Swimming Lessons
Posted: Sun Sep 01, 2024 7:04 pm
About a month after the start of my last year of primary school, swimming lessons were introduced into our weekly timetable. Being just a small primary school of no more than 200 pupils, we didn’t have a pool of our own, but the teachers had arranged with the big senior school down the road for us to use theirs during the lesson periods it wasn’t being used.
This was the late ’90s and ideas of child privacy and modesty were not quite what they are today, shall we say. Bear that in mind as you read on…
When we heard we were going to be having swimming lessons — especially as it meant leaving our school for a couple of hours, going to the ‘big kids’ school and getting to wear sweatshirt and jogging bottoms all day instead of normal uniform — excitement was high. There was also a communal sense of trepidation at the idea of stepping foot inside this much larger school filled with those strange and really quite intimidating creatures: teenagers. Being year six pupils — ten and eleven years olds — we had got used to being the biggest kids in our school, but now, for the first time in almost as long as we could remember, we would be mingling with students up to seven years older than us. The oldest of these could drink, smoke, drive and everything! For us boys, though, there was also an extra layer of anxiety: unlike our own mixed primary school, this one was girls only!
On our first arrival at St. Anne’s I was struck initially by the sheer scale of the place — seemingly ten or so times bigger than the cozy, familiar one we had called home for the last six years. Then as we were greeted and led around by a fairly old lady, possibly the head or deputy head, I was then amazed by how much more ‘fancy’ it was. St. Anne’s was a private, fee-paying school and it showed. Everything was immaculate and they had so much more interesting and high quality equipment. I couldn’t believe it: they even had vending machines in the sports corridor!
Then we were shown to the pool. To my surprise, we were not taken to the changing rooms as I’d expected, but led straight into the pool area itself and told to split into two groups: the boys and the girls. The pool was incredible — way nicer than I’d expected from a school swimming pool; probably nicer than the public one at the local leisure centre! It even had proper diving boards and everything! The room itself was stunning too. It was painted white and seemed so bright and airy, thanks to the entire wall on one side being a series of very wide floor-to-ceiling windows, separated by thin brick columns. In front of each window, nestled between the columns, were wooden benches. The place could have been a fancy spa or hotel rather than a school.
The girls were then told to stay there by the first two benches and start getting changed for the lesson, and us boys were shown to the far end to get changed there. It was at that point that some of the magic started to wear off. Get changed here? Out in the open? With the girls only a few metres away? In front of enormous, un-frosted windows?! Windows that anyone outside could see straight through! Suddenly the idea of the new swimming lessons lost a lot of its charm.
Getting changed at the start of the lesson would at least be a lot quicker and less embarrassing than at the end. For the sake of convenience and saving time, we had all been told to come to school already wearing our swimwear as underwear and wear tracksuit or jogging bottoms to speed up the process still further; something comfortable and baggy that we could take off and put on in two seconds. This meant that at the start of the lesson, all we’d have to do was slip off our tracksuit and we’d be ready to swim. At the end of the hour, it would be a very different story — best not think about that yet.
The lesson was fun and I soon forgot about the fact we’d be changing out of our wet swim trunks in front of a huge, clear window. About ten minutes before the end, however, I was frighteningly reminded as I saw two girls, a few years older, walking past the pool building, not twenty metres away. If they’d been any closer, they could have easily seen in, and if we’d happened to be changing…! Again, best not to think about it.
All too soon the lesson was over; now came the scary part. Because the time slot we’d been given for the pool came just before morning break, we only had a few minutes to finish getting dressed before classes were let out and hundreds of girls would be streaming past the window! Or so I thought. Fearing this most unwelcome invasion of our privacy, I remember changing as fast as I possibly could, doing the standard towel-wrap technique to keep everything hidden as I yanked off my swimming shorts and put on my pants. Keeping the towel in place as I put my trousers on would prove a step beyond my capabilities so I would have to expose my briefs for a few seconds — not ideal with potentially girls about, but I could live with it. I had to do it each week anyway for PE, since our school didn’t have separate changing rooms. It actually didn’t have any changing rooms at all.
Looking around, I noticed most other boys employing the same tactic: wobbling around on one leg as they tried to slip their underwear on with one hand, the other keeping a tight grip on the towel. Those lucky enough to get to the benches first did it sitting down, making the whole process much easier. They even were able to get their trousers on without anything beneath being revealed. There was one boy, however, who chose an entirely different technique. In fact, it would be more accurate to say he used no technique at all.
For whatever bizarre reason I could not fathom, Luke Forrester used his towel for absolutely nothing more than to dry himself. Having finished patting himself dry all over, running it several times through his blond floppy hair, he simply stuffed it into his sports bag, grabbed his swimming trunks off the floor and began wringing them out, still completely naked. He hadn’t even bothered to put on his pants or polo shirt.
We all knew Luke was the only boy who undressed all the way to his pants before putting on anything else when we changed for PE — even though at primary school we all changed clothes in the classroom together, boys and girls in the same room! But I was sure that now we had swimming lessons and were changing our underwear too, he would make the effort to keep his ‘bits’ hidden, especially in front of an enormous, clear window! But no, just as happily and leisurely as he did for PE, he stripped off completely before putting on his underpants.
This was of course the first time any of us had seen his willy and it amazed me that no-one made fun of him for flashing it around. Maybe we were all too occupied with getting our own clothes back on, or too shy; or perhaps by now we were all used to Luke’s peculiar changing habits and it seemed only logical that he’d be the only one to get completely naked first. Certainly the teasing about him stripping to just his pants had dried up long ago, even though he was also one of the last boys in our class to still wear really childish cartoon underwear. I’d have been embarrassed being seen in them, let alone naked!
Then the bell signalling the end of lessons rang out. Any second, hundreds of girls would be swarming past and milling around outside the window! By now I had my trousers and pants securely on, as did most of the others, but Luke was still faffing around squeezing the last few drops of water from his trunks, still completely naked, before stashing them away in his bag and pulling out his very childish undies. I couldn’t believe how nonchalant he was about the whole thing. Finally though, upon hearing the bell, it seemed Luke wasn’t entirely oblivious to the danger and hurried up considerably, stepping quickly into his bright white briefs decorated all over in little pictures of cars and lorries, and his grey jogging bottoms soon after.
A minute or two later, as we all finished dressing and stuffed our damp trunks and towels in our sports bags, it would appear I was wrong about a sea of girls flooding past the window. Evidently the area behind the pool building wasn’t a common thoroughfare or place to hang out at break times. It was a good five minutes into morning break by the time we left and I hadn’t seen a single person outside, not even a teacher. Maybe those two girls earlier were just on some kind of errand. It made me feel a little better about changing there the following week.
*
A few weeks later…
Another month or so had passed since our swimming lessons began and we were all getting used to the place. Since those first two girls on the first day, I hadn’t noticed any other passers by and I relaxed considerably. I guessed that since the windows to the pool building were clear, the area behind it was out of bounds. The girls who belonged to the school obviously didn’t have to change there as they would use the proper changing rooms, but all the same, nobody really wanted to be spied on in their swimming costume if it could be helped. There was also an extra layer of security defending our privacy: it was now much colder weather outside which, due to the windows being only single glazing, had fogged the glass with a good thick layer of condensation from the heated pool. Even if someone did walk past now, they would struggle to see in.
It seemed Luke relaxed too; not that he needed to be any more casual! Where I’d noticed him hurry to get dressed when the bell sounded the first week, he now stayed ridiculously leisurely the whole time he changed. In fact, he was actually being told to hurry up by our teachers. Some days he stood naked while he wrung out his trunks, other days he put on his pants first, but always he left his trousers off until the last of the water was gone and he never covered up with the towel.
Then one morning…
I had finished dressing and was just putting my towel away when I looked up to see two faces at the window, peering in. They didn’t look much older than us, probably first or second years, and to my horror, they appeared to be stifling giggles. I don’t know how long they had been there — possibly quite a while and we just hadn’t noticed through the steam. I don’t know how much they had been able to see themselves, but judging how excited their blurry faces seemed to be, they had seen enough! I then noticed that here and there where the water had condensed enough to form droplets, long channels of clear glass had been formed as they ran down. It was through these clear channels that the two girls were peeking! They would have been able to see everything! As soon as I and a few other boys had noticed them they ran off laughing, turning quickly into blurry, unidentifiable blobs, but not before they had taken one last good look around!
I’m pretty sure I was safe. I had made sure to change with my towel around me as always, but a couple other boys, like Luke, had become lazy and had now taken to facing away from each other as they quickly dropped theirs and stepped hastily into their boxers or briefs. Even others who still used the towel slowed down as soon as their underpants were on, and carried on as normal, chatting casually as they put on the rest of their clothes. How many boys’ willies and boys in their underwear had these two naughty girls just seen?! Well, one for sure… the completely bollock-naked Luke, stood around for ages wringing out his swimming trunks before putting on his skimpy white briefs decorated with little footballs!!
This was the late ’90s and ideas of child privacy and modesty were not quite what they are today, shall we say. Bear that in mind as you read on…
When we heard we were going to be having swimming lessons — especially as it meant leaving our school for a couple of hours, going to the ‘big kids’ school and getting to wear sweatshirt and jogging bottoms all day instead of normal uniform — excitement was high. There was also a communal sense of trepidation at the idea of stepping foot inside this much larger school filled with those strange and really quite intimidating creatures: teenagers. Being year six pupils — ten and eleven years olds — we had got used to being the biggest kids in our school, but now, for the first time in almost as long as we could remember, we would be mingling with students up to seven years older than us. The oldest of these could drink, smoke, drive and everything! For us boys, though, there was also an extra layer of anxiety: unlike our own mixed primary school, this one was girls only!
On our first arrival at St. Anne’s I was struck initially by the sheer scale of the place — seemingly ten or so times bigger than the cozy, familiar one we had called home for the last six years. Then as we were greeted and led around by a fairly old lady, possibly the head or deputy head, I was then amazed by how much more ‘fancy’ it was. St. Anne’s was a private, fee-paying school and it showed. Everything was immaculate and they had so much more interesting and high quality equipment. I couldn’t believe it: they even had vending machines in the sports corridor!
Then we were shown to the pool. To my surprise, we were not taken to the changing rooms as I’d expected, but led straight into the pool area itself and told to split into two groups: the boys and the girls. The pool was incredible — way nicer than I’d expected from a school swimming pool; probably nicer than the public one at the local leisure centre! It even had proper diving boards and everything! The room itself was stunning too. It was painted white and seemed so bright and airy, thanks to the entire wall on one side being a series of very wide floor-to-ceiling windows, separated by thin brick columns. In front of each window, nestled between the columns, were wooden benches. The place could have been a fancy spa or hotel rather than a school.
The girls were then told to stay there by the first two benches and start getting changed for the lesson, and us boys were shown to the far end to get changed there. It was at that point that some of the magic started to wear off. Get changed here? Out in the open? With the girls only a few metres away? In front of enormous, un-frosted windows?! Windows that anyone outside could see straight through! Suddenly the idea of the new swimming lessons lost a lot of its charm.
Getting changed at the start of the lesson would at least be a lot quicker and less embarrassing than at the end. For the sake of convenience and saving time, we had all been told to come to school already wearing our swimwear as underwear and wear tracksuit or jogging bottoms to speed up the process still further; something comfortable and baggy that we could take off and put on in two seconds. This meant that at the start of the lesson, all we’d have to do was slip off our tracksuit and we’d be ready to swim. At the end of the hour, it would be a very different story — best not think about that yet.
The lesson was fun and I soon forgot about the fact we’d be changing out of our wet swim trunks in front of a huge, clear window. About ten minutes before the end, however, I was frighteningly reminded as I saw two girls, a few years older, walking past the pool building, not twenty metres away. If they’d been any closer, they could have easily seen in, and if we’d happened to be changing…! Again, best not to think about it.
All too soon the lesson was over; now came the scary part. Because the time slot we’d been given for the pool came just before morning break, we only had a few minutes to finish getting dressed before classes were let out and hundreds of girls would be streaming past the window! Or so I thought. Fearing this most unwelcome invasion of our privacy, I remember changing as fast as I possibly could, doing the standard towel-wrap technique to keep everything hidden as I yanked off my swimming shorts and put on my pants. Keeping the towel in place as I put my trousers on would prove a step beyond my capabilities so I would have to expose my briefs for a few seconds — not ideal with potentially girls about, but I could live with it. I had to do it each week anyway for PE, since our school didn’t have separate changing rooms. It actually didn’t have any changing rooms at all.
Looking around, I noticed most other boys employing the same tactic: wobbling around on one leg as they tried to slip their underwear on with one hand, the other keeping a tight grip on the towel. Those lucky enough to get to the benches first did it sitting down, making the whole process much easier. They even were able to get their trousers on without anything beneath being revealed. There was one boy, however, who chose an entirely different technique. In fact, it would be more accurate to say he used no technique at all.
For whatever bizarre reason I could not fathom, Luke Forrester used his towel for absolutely nothing more than to dry himself. Having finished patting himself dry all over, running it several times through his blond floppy hair, he simply stuffed it into his sports bag, grabbed his swimming trunks off the floor and began wringing them out, still completely naked. He hadn’t even bothered to put on his pants or polo shirt.
We all knew Luke was the only boy who undressed all the way to his pants before putting on anything else when we changed for PE — even though at primary school we all changed clothes in the classroom together, boys and girls in the same room! But I was sure that now we had swimming lessons and were changing our underwear too, he would make the effort to keep his ‘bits’ hidden, especially in front of an enormous, clear window! But no, just as happily and leisurely as he did for PE, he stripped off completely before putting on his underpants.
This was of course the first time any of us had seen his willy and it amazed me that no-one made fun of him for flashing it around. Maybe we were all too occupied with getting our own clothes back on, or too shy; or perhaps by now we were all used to Luke’s peculiar changing habits and it seemed only logical that he’d be the only one to get completely naked first. Certainly the teasing about him stripping to just his pants had dried up long ago, even though he was also one of the last boys in our class to still wear really childish cartoon underwear. I’d have been embarrassed being seen in them, let alone naked!
Then the bell signalling the end of lessons rang out. Any second, hundreds of girls would be swarming past and milling around outside the window! By now I had my trousers and pants securely on, as did most of the others, but Luke was still faffing around squeezing the last few drops of water from his trunks, still completely naked, before stashing them away in his bag and pulling out his very childish undies. I couldn’t believe how nonchalant he was about the whole thing. Finally though, upon hearing the bell, it seemed Luke wasn’t entirely oblivious to the danger and hurried up considerably, stepping quickly into his bright white briefs decorated all over in little pictures of cars and lorries, and his grey jogging bottoms soon after.
A minute or two later, as we all finished dressing and stuffed our damp trunks and towels in our sports bags, it would appear I was wrong about a sea of girls flooding past the window. Evidently the area behind the pool building wasn’t a common thoroughfare or place to hang out at break times. It was a good five minutes into morning break by the time we left and I hadn’t seen a single person outside, not even a teacher. Maybe those two girls earlier were just on some kind of errand. It made me feel a little better about changing there the following week.
*
A few weeks later…
Another month or so had passed since our swimming lessons began and we were all getting used to the place. Since those first two girls on the first day, I hadn’t noticed any other passers by and I relaxed considerably. I guessed that since the windows to the pool building were clear, the area behind it was out of bounds. The girls who belonged to the school obviously didn’t have to change there as they would use the proper changing rooms, but all the same, nobody really wanted to be spied on in their swimming costume if it could be helped. There was also an extra layer of security defending our privacy: it was now much colder weather outside which, due to the windows being only single glazing, had fogged the glass with a good thick layer of condensation from the heated pool. Even if someone did walk past now, they would struggle to see in.
It seemed Luke relaxed too; not that he needed to be any more casual! Where I’d noticed him hurry to get dressed when the bell sounded the first week, he now stayed ridiculously leisurely the whole time he changed. In fact, he was actually being told to hurry up by our teachers. Some days he stood naked while he wrung out his trunks, other days he put on his pants first, but always he left his trousers off until the last of the water was gone and he never covered up with the towel.
Then one morning…
I had finished dressing and was just putting my towel away when I looked up to see two faces at the window, peering in. They didn’t look much older than us, probably first or second years, and to my horror, they appeared to be stifling giggles. I don’t know how long they had been there — possibly quite a while and we just hadn’t noticed through the steam. I don’t know how much they had been able to see themselves, but judging how excited their blurry faces seemed to be, they had seen enough! I then noticed that here and there where the water had condensed enough to form droplets, long channels of clear glass had been formed as they ran down. It was through these clear channels that the two girls were peeking! They would have been able to see everything! As soon as I and a few other boys had noticed them they ran off laughing, turning quickly into blurry, unidentifiable blobs, but not before they had taken one last good look around!
I’m pretty sure I was safe. I had made sure to change with my towel around me as always, but a couple other boys, like Luke, had become lazy and had now taken to facing away from each other as they quickly dropped theirs and stepped hastily into their boxers or briefs. Even others who still used the towel slowed down as soon as their underpants were on, and carried on as normal, chatting casually as they put on the rest of their clothes. How many boys’ willies and boys in their underwear had these two naughty girls just seen?! Well, one for sure… the completely bollock-naked Luke, stood around for ages wringing out his swimming trunks before putting on his skimpy white briefs decorated with little footballs!!
Now I fully get what you mean by being angry at the boy for stripping off so casually! He was giving those girls funny ideas! 
