Wacky Wet World 💦   Menu   Email 
Page banner image

15 and I finally like P/E class

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Wet Clothing Forum - Mud Pit ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Wetnboy on January 10, 2021 at 00:07:31

As you may have noticed I’m progressing somewhat chronological in my stories; up to Age 15 now as a Sophmore (Grade 10) in high school. I was on the younger side and never all that great at sports. Not the last kid picked for teams, but in the bottom handful for sure. P/E was definitely not my thing in school, especially in 9th grade where all boys had to swim naked at 13 going on 14 yrs. old. I wasn’t ready for that. Flip the page and it is the next year; we spent the 1st 6 weeks of P/E in Boy’s wrestling (which I was really good at getting pinned fast by my classmate in the same weight class who won state championships in wrestling competitions). After that we then rotated outside just as the weather started to turn in mid-October. Our grizzled old P/E teacher with a gray/black beard was short, gruff and never smiled – quite an encouragement to all of us to pursue something other than becoming a High School P/E teacher. He grunted as much as he talked.

We were always required to wear our P/E uniform (kit) or sit out and get a zero for that day. The uniform was made up of short gym trunks (they were all short back then) and a double layer shirt. You were required to wear white (not colored) socks and ‘gym’ athletic shoes which could be low or high-top. The double layer shirts were interesting. They were cotton and constructed of two layers. The school colors had been Navy Blue and Gold (yellow) the year before as we were part of a split school system where all the 9th and 10 graders went to our campus and the 11th and 12th grades all went across town. In my 10th grade year that changed to both campuses becoming 4 year schools and the other (East) campus kept the mascot and colors. Our school got to vote to choose a new mascot and school colors. We chose the ‘Raiders’ – a pirate with an eye patch, and colors of Kelly Green and Gold (yellow). Those of us that already had bought a gym uniform in 9th grade were allowed to continue using our Navy/Yellow uniforms unless you lost or destroyed it and had to buy another which then was in Green/Yellow. Back to the double layer shirts - the outside layer of fabric was Navy with the school name and the inside layer when you turned the shirt inside out was solid Yellow. When playing team games in P/E if you were on the Gold (Yellow) team you inverted your shirt to show the yellow outside.

I remember it well when our gruff grizzled old P/E instructor sat us all down on the last day of wrestling to announce that the girls were now finished using the field across the street and that our boy’s class would now have it for the next 6 weeks for Flag Football (American Football). We all looked at each other knowing that it was already getting cold and would be freezing before Halloween so someone asked the inevitable question “What if it’s too cold?, Or even raining?” That drew a grunt and a low throated calm response. “We go out no matter what the weather”. Looking around you saw the concern on everyone’s face as our not-too concerned P/E instructor said “You boys are now in the 10th GRADE! You are NOT in grade school anymore. In 10th Grade we go out no matter the weather; everyone understand?” Someone of course had to retort (with a whine), “But last year we played flag football inside in the gym when the weather was too cold or it was raining outside, don’t we get to do that this year?” By now our previously calm instructor began raising his voice as he grunted again loudly and said “That was 9th Grade and I don’t care what the 9th Grade P/E Instructors did; In my 10th Grade classes we go ’outside’ for Football!!!” Then after an awkward silence and in a much softer tone he said. I know it’s going to be cold and so this is what I allow you to wear ‘underneath your uniform’. You must have your uniform on top and visible at all times, but you can bring in and wear another T-shirt, long-sleeve T-shirt or a sweatshirt underneath your Gym shirt. Under your Gym trunks you can wear sweatpants if you have them or pants or jeans – I don’t care; just make sure the uniform is on top. Oh, and another thing – it’s been raining a bit and the field over there has several low spots, some right on the playing field and with classes all day each day it gets a bit muddy at times, so anything you bring in to wear under your uniform; make sure it’s not your good clothes as it’ll likely get wet and muddy and I don’t want any calls from any parents that you ruined good clothes. You’ll take everything home on Fridays and get it washed – got it?”

I went home that day and prepared. I had a very old sweatshirt my uncle passed down to me that was ‘too big’ for me but very worn and soft in a faded light blue color. Under the uniform shirt it felt great and would keep me warm; well as warm as possible when the wind wasn’t blowing. Under the trunks I decided that since I didn’t have any sweats like some of the boys did I’d wear a old pair of Sears ‘Tough-skin’ dark red color jeans that still fit from 9th grade, although snugger now than the year before. I didn’t like the feel of those old red jeans very much now that I’d gotten a few pair of Levis and had become a Levis boy. Those Tough-skins were tough though as they were a cotton/poly blend and you could slide on anything and they wouldn’t rip.

True to his word, we all went outside starting the following Monday in the cold and even in the rain. To warm us up he had us run a few laps around the inside perimeter of the fence before splitting into teams for football. Most days the field had softer slightly muddy areas, but after or during rain it had mud ‘puddles’. When I say mud, I’m not talking about thin tan or milky brown mud; I’m talking thick dark chocolate brown heavy mud! Just like most other sports I was not any good at football either, but I actually enjoyed being out there, save for the frigid cold. I remember ice on the puddles one morning and the wind blowing the bitter cold damp air to where you just tried to get your hands under your gym trunks in to your jeans pockets as the bone chilling cold sent a shiver up your spine. Let’s move, run, anything was better than the pre-play huddle standing there freezing and yet we continued day after day. The next class period after gym was when you thawed out. I think more than one of us caught a cold or sounded hoarse during those weeks.

So how wet and messy did I get during those 6 weeks? I recall more overcast gray days with muddy and/or wet fields than I do dry during that time. The fields just never fully dried. I was younger and smaller than most my classmates who started school a year older than I did due to where my birthday fell in the fall, so I wasn’t a ball handler at all and was assigned as a ‘blocker’ both on offense and defense. Many times I failed to find anyone to block as the faster guys just ran around me, but when I got up against a bigger slower heavier boy I often would slip and slide to stay afoot as the other boy and I got to pushing and blocking, with me mostly going backwards. There were plenty of times while being pushed and sliding backward that I’d lose my footing and fall down getting sleeves on the sweatshirt along with muddy jeans and gym trunks. We’d shove our muddy clothes in our P/E lockers in the gym locker room to use them repeatedly all week until after Friday’s class we were required to take them home to get them washed for the following week. Those Red Tough-Skin jeans always had a coating of dried mud from the knees down and typically the butt where it had soaked thru the navy blue gym trunks and sometimes all the way down the side of leg too.

10th Grade freezing football in the mud – the first time I enjoyed P/E. I’ll have to admit that some of those trips into the mud may have been slightly intentional and arousing. It was tougher to tell with the gym trunks mostly fitting so loosely, but you’d notice some of us with a bulge in the jeans under them. Of course if you landed in a wet mud puddle your briefs got wet allowing you to feel the dampness for a couple hours which was also enjoyable for me.

When we came inside after those 6 weeks we then had swimming, but for the first time ever the boys wore swimsuits which they’d issue to us each day and collect after class as we left the showers to wash and dry them for the next day. Why did we have to have swimsuits starting that year after decades of boys swimming naked? The swimming pool began to be shared during the class periods with girl’s classes at the same time. So that school year was a first-ever partial co-ed P/E class, even though we stayed in separate areas of the pool.

Well, that doesn’t mean us boys back then wore suits to swim when not at school. I’m not talking about skinny dipping either. The Church Y/G would go ‘swimming’ at Cedar Lake about 30 minutes away at least once each summer and I remember very few boys wearing swim suits as most of us liked to wear our old faded Levis cut-offs. I remember enjoying the awesome feeling of being in the deeper cool water swimming in those Levi cut-offs and climbing out and up onto the floating dock which had a diving board to dive back in. Now that was the best swim wear; don’t you agree?

Have a Safe Wacky Wet Week!


Follow Ups:


Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:

Subject:

Comments:

Optional Image URL:

Security Code *
random image
This security code tells us you are human and not a spam robot.

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ Wet Clothing Forum - Mud Pit ] [ FAQ ]