What was it like to do PE in bare feet?

Growing up in the US, going barefoot in PE was unheard of. We always wore sneakers (trainers) and socks. I remember a few gymnastic lessons in elementary school where we took our shoes off, but socks stayed on. After doing some research, I found out that it’s common in the UK to do PE in bare feet. Did you remove your footwear while getting changed, or were you told to? After reading some people’s experiences, I feel like I missed out on something.

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DavidT8899 · 22-25, M

In elementary school I had a co-ed Phys-Ed class taught by a very nice 20ish woman.The class was all indoors and her policy was that if you forgot to bring your sneakers,you had to participate barefoot.(You weren't allowed to wear socks because they were considered too slippery for the gym floor.)Many of the kids loved going barefoot during class and would purposely "forget" to bring the right shoes just to be able to do so.Im pretty sure the teacher knew what was going on with that but she almost never made an issue of it.One time,when myself and a girl in the class neglected to wear shoes for about a week,she did confront us about it.We were honest and admitted what we really doing,and she as much as told us that it was O K.In fact,she actually changed the policy to allow the students to go barefoot by choice-you still couldn't wear socks-but she did it in a way that was embarrassing for me and that girl.Personally,I've always thought that it our "punishment"for not being honest in the first place!

RaceFan88 · 31-35, M

@DavidT8899 interesting. In my school, I don’t know what happened if someone forgot their sneakers. Only saw that happen once and the person had to sit out.