Shirts on or off?? -survey, please reply!

Yeah, at my high school this was always an ongoing issue. We'd always just take off our shirts once we got off campus. The argument for why the boy's team should have worn shirts always floored me (I shit you not!): because the girls track team couldn't go totally shirtless we shouldn't be able to either since you should be fair in terms of gender blah blah blah...My natural response was "Hey if girls want to go shirtless so be it" and when that one didn't fly we joked that it wasn't fair that we couldn't wear sports bras (there were rules against cross dressing) so girls shouldn't be allowed to wear them either.

My track coach also tried to use the argument that we should wear shirts because in terms of specificity we never race shirtless so we should get used to that in training. I remember saying that by that logic we should be given singlets to practice in since we don't actually race in shirts to which my coach just fell silent and stared at me. Turns out reasoning doesn't always accompany high school coaches.

So to summarize: being an adult rocks.

Shirtless. Happened at my high school, and was the worst thing that had happened to the team.

German, English, American Guy wrote:

Wise Guy wrote:

So how has your experience at Riyadh High been otherwise?

Yo may be laughing, but I live in that city and I cannot run outside. It is not smart for a white guy in short shorts to be running around the city alone. I spend hours on the treadmill every week.

But I am going to make it my personal research project how good you can train for the 10k/10m/HM range running only on a treadmill.

Oh, and on topic: shirts off. But in the US and Germany.

Sorry if I brought up a sore point. If it wasn't obvious, I was suggesting that it was unreasonable to find running shirtless indecent.

Good luck with your running and whatever you are doing in Riyadh!

Michael T.Smith wrote:

I recommend the following standard: what is acceptible and not indecent attire at a public swimming pool should be acceptible and not indecent attire for other outdoor athletic activities.

The is the stupidest idea possible.

What does attire that is acceptable for a swimming pool, a facility designed for...f#cking SWIMMING...have to do with what's acceptable for the track?

I just can't get over the bad logic you must apply to the rest of your life if this is how you think.

The rules are created to protect you from pedophile school teachers and lesbian gym teachers. What HS guy wants to be hit on by a 50 yr old science teacher or girl wants to be hit on by Porky's lesbian East German Gym teacher?

Wear your Shirts, people!

Depends if you want to deal with skin cancer later on.

Beejus Bright wrote:

The rules are created to protect you from pedophile school teachers and lesbian gym teachers. What HS guy wants to be hit on by a 50 yr old science teacher or girl wants to be hit on by Porky's lesbian East German Gym teacher?

Wear your Shirts, people!

I think a better course for you would be to do whatever you can to find a new high school. Hell, just settle for a GED if you have to.

Haven't bothered to read the entire thread, but in high school we practiced without shirts whenever it was hot out. Girls could go in just a sports bra whenever they wanted during practice.

What does the faculty at your school really believe? That going shirtless is too sexually explicit? Please. Kids can watch porn on their iPhones, but apparently they can't work out shirtless in the heat. Ridiculous.

We always went shirtless in high school and college when it was hot.

Interestingly, in college, we used to pass though an all-female college on several of our loops. Previous teams had been doing this for as long as anyone could remember (at least 20 years). One year, the security guards told us we couldn't come back without a shirt! We stopped running there as often and when we did often had to run away from security guards.

Agree with you. When I lived in Houston it was just torture to run in a shirt for about 10 months of the year. I am fairly modest, but I learned to run in a sports bra and shorts -- much more comfortable in oppressive heat and humidity. It seems reasonable to me for weather to dictate the shirt-on-or-off debate ...

The only time we had to have shirts on were if we were inside the school. Otherwise boys and girls were shirtless. Also, per NYS rules, you aren't allowed to have a shirt off at a meet, so be careful if you are changing into your singlet!

There was a study done in Oral Roberts university that schools that allowed guys to workout without shirts had 10x more unwanted pregnancies and abortions and stds. Schools that had "wear a shirt" rules had better grades and faster runners.

Our school is so strict about no shirts. Our girls team isn't very good so none of them just wear sports bras. We (the boys team) try to go shirtless all the time, but we never can do it on the track, only when going on the streets. BUt we've had people try to steal our shirts before, and apparently people from outside the school call our AD and tell him we're running shirtless? Its bs. But when we meet up over the summer we always go shirtless, and don't get in trouble. Our AD gets soooo pissed if he catches us though...He tries threatening us...

the smartest letsrunner wrote:

Michael T.Smith wrote:

I recommend the following standard: what is acceptible and not indecent attire at a public swimming pool should be acceptible and not indecent attire for other outdoor athletic activities.

The is the stupidest idea possible.

What does attire that is acceptable for a swimming pool, a facility designed for...f#cking SWIMMING...have to do with what's acceptable for the track?

I just can't get over the bad logic you must apply to the rest of your life if this is how you think.

The point is, people have gotten OVER their prudishness about male shirtlessness in public before, and all that is necessary, it would seem, is to remind them of the context in which they have no problem with it.

Thanks for your presumptuous concern over the quality of my life decisions beyond your conceivable range of knowledge. And you criticize MY logic.

At my school there were "shirt on" rules. They weren't particularly well-enforced though. Depended on your coach really. It was pretty easy to get away with during XC season, but harder in the spring (on the track). Once off campus though, you could generally get away with it. So, effectively, the only time that you had to have it on was while doing trackwork, during track season (you can do track work in the fall, too ya know). Because then the sprint coaches would get mad at you.

My school had the "shirts on" rule.

I was so happy they did.

My back was pretty messed up from acne it would've been humiliating if I was peer-pressured to take my shirt off. I actually went multiple years not taking my shirt off at the beach!.. along with wearing an undershirt under my uniform at meets.

Also, along with those affected by "backne" consider overweight or "chubby" athletes. I sure wouldn't want to hear a captain say, shirts off, and have to deal with embarrassment from teammates including girls.

P.Whelan wrote:

There was no rule against it at my school, which I think was kind of ironic, because even our fastest runners ran in boxers and basketball shorts. Seeing a bunch of dudes pounding out quarters shirtless in BBall shorts would be shocking to me these days, but when I was a part of it, it seemed normal.

Our school is home to only 2 short shorts wearers. Most schools here have none. Idk where youre from

Christophe wrote:

My school had the "shirts on" rule.

I was so happy they did.

My back was pretty messed up from acne it would've been humiliating if I was peer-pressured to take my shirt off. I actually went multiple years not taking my shirt off at the beach!.. along with wearing an undershirt under my uniform at meets.

Also, along with those affected by "backne" consider overweight or "chubby" athletes. I sure wouldn't want to hear a captain say, shirts off, and have to deal with embarrassment from teammates including girls.

Get over it. Not many fat kids run anyways. And no one tells the throwers to ditch the shirts. I had some acne, but others did too, and I was faster than those other kids, so who cares.

the public h.s. I ran for allowed boys and girls to run shirtless.

my college has a rule against it though.