I was also able to “medical” out of P.E. (junior high and high school).
(orthopedic [bone] issue that I outgrew once I became an adult)
I’m 2 years younger than him but all our HS classes shared a reunion site back when we were proud of getting old
Pre covid.
Now no one wants to attend a large gathering of old decrepit folks.
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I hated, hated, hated phys ed in high school and college and never discovered my niche until I started studying ballet as an adult. And I went 5-6 times a week for 25+years. And then I had emergency open heart surgery a decade after I quit. A big surprise for something that was kind of a rare, freak occurrence.
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Hated middle and high school PE but discovered folk dancing in college. Had a fabulous professor who every summer traveled to find, learn and save from extinction old dances. Her enthusiasm was infectious and that course was one of my top university memories.
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You’ve just given me a reminder of the worst part of grade school PE in the 70’s in the Midwest: square dancing. In an ‘only in America’ way, square dancing was championed by Henry Ford as a way to counter ‘race music’ like jazz, and thanks largely to lobbying from him and other intensely anti-communist, anti-Semitic, white supremacist organizations, got it written into the required school curriculum, and had it proclaimed the official ‘state dance’.
I wonder if that’s still done? It always felt very odd for a bunch of suburban kids, 15% of whom were Jews, to be promenading and do-si-do-ing.
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I couldn’t agree more. Funny/sad that square dancing is the most memorable American “folk dance”. The stuff I was describing ranged from pan-european, near eastern, African, Pacific island.
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We had square dancing in school also, but then my family went to a lot of folk festivals, so I already knew how. Square dancing was quite popular among one set of my friends.
How so? You think it’s somehow illegitimate?
We had it too, in Elementary School, in the East, with a whole lot of Jewish kids in the class as well. Go figure. I certainly didn’t dread it, like I did dodge ball.
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We had square dancing in Ontario, too, in the 1980s.
I also learned the Mexican Hat Dance for a holiday concert in Grade 2.
Haven’t thought about it in a long time, but these posts remind me: square dance, Mexican hat dance, Hokey Pokey and the Charleston. Not sure if this dancing gym was city-wide or if my elementary school just had a teacher who liked to dance? I also recall rope climbing, high jump and block racing, so maybe he was just trying to strike a balance?
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Oh. My. Gawd. THIS. Hated this with the fire of a thousand suns! Even back in HS, I had no core strength, I had no leg strength, I definitely had no arm strength. And yet we were forced to try and shimmy up that damn rope. I vaguely remember some slight rope burns on my hands and lower legs when I couldn’t hold on very well trying to get down.
Hated. It.
ETA: Let’s just say that the annual “Field Day” was never fun for me. Nor were the fugly gym suits we girls all had to wear. THAT pissed me off - guys could wear shorts and t-shirts. We had onesies we could only buy at a single store in town, and they were a mint green color. Something like this, but without the belt:
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I had to wear the same thing in junior high PE. Only ours were navy blue and sleeveless. Why?
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Ours were blue and had the belt. Lovely fashion statement.
For some reason my sisters and I all did public school through eighth grde and then Catholic all-girls high school. Gym was much more fun in HS. Not only did we get to wear shorts and t-shirts, they tied knots in the ropes to make climbing easier 
We were all pretty adept climbers without the knots . . . with the knots? No real effort needed.
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Oh, and the stupid elastic around the thighs? God they were tortuous.
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GAAAAAAAAAA! Unsee! Unsee! Unsee!
I had the same uniform in a scratchy knit with a zipper up the front. Dark green. We were forced to embroider our names on the back in bright yellow during mandatory home ec. class. shudder
And, of course, the boys got to wear shorts and t-shirts that had a small school logo printed on them.
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Some stupid school committee said so? Dunno - but they were atrocious.
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OK, so it looks like I was in the same dreadfully clothed company as many other female HOers “back in the day”.
I think they had those for us as well, but they were spaced apart (I think tied that way for the guys, not the girls). I was still probably a 90% failure at rope climbing.
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I recall the ‘Presidents Physical Fitness Test’ during my junior high and high school years. Sit-ups (way before crunches!), push-ups, pull-ups, running the track and maybe another element or two were measured. Only ONE girl in 8th grade could do a pull-up.
Our PE ‘uniform’ was a two piece, royal blue set with a side zipper on the shorts and a snap down collared top with one pocket. Our full name had to be embroidered on the front, above the pocket and the set could be bought at the sports store or the variety store in town. The fabric was my first experience with a cotton polyester blend and not comfortable at all. On one occasion I forgot to leave my retainer in my locker and put it in my chest pocket. I couldn’t find it after some tumbling routines. Yikes, it was discovered squished between two mats. That was the end of my orthodontia. The guys had ‘uniform’ t-shirts and ‘tennis’ type shorts with their full name stenciled on the back.
Us girls had to take ‘showers’ after each class and line up to show we had taken a shower or report ‘m’ for the monthly excuse. There was enough teen angst going on during those years; making us conform to somebody’s idea of unity was damaging. “Little Boxes” and “1984” came to mind frequently. I survived, cynical as all H-E-double hocky sticks.
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My biggest memory of the “Presidents Physical Fitness Test” was losing my footing on the shuttle run/block race and blowing my knee out. The gym teacher had decided to set it up on the tennis court, rather than in the gym. My sneakers (Kangaroo high tops) did not grip on whatever the court’s material was very well. I think I ended up missing two weeks of track practices/meets.
We were expected to change into shorts and a t-shirt, rather than some kind of uniform and no one monitored if we showered after. This would have been 1984 or 1985 public schools in central MA.
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Our Junior High onesies were white, but otherwise just like yours. Hated them. Then, when I went to a private school (excuse me, an “independent” school - or the dreaded “prep” school - which you were not supposed to call it) we wore hockey tunics over white blouses. Definitely better.
I actually took 3-cushion billiards for a PE class in college.
ETA: a hockey tunic then was like a short pleated jumper (dress, for you Brits) with a belt. It came with same colored bloomers that you wore underneath - over your underwear)
ETA part 2: I see they are called “gym slips” elsewhere. 
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