Favorite Barefoot Sports

by Tania WL

Since my little sister Sharleen and I love going barefoot it's only natural that the sports we choose are those that can be done in bare feet. We both can't stand having our feet enclosed in shoes for any length of time, especially while playing sports where we (and our feet) tend to sweat more. So what kinds of sports/exercises are usually done barefoot? Following are a few that my sister and I routinely do.



Yoga

I love yoga because besides exercising your body you also exercise your mind and spirit. You get to relax and experience inner peace. Out of respect for other students in the class though, we are required to have clean feet as we do the exercises in close proximity to each other. The teachers know that some of the students are regular barefooters like myself, and it's hard to get our feet really clean.

So our soles don't have to be squeaky clean, just not filthy that they are disgusting to look at. Although I enjoy having my feet dirty, I can appreciate that not everyone likes looking at them. OK, I know some guys do, but that's another discussion for another time, lol.

Sadly, I have seen people do yoga wearing shoes and socks (not in our class, fortunately), and they have even come up with the so-called "yoga socks" to protect your feet from germs, and get this: they say it feels just like being barefoot! I'm like, huh?! So why not just go barefoot and save yourself some money? Unless there's an open sore, germs can't penetrate your skin. So lighten up people, and enjoy life the way it's meant to be!

Martial arts

My sister and I also love karate. We learn self defense and build our confidence. Although we get yelled at sometimes, it's a lot of fun and we get to do it in bare feet. I know many people like doing martial arts wearing shoes, yikes! Thank God, at our dojo we are actually required to be barefoot in class. Unlike in yoga though, they don't care if we come in dirty feet.

Swimming

Swimming is second nature to most people living in Hawaii. For us, it's even more convenient as we live just a block away from the beach. We swim almost everyday. It's so refreshing and invigorating. Yes, of course we do it barefoot! Who in their right mind would wear shoes or sandals swimming? Unless they happen to fall into the water by accident, haha!

Gymnastics

This is one of Sharleen's favorite sports, and she is really good at it too. She does it once a week, and her teacher requires everyone to be barefoot and of course, she loves that.

Those are the sports/exercises that are best (and should be) done in bare feet. But there are others like barefoot hiking and running which have gained popularity in recent years. Have you tried any of them? What's your favorite barefoot sports?

Comments

  1. You and your sister are very lucky that your favourite sports allows you to go barefoot. My favourite sports are cricket which is a popular summer sport in Australia.

    Unfortunately you have to wear shoes during the entire match which is very uncomfortable for me especially when you bat or field all day in the heat and run up and down on the wicket while batting and chase after the ball while fielding. In cricket when you bat you have to wear protective gear because the bowlers can bowl it at your body at about 95 mph and even bowl at your feet on the full.

    Yes the cricket ball is harder and slightly heavier than a baseball and fielders don't wear gloves so we have to catch barehanded. Some of the fielders field about two meters away from the batsmen like myself.

    Another of my favourite sport is rugby union but I like most sports and I'm really good at it.

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