junior high PE question

[momto10blessings]

I never understood the need for showering after gym class anyway. We rarely got sweaty and if we did, it wasn't usually enough to need to shower. Change clothes, reapply deodorant and we were good.

[momto10blessings]

Oh, and I can't explain how thrilled I was that I only had to take gym in 9-10 grades in high school. Not a fan at all.

[Jenny in Florida]

How many people wore something like this?  https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/dd/8d/84/dd8d84ecdb76df53ae4724cf45d5b375.jpg

 

We had these in junior high except ours were navy blue.

 

Ours were exactly like that, right down to the color.

 

In my sophomore year of high school, we were allowed to substitute a t-shirt with identical stripes but a somewhat less unflattering fit and our own green shorts for the awful one-piece number. I don't remember whether that was a general change in policy or a freedom allowed once we were no longer freshmen. But it was a huge relief.

[Storygirl]

In middle school, we did have to change into shorts and a t-shirt for class, but showers were only required something like three times during the year. I lived in dread of the days that the PE teacher would announce that it was one of those days. I was a late bloomer physically and was extremely anxious about anyone seeing me without clothes. I remember huddling under my towel to change as privately as possible.

 

For some reason, my mom had purchased a bunch of granny panties for me instead of the undies everyone else wore, so I tried to keep those hidden while changing as well. It was a time of great embarrassment for me.

 

One of my worst memories is when I came back from my required shower and could not find my underwear anywhere. I was panicking. What was I supposed to do? And then another girl came up and handed me my undies. "Are these yours?" she asked. "I thought they were Heather's, so I took them to her." :confused1:  First I was panicked, then I was mortified that someone was carrying my embarrassing underwear around the locker room asking people about them, then I was weirded out that someone had touched my unmentionables that I then had to wear.

 

It was horrible. But not as terrible as the stories that some of you have shared. I think if I had had to have some kind of naked inspection that I would have needed some counseling. Not kidding. It would have severely traumatized me.

[meena]

I went to a middle school that was for students in grades 5-8. In grades 5-6 we had PE but did not change clothes or shower. In 7-8 grades we had to use the locker rooms to change into PE clothes--just shorts/t-shirts of our choice, not a uniform. We had to shower in the group shower room. There were private stalls but only for use when menstruating. Our PE teacher wasn't creepy about checking whether we'd showered but she did enforce it and make it part of our grade. Most of us just did a quick in and out. I remember a lot of us being more concerned about maintaining our elaborate hair than being embarrassed by the group shower.

 

In high school I think I had to take two years of PE. Our PE was scheduled in the early part of the day, so most of us wanted to shower if we were doing something that made us sweaty like weight training. The teacher never went into the locker room which was nice because we could use the private stalls if they were available. Having so little supervision could get a little crazy though. I remember one girl using her hairspray (this was back in the era of Aquanet-powered big bangs) and a lighter to make a makeshift flamethrower. Fun times.

[SKL]

I used to have blue suede shoes, which I wore to school in all types of weather.  I lived in the "snow belt," and walked about a mile to school and back, so my shoes would get wet and stain my socks blue.  (Everyone wore white tube socks in those days.)  People would comment on my blue socks all the time.  I would try to brush it off, but at that age, it's easier said than done.  Sometimes I had a hole in my sock or some other wardrobe malfunction.  I didn't have parents who could run out and buy new every time a thread came loose.  Sometimes people would make "suggestions" or say "why don't you ___."  Then they would ask questions about the bumps on my legs (ingrown hairs which I inherited from my mom).  Ugh.  And like others have said, we never got sweaty in gym class anyway.

[kewb]

My junior high and high school had showers but no one used them after gym class. I do recall the gym teacher being quite disgusted by this. The reality was, they never left enough time to shower before the bell rang.

[HSmomof2]

Yikes.....I am so surprised at some of these experiences! PE was required in middle and high school, but showers weren't. I cannot imagine how horrified I would have been to be 'checked' for showering. I waivered out of PE in high school by taking music, honors classes, and foreign language all four years.

 

Ds attended public middle school last year, and showering wasn't required there either. They had a PE uniform to change into, but didn't have to shower.

[kiwik]

Advantage of attending a tiny rural school K-8..... mandatory gym, yes but no changing clothes and no showers.  Everyone had to have a pair of tennis shoes at school (to change out of snow boots) and you wore them in class, including gym. 

 

High school, we had to dress out for gym, but showers were only mandatory if you had swimming class (shower before entering the pool).

 

I was in the NZ equivalent in the seventies.  For PE we tucked our skirts in our knickers and took off our shoes if we happened to be wearing them or if we had remembered stuck shorts underneath our skirt then took the skirt off.  We only had changing rooms during swimming and no showers.  At high school we put on navy shorts and took off our uniform dresses.  I think we went barefoot inside and wore our uniform shoes outside but I certainly didn't have sports shoes and I think we may have just worn our uniform shirts. There were showers but I don't think many used them and there wasn't really time anyway.  Given I only had two shirts and it took days to get them washed an dried in the winter and I don't know that deodourant existed we must have got a bit smelly.

 

We did the public weigh ins though.

[Callie]

We had PE and showers every day, and the female teacher checked to make sure everyone showered naked. Absolutely shocking by today's standards.

This for 7th grade only after that showers were required but no one checked so I never showered again.

 

I really never showered in 7th grade either.  I'd just wrap a towel around me with my underwear & bra still on (straps pulled down) and pretend.  My mom was a teacher at the school and looking back now I realize the teacher just let me get away with it because there was no way she didn't know.  PE teacher was crazy scary about making students shower and checking.  This was in the mid 70's when teachers could be crazy bullies and get away with it.

[Callie]

Ours were hideous one piece polyester numbers--blue with vertical white pinstripes! They snapped at the shoulders.

I suspect I had the exact suit except it was green & white.

 

Reading some of these replies I am remembering the horrors of PE that started in the 7th grade.

[Pink and Green Mom]

We had PE and showers every day, and the female teacher checked to make sure everyone showered naked. Absolutely shocking by today's standards.

Same here. I graduated high school in 1988 in New Jersey.  PE was required all 4 years.  A gym teacher would sit by the showers and make sure your back was wet as you walked by.  You were exempt only if you had a note from your mom that said you had your period.

 

Middle school was the same.  Except I think we only had PE three times per week.  Our PE teacher used to put her chair up by the row of showers and make sure you washed.  With soap.

[OhanaBee]

We had PE everyday in junior high [early 80's] and showers were "mandatory".....except I don't remember anyone ever checking.  I don't sweat easily so I had absolutely no intention of ever getting in that shower, and honestly don't think I ever did take a shower junior high PE [my deepest apologies to all my classmates the year I had PE first period].   We were pretty lucky, though.  Ours was an old school and the girls' gym had private dressing rooms and showers.  The boys had the new gym with the open showers.

 

When we moved across the street to the high school [built in the mid-70s], we had open showers with a few private showers way in the back of the dressing room.  I was in PE for a few months before joining swim team and saying good-bye to that stupid PE class forever.  The funny thing is, once I was on Swim [and then Water Polo], I stopped caring about changing and showering in front of a bunch of girls.  Racing suits don't leave much to the imagination.

[J-rap]

In my junior high in California, we had gym every day, various periods.  We first had to change into these:

 

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/16395986117564154/

 

(Although I was in junior high in the 70's, not the 50's, as the photo states!)

 

Then we had to stand in line for roll call.  We would say "here" when they called our names, unless we were in the midst of our menstrual cycle.  If that was the case, we would silently raise our hands (not say "here"), and then the gym teacher made note of that.  It meant we didn't have to take a mass shower with everyone, but could just take a "sponge bath" in a private stall.

 

After gym, we had to take a shower all together in one giant shower, and the teacher did stand there and make sure we were all wet.

 

I didn't start my periods until I was 14, but I would still raise my hand for one week every month just to get out of taking those showers!