked in the showers, what more could you have asked for? All boys today would benefit from doing PE like this to improve their confidence and self esteem.

This photo makes me realize what I missed out on when I went to school in the 1970s/80s. My school never had a gym team, I would have loved to have been taught to do gymnastics like these guys.

Our PE kit indoors was the same as this photo, I think PE for lads should still be done stripped to the waist for safety and to prevent lads from developing body image problems. Exercising barechested makes lads more confident and allows lads to express their masculinity.

Typo error. Should read I don't know why I was singled out by the teacher to strip down all the time.

Steve. I really preferred doing xcountry stripped down to the waist. Our other sessions were done either as skins (gym work, xcountry, athletics) or vests vs skins for basketball. I don't know why but I was singled out to strip by the teacher who made us strip off from age 9 to 18.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZBoJssRd-s

PE section starts at 21:34

Steve - That was the standard kit in the 60s, I think - shorts only, no footwear, underwear or shirt. It certainly was at my school - we wore that in the gym and outside including for cross country.
I don't think any-one ever got the cane for not trying hard enough at cross country though we were not popular if we were late back. Every so often you would see boys in just shorts walking through the corridors to their classrooms for registration at the end of the day while every-one else was in full school uniform. It wasn't meant so much as a punishment - rather that they came back late and did not have enough time to shower and get dressed in time for registration. They had to go back to the changing rooms after registration to shower and get changed. Some looked quite sheepish walking through the corridors in just their shorts and, perhaps, a certain amount of mud.

Dave

I notice the video is set in the mid 60's. Like many here, it was when I went to school, and certainly the PE/sports kit allowed is exactly the same as we wore - bare feet stripped to the waist, cotton shorts only. Like us, there were no exceptions to this kit.

Maybe they didn't do cross country, but we always had to run shirtless as well - 90 skinny, frozen lads running in local woods/roads, with just the absolute minimum of kit on, and always the (strong) possibility of the cane on return for "not trying"

There is a follow-up 1969 film 'Weg van de haven' which also features the training centre ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZBoJssRd-s

Its another interesting 'watch' - for the ships & cars!

I think this not actually a 'school' but the 'Technical Training Centre'/'Apprentices School' (or similar)for the port of Rotterdam back in 1963. Interesting nevertheless, if only for the shipping in an era long gonw.

I have recently watched a video of a dutch boy's school.There are many PE scenes.There isn't any where boys wear shirts for any sport. They are shirtless for every physical activity.Even team games they remain shirtless by using bibs. It proves that shirtless PE was widespread not only in Uk but in another European countries and it was very easy to keep boys remain shirtles even for team games and any sport.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6fjGzOjOj0&t=1136s

I think this is their compulsory PE kit because none of them has any shirt on for sports.

Robert,
My cousin swam without trunks at his independent school for boys, I would not have minded swimming naked amongst other lads but would have been embarassed if girls had been present.

Stuart, I remember the same kind of detention. Though we were always stripped down for PE indoors or out it. We did laps of a rather large and unforgiving field in all weathers. I was given 12 laps once for not sweating enough during a gym session when I was 15 Hilarious!

Robert

Once having gotten over the initial shock it was second nature swimming without trunks.

If having to do PE stripped to the waist came as a shock (as it did to me), I wonder how much more so would it have been to find that trunks were not worn for swimming.