Is climbing the rope in gym class a real thing?

31 comments

1. I remember it being an option *once* in my entire school life, but it was optional.

2. [removed]

3. Not at my school, no.

4. It was when I was a kid. I don’t know if it still is.

5. It was when I was in middle school. That was the mid 80’s. I hated it. We had to at least try it and I never could get off the ground.

6. It was when I was a kid in the 90’s. Only one kid could climb up to the ceiling.

7. Used to be – not anymore

8. Yeah we did it in high school. Most kids got at least halfway

9. Never heard of it irl

10. Yea, looking down before decending from the top was a mistake, those mats are soft but not soft enough to want to fall on from that height.

11. When I was in Middle school, which was in the early 2000s, we had to do that

12. Older schools may have them but they are rare nowadays. I remember climbing the rope in the mid 2000’s at elementary school in gym class or swinging on the rope when they had soft gymnastics pads set up everywhere. All three elementary schools I went to and the one they built in 2007 all had them.

13. Not since the 70s to early 80s.

14. We had it a few middle school (Massachusetts, 90s) as part of a physical challenge. I loved that thing. I think I went up to the ceiling and back to the floor a half dozen times (it was maybe 30′ long) on one of the challenge days.

    My mistake was wearing shorts. I had one hell of a rope burn on my legs.

15. Used to be!

16. I did it back in the 90’s. It was so much fun! I could scoot up it with my feet all the way to the ceiling.

17. It was when I was in elementary school in ~2005. There was a bell at the top we had to ring. Pretty fun activity that I think we only ever did once.

18. It was for me in the 90s

19. It was a real thing for kids between the 60s and 90s. Then schools realized how uncomfortable it made many kids, especially the ones that are a bit heavier, and they stopped. Often schools stopped doing things like that because they begin to worry about litigation. All it takes is one parent to claim that it made their child feel humiliated or discriminated against. And I say this as a teacher in NYC (the largest public school system in the country). Once a parent sues, the DOE usually sends all schools letters to stop the practice the parent is suing about.

20. Chiming in that it was indeed a thing at my elementary school in the mid 90s. I was a super scrawny kid and could barely get up a couple of feet.

21. We had to do it, or at least try in my elementary school. (Early 1980s) I think it was part of the Presidential Fitness Test.

22. 90s kid and it was never a thing for me.

23. I know it was a thing in my schools gym class but I can’t remember if they required everyone to do it or if they just gave people the chance to try, on certain days

24. I used to love the climbing rope in elementary school. It was fun touching the rafters int he gym.

25. We did when I was a kid. It was one of my favorite things, but you only got to do it once. Most of the time was standing around watching classmates not be able to climb or too afraid to climb.

26. It was in the 1980s, that is why it is in the movies from then. Then trying was mandatory.

    FYI in my school dodgeball was very violent, like in the movies too.

27. It was when I was a kid in the 80’s. It’s my understanding that it isn’t done anymore because it’s dangerous.

28. probably is real but I’ve never heard of anyone doing it in real life

29. It was when I was young, not sure now

30. That was a fun school memory. I didn’t make it the first time so I put one up at home. Flew up it next time. Definitely a formative school moment.

    I’m sad to read that the rope is gone most places. These fat children could do with some physical training.

31. I could never do it as a kid, but as an adult I learned there was a trick to it so that you use more lower body strength to do it. I tried it in my 40s after someone showed me the technique and was able to do it.