vintage gym class memories

Physical education classes were more enjoyable for both the students and teachers alike when the class size allowed something other than just calisthenics and running laps.  I don't recall seeing crab soccer but the view up the shorts of the boy third from the right shows why a formal "jock check" wasn't always necessary in checking uniforms.

This high school yearbook posted photos of the daily PE classes. Poor images but should bring back memories of being either a student or PE teacher. Note there are 7 vertical rows indicating the 7 class periods. There were probably 2 PE teachers, one having the boys on the left and the other on the right. The school where I taught had between 12 to 16 boys in each class and only 4 classes per day, but the photo reminds me of my student teaching year where 30+ was the norm. It was impossible to accomplish what was expected of a teacher (particularly a student teacher) in the 55 minute class period. 5 minutes after the final bell we had to take attendance and check uniforms, including jock checks (and included cup checks at schools which required them).

Then have the class do 5 to 10 minutes of calisthenics, followed by the daily activity of basketball, touch football tumbling, wrestling, pyramids etc. Warm weather meant track activity such as running springs, hurdles and high jumps but always included some laps around the track, trying for a mile timed run at least once a week.

At the school where I did my student teaching the gym was only as big as one basketball court. On days when the girls PE class used the swimming pool in bad weather there wasn't room on the gym floor for 60 to 70 boys to participate in any activity other than calisthenics and us teachers were expected to walk through the rinks providing "motivation" to those not "in the spirit"

PE teachers were often required to verify that thorough showers were taken. No one could remember names of 120 students, so at my school district each boy had an attendance number assigned and roll call was done merely by checking numbers painted on the gym floor. A similar method was used to check showers as each boy merely stated his attendance number which was checked off when he picked up a towel leaving he shower.

Somehow in spite of this chaos we were expected to provide report card grades for each individual student. Figure that one out!

Finally, many schools laundered PE clothes and provided a clean gym uniform to each boy daily. If you look at the number of students at this school, add a towel for each one plus add in perhaps 30 athletic uniforms (football, baseball, basketball etc. it certainly made for a daily chore for the laundry crew.

Memories anyone?

( I found this posting in a male fetish blog, but found it of interest because the special fitness training programs were occurring during my senior year pursuing a degree in physical education, and there was extreme disapproval by academics over the Army method of forced overload physical training.  It is my understanding that the programs were an expensive failure from about every perspective)   Bob

This reminiscence will probably be best appreciated by anyone who served in the Army during the era of the Vietnam War draft, but for others it might do nothing else but reflect on jockstraps, Physical Training and untimely hard-ons in the course of military life.

As a combat medic, I did 5 weeks at a Missouri Army training base, assigned to a special remedial physical fitness company for what were classified as non-standard draftees. In order to sustain conscription numbers Selective Service waived height, weight and medical fitness standards for Army draftees. Overweight conscripts were sent to a similar program in a Louisiana Army base and we received the classic 90 lb. weaklings in Missouri. Many of these kids were too weak to even carry their 40 lb.duffel bags from Quartermaster issue station to their barracks without help, so the Army cycled them thru repeatable 30 day programs of intense physical training, prior to transferring them to regular basic training companies.The Army lingo for the program was Operation Runts into Grunts, since most of them would eventually be assigned to infantry.

Without boring you with details, the recruits did PT, all day, 6 days a week with usually one weekly all night sandbag weighted ruck march. They were pushed to their limits and required us medics to scrape them up off of the grinder when they collapsed from heat or exhaustion and get them to the triage tent. The recovery tent was a story in itself as the SOP was to strip them down, hose them off to cool them down then monitor their pulse and temperature (yea thru the tailpipe thermometer) then let them rest to get rid of nausea etc. At the same time, the Drill Sgt. and PTI were screaming at us to get them pack into formation for more PT. In the time frame I was there they wore PT Alpha uniforms (gym shoes, socks, jock, OD tee shirts and gym shorts.) Shortly after my gig ended these companies converted back to fatigues and combat boots, just like the thousands of other trainees on base.

Almost all of the special company recruits were issues small size BUB brand jocks. These were serious jocks, stayed in place and tightly held their man parts all day. They were also green in color matching their shorts and shirts. They were each issued three jockstraps and no other underwear, but that is probably a story for a later time.

About 17:00 hours each day, when dismissed the recruits gladly returned to their barracks, threw their sweaty PT gear in the laundry bin and looked forward for their showers. My partner and I were also glad to get out of our BDU's and join them in a refreshing shower. We had to stay in the shower area as 30 minutes after PT we had to record the weights and pulse rates of each man.

Well, hard-ons happened. Certainly nothing related to sexual horseplay as they were way too tired, but it seemed like every few days a recruit would display a serious erection in the shower, and like clockwork they would become contagious. It made for a crazy sight a dozen or so "cannons" ranging from 4" to 10" suddenly pointing outward and upward! My guess is that thee hard-ons may have been caused by nothing else than their dicks deciding to stretch out a bit having been constrained by tight jockstraps all day.

I recently came across a blog called alt.support jockstraps.  It has a lot of postings dating back into the 1990′s describing the era of mandatory jockstraps in PE classes.   This posting from a thread on jock checks caught my attention because having earned an undergraduate degree in physical education, I despised these ex-military Rambos who were awarded PE teachers certificates with the only qualifications being they had discharge papers and could sound a coaches whistle loudly.  Most of these jerks probably couldn’t identify 3 muscle groups, or pass a rules exam on a single sport.

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Markey, you exactly describe jock checks at my Jr. High. We had to

stand on our assigned floor painted attendence number and hold down the

right leg strap.

No big deal as I on't think the gym shorts back then had over a 2 inch

inseam.

High school was something different.

About 100 boys in each class, split between 3 gym instructors. Two of

the gym teachers could care less whether you wore a jock. They checked

to see that you suited up but after attendence you often didn't even see

them again.

After the first couple of weeks most guys quit wearing their jocks.

The third 9th grade PE teacher wad a real work of art. He was an

ex-military drill sergeant wanna-be. Everyone in his section had to

wear a jock and cup to all classes. The white gym shorts we wore back

then made the cups stick out like hubcaps, but regardless he would often

make everyone thump their cups with their knuckles during roll call.

While most of us would sit on the benches on the side of the gym

yacking and watching other guys shoot hoops, he worked the asses off of

his class making everyone do calisthenics for 10 or 15 minutes each day.

When it was warm outside he would make his class go out on the track

and about once a week they had to run a mile.

We all shared a big locker room, but he require everyone in his section

to shower. One of my close friends was in his class and we shared

adjacent gym lockers. One day when I wa changing I remember him

stripping off for his shower after having run what I am sure was at

least a mile He was real small for 9th grade.

I don't remember whether the cup he wore was metal or plastic, but it

was obviously way too big for him and the front of his thighs looked

like hamburger. ""

I hadn’t played sports as a kid, so I only had a fleeting knowledge of athletic wear. And no older brother or other boy that I had hung out with.  First day of 7th grade PE in 1983, our coach comes in and says a jockstrap would be required every day, and we would take showers every day. The only group showers I’d been in were at the public pool or at the YWCA pool, and most everyone wore their swim trunks in the shower.

I had never heard the term “jockstrap” and didn’t know what one was. I asked a buddy, and he said, “You know, an athletic supporter, a jock!"  I DIDN’T know, so he kind of explained, and told me where he bought his cheap, an All-Star brand jock.

Next day, I had my gym uniform, but my mom had skipped over the athletic supporter listing. (I’ve always wondered why?)  Our coach said he’d give us grace for a few days to get all of our gear, but I watched out of the corner of my eyes in amazement as 20 or so other young boys stripped out of their school clothes to change.  I saw what a jockstrap was, and realized that I’d seen my dad’s before, but didn’t know what it was, what it was for, or how it was worn.  Most of the boys just pulled their jock on OVER their tighty-whities (NO boxers or boxer briefs were worn, and only one or two kids had colored Fruit-of-the Loom briefs).  One boy took off his underwear, (flashing the first un-circumcised penis I had ever seen), pulled up his jock, and then pulled his white briefs over. No one, not even the "jocks”, wore just their jockstrap under their shorts. I always wondered why.

Later on, more switched to wearing their jock under their underwear for PE, and no one wore cups in PE for any activity.

After the first class in our uniforms, it was shower time.  I nervously stalled by my locker as I watched the other boys. Some stripped down entirely and walked to the shower holding their towels to cover them, some wore their jock and briefs back to the shower where they stripped them off and hung them on hooks, and some tightly wrapped a towel around them for the walk. I stripped and put the towel around me. 

The showers were full, and I don’t remember if we shared bar soap, or if there were liquid soap dispensers.  It was my first time seeing that many naked guys! And they were all sizes, thickness, length, hung in different directions and angles, with various amounts of hair.  (No one shaved down their back then). Puberty hadn’t hit some of the guys yet, others looked like full-blown adults. I was pleased to see that, although my voice hadn’t changed yet, I had more hair than several of the guys, and was about average in size. Not large, but nowhere near the smallest either.

After showers, many of the guys just pulled back on their sweaty underwear they had just taken off. Some had clean pairs in their gym bags, and some just free-balled the rest of the day.  I remember one guy, he was one of the taller boys, average size for his equipment, would pull up his Levi 501 jeans with the button fly, and button up leaving his dick and/or balls hanging out, and dance around. Once as we dressed, an upperclass cheerleader came through to go to the trainer’s office, and saw him!  She smirked.

All of the other gym clothes, including shorts, shirt, towel and jockstrap, would be hung on hooks inside your locker to dry overnight, unless you were taking them home.  Some of the lockers were a thick mesh wire, so you could see that guy’s stuff hanging out. It was interesting to see the brands of jockstraps and underwear others wore. Some had multiple in their locker as they also played sports and needed a dry one to put on after school.  I saw several leg straps pulled through the mesh of the locker, and be hanging there, maybe ripping the jock, maybe being stolen altogether!