I have shared these experiences on other boards and forums years ago but thought I’d post them here as well. I played football in college in the late 80s and early 90s. After my sophomore year, more serious enforcement of the Title IX law resulted in the football team other men’s teams sharing the main athletic training room with women’s sports. Before then, we had the entire thing to ourselves and the women used an old locker room with training tables in it. I was happy for the change both because it was fair and because we would now be sharing a training room with the volleyball, cross country, soccer and even the swimming and basketball teams during the time that the seasons overlap.
Before the merger took place, there was one incredible foot/tickling connection that came from being an athlete. At the start of each season, all freshmen athletes had to go through a series of stations where each body part is put through a series of structural tests. You would basically go to the knee or ankle station and there would be two or three students from the athletic training program to test your ligaments and flexibility. They basically did this to every part of your body that has a joint. While I was going through this treatment, members of women’s teams were too. It was cool to watch them have their feet and toes examined. Fast forward to my junior year when I took the athletic training course myself and was part of the screening. I was assigned to knees but say LOTS of playful tickling at the ankle station of both guys and girls. The manipulation of the toe joints often resulted in squirming and giggling even when the tickling was not intentional.
Back to the training room. One incident that I remember vividly took place well into my junior season. I was on my back being iced after a practice. That means I was laying there with ice packs strapped to my ankle, knee and shoulder and with my sprained thumb stuck in a cup of ice water (the glamorous life of an athlete - 30 minutes of that before and after every practice and game). On the table right next to me was a really cute member of the women’s soccer team. A trainer who was a buddy of mine who is now a trainer for an NFL team walked over to her and asked her how her ankle was after practice. She had her shoe off but her ankle was still taped and her sock was still on. She pulled off her sock and Sam pulled out the device that they use to remove the tape. If you’ve ever had them slide that thing inside of your tape job and slice your tape you know that it can really tickle. The girl jumped and said, “oh my God.” After removing the tape, Sam the other thing that they usually do. He took his fingers and brushed fuzz and some grass off of her ankle and foot from where the adhesive had been. Again, she jumped and giggled this time.
Sam started manipulating her ankle joint by holding her toes with his right hand while her heel was resting in his left hand. The fingers on her toes was too much for the soccer girl. She held it in for a second but soon pulled her foot out of his hand while laughing. She said, “I’m sorry, I super ticklish.” While I was loving it, Sam seemed annoyed that she had interrupted his exam. When he resumed, he kept his finger off of her toes and she was able to maintain her composure. There were several other small tickling incidents in the training room which were mostly female athletes tickling their teammates while they were unable to move on a table due to having a leg elevated or wrapped in a bandage. As you can guess, I didn’t mind the time that I spent in that room.
My last stories come from the semester where I took the athletic training course. I was actually a STUDENT-Athlete with a pre-law major so I waited until the very end to take some easier P.E. type classes to satisfy that academic requirement for graduation. Anyway, the day that I was waiting for was the day that we learned to tape ankles. Right away there was a great demonstration involving intentional tickling. The volunteer test subject was a fellow student who was the roommate of a friend of my girlfriends. She was attractive and I had never really seen her feet before that. She pulled off her sock and revealed a surprisingly wide foot with a wide toe area. Her toes were painted red but she had not done a very good job. Once her sock was off, the female instructor brushed off the bottom of her foot. The girl smiled big and scooted away backward. To my shock and pleasure, the instructor (who was another one of our football trainers) said, “oh, do we have a ticklish foot here?” and used her fingers to tickle the sole of her foot. The girl laughed and simply said, “yes.”
As the instructor taped her ankle, there were several jumps but no more laughing. The first thing you do when wrapping an ankle is to apply a thin material called pre-wrap that keeps the tape from sticking to the skin. It often gets slightly wrinkled and the taper must use his fingers to either unfold it or pull the wrinkled part off. This can be ticklish and it was during the demonstration. The first time that she jumped during the pre-wrap portion, there was no mention of the tickling but the entire group laughed because we all knew what was going on. She also squirmed one last time when the instructor used her hands to smooth out the tape after she was done.
Right after the demo, I was paired off with an average looking young lady with dark hair. She was a little overweight and had short boxy feet with small short toes. They were actually kind of cute. No polish. I intentionally accidentally tickled her during the pre-wrap. She smiled and said, “that does tickle.” There was no more tickling during my session with her. The great thing about the class was that I had to buy pre-wrap and tape and practice on people between classes. My girlfriend and her roommates were first on the list. I had only tickled one of her four roommates at that time. By the end of the first week, they had all gotten it. I was very disappointed to discover that her roommate Anne, who had great little feet, wasn’t ticklish on her feet at all. Laurie, Lisa (I had briefly tickled her once before) and Shirley were all pretty ticklish. The second time around I would just be up front and tickle the person before I started instead of trying to do it intentionally. I got about 10 additional victims before I was done. Anne was the only non-ticklish victim. I also got Roo, Nicki, Diane, Vanessa, Mo, my girlfriend, Kerry and a few others. It was one of my favorite classes of college.
Now I’m just a boring lawyer with no tickling involved. Maybe I should have been a trainer. Nah.
Before the merger took place, there was one incredible foot/tickling connection that came from being an athlete. At the start of each season, all freshmen athletes had to go through a series of stations where each body part is put through a series of structural tests. You would basically go to the knee or ankle station and there would be two or three students from the athletic training program to test your ligaments and flexibility. They basically did this to every part of your body that has a joint. While I was going through this treatment, members of women’s teams were too. It was cool to watch them have their feet and toes examined. Fast forward to my junior year when I took the athletic training course myself and was part of the screening. I was assigned to knees but say LOTS of playful tickling at the ankle station of both guys and girls. The manipulation of the toe joints often resulted in squirming and giggling even when the tickling was not intentional.
Back to the training room. One incident that I remember vividly took place well into my junior season. I was on my back being iced after a practice. That means I was laying there with ice packs strapped to my ankle, knee and shoulder and with my sprained thumb stuck in a cup of ice water (the glamorous life of an athlete - 30 minutes of that before and after every practice and game). On the table right next to me was a really cute member of the women’s soccer team. A trainer who was a buddy of mine who is now a trainer for an NFL team walked over to her and asked her how her ankle was after practice. She had her shoe off but her ankle was still taped and her sock was still on. She pulled off her sock and Sam pulled out the device that they use to remove the tape. If you’ve ever had them slide that thing inside of your tape job and slice your tape you know that it can really tickle. The girl jumped and said, “oh my God.” After removing the tape, Sam the other thing that they usually do. He took his fingers and brushed fuzz and some grass off of her ankle and foot from where the adhesive had been. Again, she jumped and giggled this time.
Sam started manipulating her ankle joint by holding her toes with his right hand while her heel was resting in his left hand. The fingers on her toes was too much for the soccer girl. She held it in for a second but soon pulled her foot out of his hand while laughing. She said, “I’m sorry, I super ticklish.” While I was loving it, Sam seemed annoyed that she had interrupted his exam. When he resumed, he kept his finger off of her toes and she was able to maintain her composure. There were several other small tickling incidents in the training room which were mostly female athletes tickling their teammates while they were unable to move on a table due to having a leg elevated or wrapped in a bandage. As you can guess, I didn’t mind the time that I spent in that room.
My last stories come from the semester where I took the athletic training course. I was actually a STUDENT-Athlete with a pre-law major so I waited until the very end to take some easier P.E. type classes to satisfy that academic requirement for graduation. Anyway, the day that I was waiting for was the day that we learned to tape ankles. Right away there was a great demonstration involving intentional tickling. The volunteer test subject was a fellow student who was the roommate of a friend of my girlfriends. She was attractive and I had never really seen her feet before that. She pulled off her sock and revealed a surprisingly wide foot with a wide toe area. Her toes were painted red but she had not done a very good job. Once her sock was off, the female instructor brushed off the bottom of her foot. The girl smiled big and scooted away backward. To my shock and pleasure, the instructor (who was another one of our football trainers) said, “oh, do we have a ticklish foot here?” and used her fingers to tickle the sole of her foot. The girl laughed and simply said, “yes.”
As the instructor taped her ankle, there were several jumps but no more laughing. The first thing you do when wrapping an ankle is to apply a thin material called pre-wrap that keeps the tape from sticking to the skin. It often gets slightly wrinkled and the taper must use his fingers to either unfold it or pull the wrinkled part off. This can be ticklish and it was during the demonstration. The first time that she jumped during the pre-wrap portion, there was no mention of the tickling but the entire group laughed because we all knew what was going on. She also squirmed one last time when the instructor used her hands to smooth out the tape after she was done.
Right after the demo, I was paired off with an average looking young lady with dark hair. She was a little overweight and had short boxy feet with small short toes. They were actually kind of cute. No polish. I intentionally accidentally tickled her during the pre-wrap. She smiled and said, “that does tickle.” There was no more tickling during my session with her. The great thing about the class was that I had to buy pre-wrap and tape and practice on people between classes. My girlfriend and her roommates were first on the list. I had only tickled one of her four roommates at that time. By the end of the first week, they had all gotten it. I was very disappointed to discover that her roommate Anne, who had great little feet, wasn’t ticklish on her feet at all. Laurie, Lisa (I had briefly tickled her once before) and Shirley were all pretty ticklish. The second time around I would just be up front and tickle the person before I started instead of trying to do it intentionally. I got about 10 additional victims before I was done. Anne was the only non-ticklish victim. I also got Roo, Nicki, Diane, Vanessa, Mo, my girlfriend, Kerry and a few others. It was one of my favorite classes of college.
Now I’m just a boring lawyer with no tickling involved. Maybe I should have been a trainer. Nah.
Thanks for posting.
