Allowing elementary students to climb 30 to 40 feet in the air to touch the rafters of the gym with little to no padding or safety features would NOT fly today.

[-]

classless_classic@reddit

It took me 5 months of CrossFit to figure out how to move up the rope a couple feet.

My chubby teenage ass couldn’t move a single inch.

[-]

ominous_squirrel@reddit

They never even taught any technique. Just pointed at the ceiling and said “go”

Like, what the hell? Maybe rope days were just the days that the PE teacher was hung over and didn’t have a lesson plan?

[-]

Muleahcar@reddit

This right here. They never showed us how to do it!

[-]

wookiegiImore@reddit

I don't think there was anything to teach. you either had the upper body strength to pull yourself up or you didn't.

[-]

isfet_@reddit

This was the main issue with gym teachers back then. I spent half my life believing I had zero athletic ability when in reality it was that I had no one to teach me any technique

[-]

Mr_Pogi_In_Space@reddit

Yeah, the joke back then was "Those who can't do, teach. And those who can't teach, teach gym"

[-]

DRARCOX@reddit

Chuck Norris taught me!

Sidekicks Rope Climbing Scene

[-]

YourOwnPunkyBrewster@reddit

Mmm Jonathan Brandis😍 def my first crush.

[-]

Fallen_Jalter@reddit

Maybe they expected you to learn it as part as your normal childhood growing up

[-]

Accurate-Temporary73@reddit

I’m with you. I never got any higher than I could jump. I never understood at all how people could climb a rope like that

[-]

MeGussuGeM@reddit

I was only able to pull myself up from the prone to standing position.

[-]

RVAforthewin@reddit

I finally learned the technique around the age of 30. Had they taught the technique, which includes almost no upper body strength, then 99% of kids would have been able to do this without issue.

[-]

sfcameron2015@reddit

Me either. There were the kids who were PUMPED to show off how fast they could go. I kinda hung on it for a sec and was “welp, guess that’s all I got. 🤷🏼‍♀️”

[-]

CariniFluff@reddit

Shit I was pumped. That was one of the most fun things we did in PE.

I still have absolutely no idea how no one got hurt. I Guess it was kind of self-limiting in that. Only the kids who could and wanted to climb high actually did and the ones who either didn't want to or couldn't only got a foot or two off the ground. My friends and I raced to get to the top and back down the fastest.

I remember one of the ropes for first timers even had like racquet balls sewn in every foot to help your hands and feet catch on something if you started to slip.

[-]

Maleficent_Gas5417@reddit

We had a kid in gym who said “I’m gonna touch the top and then slide down as fast as I can.” And he did. Went exactly like you’d think too. Dude’s hands were meat when he got to the bottom

[-]

unsuspectingllama_@reddit

I was the show off kid and I regret nothing. Of course now I couldn't go more than a couple of feet at best lol

[-]

FormidableMistress@reddit

I made an "effort" and then gave up. I didn't have a fear of heights, but I did have a fear of the same gym equipment my mom had used 25 years earlier. The same coaches too. I was so glad when they phased out the climbing ropes.

[-]

dylan_kun@reddit

I remember walking during our 1 mile runs in gym class. I've ran many miles voluntarily since then, but there's something about being forced to that made me not want to.

[-]

hadmeatwoof@reddit

Same. I could do flips through the rings on my swing set, pull myself up on top of my monkey bars, swing across them. But I could not move even an inch up the rope, and couldn’t do a pull up to save my life.

[-]

hi984390@reddit

Oh man my favorite was putting a coat over the bar then having oking one leg over and grabbing it from under the bar. If you could kick and get enough momentum you could spin around and around the bar. I would do that all recess if they let me.

[-]

FoppyRETURNS@reddit

Climbing is mad hard!

[-]

Natural_Return_4650@reddit

Bro I was shopping in the "husky" section. I was there with you

[-]

Bajovane@reddit

And we girls were “chubby”. I hated it.

[-]

Lord-Curriculum@reddit

Does hanging on the rope count as on the ground? That was as far as I got. And JFC!? I had totally forgotten about this sh*t. What the Hell were people thinking back then?

[-]

thunderlips36@reddit

They put the gymnastics mat at the bottom in case you fell. All safety precautions were followed

[-]

winetotears@reddit

You forgot to mention it was 30 years old and the vinyl was cracking. How the hell did we survive?

[-]

SubstanceNo1544@reddit

We were part genx(dont quit) and part melennial (find a solution) the answer is.. we never fell

[-]

WalmartGreder@reddit

I just couldn't get 5 feet off the ground. I think there were only like 6 kids in my class that could climb the rope.

[-]

purpleWord_spudger@reddit

I was a gifted kid allowed to do PE for the first time in 4th grade. They gavenormal. second half of the school year to see what it was like to be "nornal". I learned that I had not learned to climb one foot of rope, let alone 30, or run faster than your average 2nd grader (short and scrawny) or anything else useful physically useful while we were going on field trips to the symphony and drawing the images evoked by different composers. Culture shock in my west phoenix elementary school. That rope (and asthma) sent me back to nerd land faster than planned. I always wondered if I had been allowed to do the normal physical recess from k to 4th if I might be a bit better with my body. Probably I was always going to be a clumsy person that forgets to turn my head in the direction my body is moving first. Guess we'll never know 🙃

[-]

YourOwnPunkyBrewster@reddit

Wait—all I had to do to get out of PE was be smarter??? That’s the loophole?! Man….i would have studied WAY harder had I known.

[-]

HearingDue2119@reddit

Why did being gifted keep you from participating in gym?

[-]

purpleWord_spudger@reddit

they transported the gifted kids to the junior high on special (art, pe, music, etc) days so we wouldn't miss out on as much classroom time. those of us tagged early never experienced any of them, until we started complaining. but by then, we'd already missed enough not to know how to behave or participate. in my district, you could be smart or you could be anything else, no overlap

[-]

FungiStudent@reddit

Your school experience sounds fascinating

[-]

studiokgm@reddit

I made it all the way to the top in Kindergarten. I remember being at the top wondering what to do. The next year, I don’t know what changed, but I could barely make it half way.

[-]

flamingknifepenis@reddit

Look at you, all fancy pants being able to even get off the knot.

[-]

BasvanS@reddit

We invented hold on for dear life. Failure is not an option

[-]

Lensgoggler@reddit

Well how else do you make sure kids cling onto the rope for dear life? 😀 Fear isa great motivator!

[-]

nellyruth@reddit

We did. They didn’t.

[-]

BossRoss84@reddit

But there was another kid at the bottom holding your rope, there to cushion your fall.

[-]

thunderlips36@reddit

I was too fat to get both feet off the ground, I wasn't getting hurt on that thing

[-]

winetotears@reddit

I was a stick-figure. Maybe made it 10Ft.

[-]

Lil_Elf81@reddit

Duh, the duct tape held it together

[-]

covfefe-boy@reddit

Those that did are here to marvel at our survival.

Those that did not are not.

That's the logical fallacy of "survivorship bias" we never learned because were too busy climbing ropes.

[-]

jugdeesh@reddit

Our mat was 2 inches thick, lol

[-]

shiddedandfarded69@reddit

Our teacher just put a thin blanket down

[-]

thunderlips36@reddit

Yeah, and falling apart. Standard issue

[-]

PsyOpBunnyHop@reddit

Yep, standard mats.

[-]

Dpgillam08@reddit

I like how OP says "allowed"; we were required to do it at my school.

[-]

HourCoat2766@reddit

I fell

[-]

dreamyduskywing@reddit

Back then, falling off the rope showed moral failure.

[-]

1block@reddit

Well I hope you were happy with yourself. And here you are being all dramatic about it still.

[-]

CrouchingDomo@reddit

Get this Redditor some short-shorts and a whistle! Clipboard optional 😉

[-]

kcbrooklyn1@reddit

Did they tell you “don’t cry man, girls are here. Just walk it off, walk it off!”

[-]

cleffawna@reddit

I dangled at the bottom for a few seconds

[-]

Solid-Hedgehog9623@reddit

We also had the climbing poles with the bell at the top outside. It was only about 20 feet high and there was a 3 inch layer of sand at the bottom just in case.

[-]

thunderlips36@reddit

Maybe stuff like that was the real reason the school nurse was checking your spine for bends

[-]

classless_classic@reddit

2 inches of the worst foam imaginable was kind of overkill.

[-]

Initial_Entrance9548@reddit

I got about 3 feet off the ground, so I was good 😅.

[-]

New_Kangaroo_4051@reddit

We had a big cargo net we’d climb up and there’d be like 6 other kids up there too. But the rock climbing wall on the outside of the building was far too dangerous.

[-]

YourOwnPunkyBrewster@reddit

Yes!! I was just talking to my husband about this the other day, as I’ve been lifting the last couple years, and wondered if I could still do the rope climb…! Now I don’t think I’d be able to find one to try. MAN I WANT TO!!

Let’s start a summer camp for Xennials, where all the activities are awesome things that have disappeared. I’m old enough to sign a waiver now!

[-]

LaLa_820@reddit

I wanted to reach the top so bad but barely got off the ground. Plus, got rope burn on my hands. I want to find something like this for the grandson. I think he might be able to do it.

[-]

mofozo@reddit

I definitely did this lol. We called it the tippy top club in gym class. We also had the flippy flop club which was running as fast as possible, jumping on a spring board and perform a full flip in the air as you catapulted yourself toward the cement wall covered in a gym mat. Good times 🤣

[-]

dragon34@reddit

This, the presidential fitness tests with the mile run and stuff this would have been a great opportunity for actually teaching how to progress to achieve a goal.

Like what exercises you do to build strength and endurance but no let's just mock people who aren't from active households or who aren't naturally athletic.

My gym teachers traumatized me. If anyone treats my kid that way I am probably going to jail

[-]

rangeghost@reddit

We never had to do this, so I don't know if I'm too young for the cutoff or if they just didn't require it in my region.

[-]

Lordmorgoth666@reddit

Same here. We did have a big cargo net (picture what sailors would climb in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies) that we were allowed to climb to the rafters though. It was mounted to the wall and the base was about 8 feet away from the wall so it had an incline to it.

They put one of the really thick gym mats underneath it and our game was to climb to the top, go around the side and dangle and then drop to the mat.

[-]

TheManOfSpaceAndTime@reddit (OP)

I think a lot of schools might have had the idea that it probably wasnt safe. No idea where they got that from.

[-]

CheckYourStats@reddit

A few people here have said they never had to do this. Neither did I.

Honestly, when I saw it in a movie or TV show, I thought it was made up.

I grew up in the SF bay. Curious where others were.

[-]

XDariaMorgendorferX@reddit

I’m in the Midwest, born in 83, and I remember doing it one time in school, except the ropes had knots every few feet so it really wasn’t much of a challenge. Not sure exactly what the point was, though.

[-]

jayhof52@reddit

By the time I was in elementary school, the climbing ropes were still there but we only used them as Tarzan ropes on obstacle course days.

[-]

I_Can_Barely_Move@reddit

My elementary used them until 5th grade. I loved climbing that thing. I could zip up to the taped line. Sure scared me to look down, though.

[-]

mnfimo@reddit

We totally had to do this, but not many kids could actually do it, me being one of

[-]

OkBiscotti1140@reddit

We didn’t either but also I went to an inner city public school with a gym the size of a closet.

[-]

cspinelive@reddit

You probably never had the magical experience of waving and running underneath a giant parachute either?

[-]

rangeghost@reddit

Definitely had the parachute. Also all the games with the flat roller carts.

[-]

neverJamToday@reddit

They did it before Millennials, they did it after Millennials, they still do it today.

[-]

gorilla-ointment@reddit

Parachute, yes. Rope climb, no.

[-]

Spartan04@reddit

Same here, we had the parachute plenty of times but never rope climbing.

[-]

ominous_squirrel@reddit

They should have combined the two

[-]

Big_Peace5725@reddit

This always scared the hell out of me but I was able to do it the last year that we had it in elementary school and i was really proud of myself

[-]

DireKnife@reddit

I had an orgasm doing this

[-]

davidmar7@reddit

Surprisingly we never did this. Born in 1978.

[-]

Sea-Appearance-5330@reddit

Youve got padded floors if that's a normal school.

[-]

cooldogfaceismyname@reddit

We even climbed with a pencil in our mouth! We'd write our name on the ceiling before climbing down.

[-]

bingbingdingdingding@reddit

I love how the spotter on the right is the gym teacher. The spotter on the left is an even smaller child.

[-]

Appropriate-Food1757@reddit

It was the best. I loved that damn rope climb

[-]

seminarysmooth@reddit

We were allowed to climb upside down to the top. One slip and you were definitely dying.

[-]

levarrishawk@reddit

This weak generation of iPad kids couldn’t get off the ground at all anyway.

[-]

Baroque1123@reddit

How many of you did this in gym? They wouldn't have allowed it even when i was in school. Maybe at camp with some paddling.

[-]

ImpossibleStuff963@reddit

Asking kids to do anything would not fly today

[-]

BooBeeAttack@reddit

They tried this with us in the early 90s.

The support for the rope broke when the gym teacher was starting to show us how and the rope came falling down.

Needless to say no ropes were climbed that day and we all played "Capture the fort DodgeBall" using the blue mats as forts to hide behind as we chucked red rubber balls at each other with all the fury and rage that young children possess.

The gym teacher was fine btw, but that was the end of rope climbing for my school.

[-]

Excellent-Goal4763@reddit

I was the first to reach the ceiling in kindergarten. It was my athletic peak.

[-]

TamponFightNight@reddit

I was always able to do this which is crazy considering how uncoordinated I am. I remember basically everyone being able to do it when we did it in gym class…but we were all scrappy poor kids living in shitty situations so that probably helped somehow.

[-]

BoredPandemicPanda@reddit

At least this was monitored. The rusty jungle gym with the concrete ground was where the true battles were faught.

[-]

Millkstake@reddit

They covered the ground with sharp wood chips for us

[-]

dreamyduskywing@reddit

No pea gravel? You guys must have been ahead of the times!

[-]

NicolesPurpleHair@reddit

Lucky! We had rocks.

[-]

OmicronPerseiNate@reddit

Ours was concrete was about three inches of sand on it. The sharp wood chips came from the wooden beams holding the sand in

[-]

erween84@reddit

Rusty jungle gym? I raise you that for a castle made out of jagged wood 2x4s. I remember a kid impaled his nose on a hollowed out piece of wood in the early 90s. He sat there crying as a sharp stick stuck 1/2way out his nose, blood dripping on the ground. Here I sit traumatized over 30+ yrs later. I wonder how that guy is doing now. 😅

[-]

Elenakalis@reddit

We had a 20 foot tower that only had ropes at shoulder height to a kindergartener. One of my classmates decided to Superman off it and broke both arms and messed up his ankle. The tower stayed until I was almost done with high school.

We used to have merry go rounds, but those were removed when I was in 1st or 2nd grade. I went to school with a lot of pentecostal girls. One of them was laying on her back, with her head facing out. Her hair got caught on the underside of the merry go round and she had a traumatic scalp injury. There was so much blood and I think we had indoor recess the next few days while they got things cleaned up and the merry go round out of there.

[-]

Amazing_Recording_31@reddit

Don’t forget the rusty nails!

[-]

Impressive-Record839@reddit

I had a friend get a 3' long splinter in his leg. Was in a cast for over a year

[-]

YoHabloEscargot@reddit

3… FEET?!

[-]

Impressive-Record839@reddit

Yep. The whole playground was torn down about a year later

[-]

ominous_squirrel@reddit

gif

[-]

Initial_Entrance9548@reddit

Why are there no 10 foot jungle gyms anymore? This is a weirdly old picture, but this is the exact style jungle gym we had at my local park in the 90s ?

?

[-]

smashy_smashy@reddit

I’m in MA and I have a 10 and 7yo. They’ve been building massive features at playgrounds for a while now. Things to climb taller than this. Playgrounds are pretty bad ass these days.

[-]

Bajovane@reddit

Yep! Same in mine!

[-]

Gonna_do_this_again@reddit

I remember playing king of the hill on the dome ones

[-]

dewihafta@reddit

I much preferred the dome.

[-]

Lehk@reddit

We had that with sand under it, a few years later they switched to wood chips, a huge mistake that gave everyone splinters

[-]

6thBornSOB@reddit

2 kids enter, 1 kid leaves!

This…is THUNDERDOME!

[-]

Gian_Luck_Pickerd@reddit

🎵 We don't need another hero...

[-]

1block@reddit

I was too busy on the teeterpault.

[-]

FormidableMistress@reddit

This gave me a cruel chuckle.

[-]

AppropriateCattle69@reddit

Do kids still chicken-fight on the monkey bars?

[-]

1block@reddit

I just caught myself momentarily wondering if "chicken-fight" is PC.

Not even making fun of PC. I've just developed a gut reaction that anything we called anything 40 years ago is inappropriate.

[-]

Muleahcar@reddit

Most of the time you are right

[-]

FormidableMistress@reddit

Oooooh! I feel this memory in my teeth. 😬

I slipped on the bottom bar of the Qbert jungle gym in kindergarten and busted my upper lip so bad that little piece of skin that attaches the lip to the gum was ripped away. Miraculously my teeth were fine and my nose wasn't broken. That piece healed but I had black eyes and talking was weird for a little bit. To this day blocked sinuses will feel like I got punched in the nose.

[-]

Love_for_2@reddit

Ooh before we were forced to climb my teacher thought it would be a good idea to tell the class a story about how the gym matt wasnt in the correct place one time and a kid fell from the top, cracked their head and died.

Now get climbing!

[-]

Ynot2_day@reddit

In my (46F) gym we had smooth rope and knotted rope. I did the knotted rope (as did most of the girls) and touched the top and there were some kids (always boys) who would fly up the smooth ropes like little monkeys! I was always very impressed!

I remember reading some article not too long ago about how playgrounds are being made too safe and they’re no longer stimulating enough for children’s brains or muscles or coordination. We literally need to have some element of danger there, such as risks of falling because of climbing complicated ladders, in order for the equipment to be challenging enough for children.

[-]

ThedIIthe4th@reddit

I hated it. It was just a big mocking session where the jocks would laugh at all of us who couldn’t do it, with the PE teacher off to the side encouraging it all. Awful.

[-]

Traditional_Entry183@reddit

The ropes were there when I was in school, but we never used them. They seemed to end that program a few years above my grade level.

[-]

senorchaos718@reddit

Kids are all cartilage at that age. Also, we clearly had our 2” thick mat to break any falls!

[-]

changrbanger@reddit

My strength to weight ratio back in the day was insane. I would just go arms only because gripping the rope with my feet just slowed me down.

[-]

ConsciousChicken1249@reddit

Oh come now there was protection! After all what was that 2” red foam pad on the floor for anyway???

[-]

Unfortunate-Incident@reddit

I've never done this at any school I've been to. Always assumed this was something from before my time

[-]

Otisthedog999@reddit

I made it to the top of the rope and then slid down. OWWWWIE! Red, white and blistered. Fuck, maybe somebody should have mentioned that. I'm sure that the next day, my hands and arms were completely useless.

[-]

DrMcJedi@reddit

I loved rope day…

[-]

nucl3ar0ne@reddit

This

Never had a problem.

[-]

cseyferth@reddit

gif

[-]

cseyferth@reddit

gif

[-]

Sad_Egg_5176@reddit

Pure anxiety for me

[-]

Alien_Nicole@reddit

Almost every gym class was anxiety for me. Some of my worst childhood memories.

[-]

sfcameron2015@reddit

Same.

[-]

SteakJones@reddit

Seriously though I dunno how it flew then. I remember getting like 10ft up and thinking “if I fall any higher than this, I’m dead”

[-]

DirectorLanky466@reddit

I know that's not the same anymore but I loved the rope!! I was always the fastest up and ring the bell!! And I remember the rope burns from coming down the rope as fast as I could!

[-]

Billy-Ruffian@reddit

I was a nerdy skinny, nerdy kid with thick glasses and no athletic ability at all, but for some reason I had upper body strength. I could just fly up the rope. I could do the climbing pole too, and those wooden pegs you had to move into holes going up the wall. It was the one day a year in gym class that would buy me protection from bullies for the rest of the year.

[-]

Super_Direction498@reddit

That's barely 20ft at the peak

[-]

Economy-Cookie-4724@reddit

I had padding when we did this. This pic is crazy 🤣

[-]

iowan@reddit

I used every bit of strength to get to the top (my twin made it, plus you got a free ten cent Popsicle at lunch if you made it) and I slid down so fast I got a rope burn bigger than my hand on my inner thigh. Worth it.

[-]

BeenDragonn@reddit

Kids are getting fatter

[-]

MeatPopsicle10@reddit

I was the only girl who could climb to the top. But every day for years I’d climb trees at home for fun; did my homework & practiced my saxophone in the trees (no treehouse just on the branches).

[-]

JamesH_670@reddit

This must have been a North American thing. I never did this in Australia, but I see this talked about all the time.

[-]

dl_mj12@reddit

We did this but it was never forced

[-]

General_Mousse_861@reddit

“Allowing” us? We were forced!

[-]

DRARCOX@reddit

Surely everyone learned from Chuck Norris how to do this from "Sidekicks," right?

Sidekicks Rope Climbing Scene

[-]

Common_Juggernaut724@reddit

Somehow, we never had to do this. Thankfully.

[-]

CheckYourStats@reddit

Same. Not once. I wonder if it was a geolocale thing?

I grew up in the SF Bay Area.

[-]

desal433@reddit

Ohio here. We absolutely had to do this through elementary school but not in middle or high school for some reason.

[-]

Positive_Mud952@reddit

East coast, started in 3rd grade, rang the bell from the start. Wasn’t until high school that it got hard.

[-]

ChaucersDuchess@reddit

Never did this in central KY.

[-]

when_music_hits@reddit

I saw a girl do that up a lamppost at Bristol carnival about ten years ago

[-]

Amda01@reddit

Rope burns were real!

[-]

ScarecrowZombie1@reddit

What can a kid possibly get from this? Whoopity-do, I can climb a rope and not die. Im the kid that would either make it to the top and slide down really fast...burning the shit outta my hands and weiner or im the kid who loses their hand strength halfway up, falls to floor, and shits their pants

[-]

james_a_hetfield@reddit

I was too big of a pussy anyway

[-]

Witty-Management6094@reddit

lol my kids school has them in a safety bucket now.

[-]

FoppyRETURNS@reddit

I was too big of a puss!

[-]

Kinda_Quixotic@reddit

And the rope was woven out of pure splinters

[-]

Bajovane@reddit

My school had already stopped using the ropes. We also had like a big peg board on the wall of the gym that was also not used.

Apparently, a guy was using the peg board thing while another kid was poking him in the butt with a broom handle. Kid on wall fell onto the broom handle and I will let you see the visual…

Have no idea if this is a true story, but I am sure someone somewhere had it happen….

[-]

TiEmEnTi@reddit

They still do it where my kids do gymnastics

[-]

Cisru711@reddit

Lol at those kids holding the bottom of the rope about to get a shoe to the face when the climbers slide down.

[-]

TinyDogGuy@reddit

I was never deemed “physically fit” by any president.

[-]

LiiilKat@reddit

I didn’t have this in my elementary school. My high school had one, but I never took elective PE when I went there. Just for the fun of it, I climbed my way to the top of that one.

[-]

Good-Operation4373@reddit

Thins the herd!!!!

[-]

Elegant_Situation285@reddit

we had 1" thick wrestling mats. actually saw a kid bounce.

[-]

TooTallBrawl1919@reddit

My elementary gym had a net to ceiling. In kindergarten I was climbing it and a friend and I talked about what happen if we just let go while we were at the top (or how it’d be faster to get down by just letting go. Im not sure exactly how it went) Alas, I let go and fell to the mat below and thankfully only sprained an ankle.

[-]

tiny_chaotic_evil@reddit

these safety features would be fine nowadays because no kid is going even come close to getting off the ground

[-]

statistacktic@reddit

I hate heights, but loved that.

[-]

TuckerCarlsonsOhface@reddit

Classic gym teacher look. I bet she played softball all the way through college, and also volunteers at a local dog rescue.

[-]

Waste-Team-7205@reddit

I was born in 2000, had to do this in 2014. My brother did it in 2021

[-]

yayoffbalance@reddit

i dunno, in the 80s, there were what the kids call now, crash pads/

[-]

Popular-Departure165@reddit

Do elementary schools even still have gym class? Shortly after my time they cut it down to once every other week.

[-]

NewSpice001@reddit

We had a really thick big mat. The same one used for the high jump on track and filed day... You just had to make sure you fell onto it. It wasn't that wide lol

[-]

Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit

I didn't even get a chance. The most athletic and worst behaved kid climbed to the top and threatened to jump.

[-]

wutthafugOP@reddit

Sidekicks got it right. Once you started listening to your inner Chuck Norris climbing the rope wasn’t so tough.

[-]

_wheeljack_@reddit

I would climb right up to the metal ceiling support fixture. This was tame compared to some of the insane tree climbing I did.

[-]

Sad_Training_1595@reddit

Culling the herd Xennial style.

[-]

Traditional_Isopod80@reddit

I never got off the ground.

[-]

RoyalZeal@reddit

It was so much fun but looking back sweet merciful Zeus how was that ever allowed?

[-]

brakeb@reddit

people actually knew how to scale a rope, and to get down safely...

us kids that now have kids have gotten soft...

[-]

TechSmith6262@reddit

You never had to worry about someone shooting up your school each day.

[-]

DenverBroncos_Fan@reddit

I knew how to climb it, but I thought I’d look really badass smoothly sliding back down… my hands disagreed.

[-]

Zeveroth1@reddit

Speak for yourself. I didn’t raise any pansies. Lmao

[-]

RoyalZeal@reddit

Mate I broke my damn arm in '94 climbing a tree, that's not an experience I would wish on anyone, especially a child. We don't need to put our kids in physical life-threatening danger, we just don't. You can call that soft if you want, it makes no difference to me, this is a hill I'm perfectly willing to die on.

[-]

sjp1980@reddit

Nah i could never figure out how to do it. I could climb trees and did, but up a rope? Nope never could!

I always thought the crash mats in case we fell were to protect the floor rather than us. If they are sending us 6 metres up in the air, it's so we don't leave a mark on the basketball caught when we fall off and break a bone.

[-]

AussieRustles@reddit

As a scrawny kid i was mediocre at most physical activities (solid 3rd place and participation awards) but I climbed this rope to the top like it was nothing.

I only got to climb it during one PE session ever though, which was a bummer because its the only activity I was better than everyone else in my class at.

[-]

HourChard@reddit

Rope burn was real

[-]

Cael_NaMaor@reddit

Allowing

Wow... that's not how I remember that class...

[-]

TheVenetianMask@reddit

I went up to an arm's length of the top and thought, surely I've demonstrated I can do it easily, there's no need to do the extra dangerous bit. As I got back on the floor the PE teacher said I wouldn't get full mark for not going all the way up.

[-]

Kwak12@reddit

My second favorite part of P.E. We had a bell at the top as well.

[-]

FewLand2636@reddit

I was just saying today that having a woodshop teacher going off to smoke in his broom closet while we managed to not lose a limb on the giant bandsaw.

I can't imagine today's youth with that kind of equipment no

w

[-]

NaturalSpecialist5@reddit

Pfft I couldn't even get 2 feet off the ground 😆

[-]

roseinseattle@reddit

I remember I had to do this in 1st grade. I climbed part of it but then got scared/stuck. I didn’t know how to climb down. I slid down the rope and got really bad rope burns on my legs. Nurse gave me super big bandaids.

[-]

prodigaldummy@reddit

At least we didn’t have gloves either.

[-]

elsie78@reddit

I hated that damn physical fitness test. I have no upper arm strength

[-]

Muleahcar@reddit

Same. I ended up marrying a guy who got the presidential physical fitness award and we have very different memories of gym class

[-]

elsie78@reddit

Hahaha, I bet!

[-]

Kaiser-Sohze@reddit

I have that beat by 50 miles. In elementary school, we went on a field trip to a science museum. We sat in a circle of chairs and the whole class held hands. The kids on each end were handed a jumper cable hooked to a live car battery, so that we could learn about conductance. It was really something feeling electricity flow through one hand and out the other. Nobody panicked and nobody died. Just imagine if someone tried that today?

[-]

Muleahcar@reddit

Even back then this is pretty unhinged

[-]

ksigguy@reddit

I don’t remember anyone ever falling. I loved this one and the pegs you held and used to climb the wall if anyone remember them.

[-]

Muleahcar@reddit

Couldn’t do those either

[-]

S_A_R_K@reddit

She makes me feel kinda funny, like when we used to climb the rope in gym class

[-]

LionessOfAzzalle@reddit

This…. Had my first ever O this way.

Thinking back, our (lesbian PE teacher in an all girls Catholic school) totally knew what she was doing.

We spent a whole semester doing this. First classes, she had us all hanging in there for increasingly long times. Then we learned climbing. End up having to climb up one rope, move over one place, and down the next.

We did have proper, thick mats though.

[-]

TragicaDeSpell@reddit

Probably the literal peak of my physical fitness was being able to climb to the very top of the rope. I was never able to do the flexed arm hang and whatever other nonsense they made us do, but man, I could climb that rope.

[-]

badwolf42@reddit

We had one rope with knots, and two without. If you used your feet, they told us that was a B. If you got to the top with arms only, they told us that was an A. If you went for the knots, they said that was a C.

[-]

Ok_Egg_2665@reddit

My solution was to never get off the ground.

[-]

_meestir_@reddit

Damn what kind of poverty school had no padding? 😂

[-]

znavy264@reddit

Honestly if they did this today I'd have no problem letting my kid do the same as I did.

[-]

guacamole579@reddit

My kids did! They are 14&16 and their elementary school offered it. I didn’t even know it was a thing until a couple months ago when they were watching a movie with a gym scene and started talking about it. I was shocked but it was just part of the gym offering like volleyball or badminton. No special permission required

[-]

C-Redd-it@reddit

True, but it was great incentive to try like hell and keep that grip. 😁

[-]

guacamole579@reddit

My kids (they’re 14 &16) did this in their North Jersey elementary school. I had no idea it was still a thing but yes, it is.

[-]

Fawners@reddit

I got awards for doing this the fastest and repeatedly. I still have my certificates. This and pull ups was my jam. I was teeny and weighed very little so it was easy for me. I don't recall anybody ever falling at my schools. Guess they relied on survival instincts to keep you safe. So glad they put that 1 inch padded mat underneath, you know, just in case.

[-]

Salty-Tea6815@reddit

We used to have this in elementary school until some kid got shocked touching the metal attachment at the top of the rope and fell and broke his wrist!!

[-]

BennyOcean@reddit

We still weren't as badass as the kids 100 years before us.

[-]

erkose@reddit

Fire the gym teacher. Neither of those kids are using their legs and the J-hook.

[-]

Lawrenceburntfish@reddit

They don't do this anymore?

[-]

Pattison320@reddit

My daughter did this a couple years ago. I think she was six years old at the time. She took a gymnastics class at our school district's high school. The ceiling in that gym is a lot taller than your photo. She made it all the way to the top. I got to watch her do it. There's a bell up there. But she went all the way up, didn't ring the bell, then went back down. I was elated she could do it.

On our car ride home, I asked her about the bell. Why didn't she ring it? She made it all the way up there. She said "Dad, I'm afraid of heights". I am not strong enough to lift my body weight that high into the air. But even if I could my fear of heights would prevent me from getting half as high as she did.

[-]

Aught_To@reddit

I remember being to explicitly to NOT jump down once you got to the top

[-]

1block@reddit

YOU'RE the one causing all those product warnings.

[-]

Scrug@reddit

But did you ever see or hear of someone falling off one of these?

[-]

Funkopedia@reddit

They don't do this anymore?

[-]

Agreeable_Peak_6100@reddit

Did it with only arms and couldn’t believe how easy it was … then how bad I wanted to throw up afterwards!

[-]

AndrewInMN@reddit

There were ropes in the main gym at my school but I don’t think I ever saw them down. Thank god. All the TV show and movie references to rope climbing in gym had me terrified I was going to have to humiliate myself attempting to climb in front of my classmates. But nope, those ropes stayed tied up the whole time I was there.

[-]

poweroftheglow@reddit

I hated school but I enjoyed this

[-]

Rampasta@reddit

Oh and a gym teacher that's not wildly over weight

[-]

dcamnc4143@reddit

For some reason, we never did this at any of my schools. I'm probably a bit older than most of you, so it's even more odd we didn't do it.

[-]

ClimateVast2894@reddit

Eh take a salt tablet 😂

gif

[-]

_R_A_@reddit

God DAMN as a fat kid I was terrified I was going to have to do this.

Fortunately I went to Catholic school (in the 80s) so they were too focused on funding the antihypertensives for nuns who couldn't hit us anymore so a rope wasn't in the budget.

[-]

MercyCriesHavoc@reddit

Our gym was insulated with asbestos, so some fell on everyone when someone touched the rafter. Cancer confetti!

[-]

2PM2@reddit

Yeah I actually traveled back to my old grammar school in Michigan and looked at the crime scene. It was incredible I to think I climbed that in first grade.

[-]

Noisechild@reddit

Didn't matter for me. I couldn't even pull up one foot. Ohhh, and I'm still a wuss.

[-]

Pumperkin@reddit

Strong children make strong soldiers. That's the origin of any integration of physical fitness into education. Fortunately, we've evolved slightly to realize that lives lost in training are worth more than the cost.

[-]

bamaford@reddit

My kid still does this in PE every year. Suburbs of Denver.

[-]

Ippus_21@reddit

Our school had like a foot-thick mat.

[-]

Winter_Dimension8107@reddit

Yes the generations after us are pussies.

[-]

DDrewit@reddit

No option to fall was the safety measure.

[-]

shewoman@reddit

I remember winning 1st place in some kind of class competition when I was in the 4th grade. I think it was my first time climbing the rope - I didn't realize I could climb it so quickly.

[-]

jackfaire@reddit

My school wouldn't allow it. First time I even got try was the army and they expected me to already know how to climb a rope

[-]

the_well_read_neck_@reddit

We had the ropes and the poles that could swing across the mats. I was at the top of the pole when I kid decided to start swinging on it. Absolutely terrifying for a 5th grader.

[-]

Lil_Elf81@reddit

I grew up in Wisconsin and we did this all through elementary and middle school. It was really high up too. Zero safety precautions besides the small blue mat beneath the rope and the teacher or another kid holding the rope

[-]

Anieya@reddit

I was more peeved that the instructors didn’t give us any info on HOW to climb. My first year I couldn’t get off the ground, they just let me struggle. My second year, one of the popular kids whispered me some technique suggestions while we were in line, and I suddenly made it 2/3 of the way up.

Thank you random cool kid. I may not remember your name, but I’ll always remember the boost you gave to my confidence that day.

[-]

Correct-Degree-6789@reddit

I swear, as old as I am Ive never seen a school have kids do this! HA HA!

[-]

RealHellpony@reddit

Early 2000's we were still doing this. God d*** Presidential Fitness Test.

[-]

silentsinner-@reddit

It's only like 20ft not 30 to 40 judging by the door frame but I still remember being a kid and seeing this in TV shows and fearing it. I am 43 and none of my schools ever did this.

[-]

QuickEgg8039@reddit

The goal at my school was to knock off the asbestos off the ceiling so it would rain down over everyone.

[-]

Do_it_My_Way-79@reddit

Growing up in Southern California, the version of this was scalding hot metal poles outside.

[-]

DecoyOocctopus@reddit

82 I went to 10 different schools around the Midwest-ish and I've never had a school do this. I thought it was something you only saw in the movies.

[-]

dewihafta@reddit

I couldnt climb up the raw rope, but I could get about a third up if they had the one with knots.

I absolutely smoked them on the rope net, though.

[-]

The_Best_Yak_Ever@reddit

This was so much fun! I got pretty good at just using my arm power to reach the top without needing to use my legs. I credit it with building my upper body strength, and while it definitely had risks, I remember how proud I was, reaching the top, hand over hand, and being a minor PE celebrity!

[-]

65pimpala@reddit

Dang, never even thought of that till you brought it up.

[-]

thePurpleAvenger@reddit

I remember rope day well. I don't recall what I said exactly, but it was the grade school equivalent of "fuck you" that didn't get me into too much trouble.

Even in the 3rd grade I knew that wasn't a good idea at all.

[-]

bigbossfearless@reddit

Almost nobody got off the ground at my school because they never taught you how to climb, they just hung the rope and if you climbed it you were "good".

[-]

Affectionate-You-142@reddit

I got an award for that 😊😬

[-]

ridelikeagurl@reddit

I am good at sports but I could never get a foot off the ground. It just never made sense.

[-]

BraveLittleToaster8@reddit

We were even allowed to write our names on the gym ceiling beam with a magic marker as an incentive to climb all the way up! I remember being so proud that my name was up there and when my younger siblings got to middle school I'd always ask them if it was still there.

[-]

Tdk1984@reddit

I never had to do that thankfully. I know that I never would’ve been able to do it.

[-]

FromMyTARDIS@reddit

The has the ropes at my elementary school but that didnt use them anymore because someone got hurt

[-]

Godawgs1009@reddit

That's why they are all pussies

[-]

EfficiencyIVPickAx@reddit

My kid would send. He asked me if he could climb the apartment building today when he saw the window cleaners working 10+ stories. He's 7. He said he wouldn't need ropes. Lol

[-]

h4nd@reddit

I had AMAZING blisters on my hands after sliding down the last bit of the rope that one time.

[-]

purplecrayonadventur@reddit

Never had trouble with the rope climb.

I always had to climb a pole to attach the tetherball rope for recess. 2, maybe 3 times a day? It gave me the arm and core strength to make it all the way to the rafters.

Do they even still have the presidential fitness test? Today's kids are all doughy and soft.

[-]

mc_louds@reddit

Good luck getting kids today to sit in a line and wait their turn.

[-]

krissym99@reddit

The only tolerable days in gym class for me were obstacle course day and parachute day, being the smallest and clumsiest child in my grade. The rope thing was among the worst.

[-]

jtmann05@reddit

We still had the ropes in the gym, but I never saw anybody use them

[-]

StNic54@reddit

I don’t think we were climbing 30 or 40 feet

[-]

bgva@reddit

My brain goes back and forth on whether or not I actually did this. One side says "Yes, you climbed pretty damn high back in 1990" while the other is like "Ain't no way in hell you climbed a rope voluntarily, knowing how afraid of heights you are."

But yes, I climbed pretty damn high back in 1990.

[-]