In school
When I was a kid, in high school, I used to wear black canvas shoes. They were great—light weight & cheap. They had a flimsy rubber sole though. So when we played pick-up football on the tar courts, the sole used to wear out. I went to an all-boys school, so holy shoes did not really matter. However, once the tar court had eaten through the hole, it would then target the sock. And when my mother noticed the holy sock, during the wash-dry-fold cycle, I’d have to explain how the real problem was me playing too much, which caused a hole in my shoe, which caused a hole in my sock. I was not alone, though. Almost everyone at my school had the same problem. So one day, a noble soul (I can’t remember who) simply removed his shoes and played on the tar court. We could’ve given him all the lunch money we had that day. Of course our barefeet burnt on the hot blistering tar court. Of course we had blisters. But all the suffering was preferred to explaining to your mother why there were holes in your socks. And so the practice stuck. I don’t remember ever wearing shoes when I played at school. It was liberating.
The barefeet playing, led to other innovations as well. Since most of us wore the same kind of shoes, there were few times when we wore someone else’s shoes and went back to class, only to realise a little later that something felt weird. So then, we started wearing our shoes on our hands when we played—we simply slipped them on like gloves.
Thinking back, I love how our minds adapted organically to the logistical problems posed by simply playing pick-up football at school.
In college
When I played football for a proper league, in college, I wore football boots or studs, as they are commonly known. Studs have a very hard sole and if you’re not used to running in them, you can sprain your ankles very badly. So the common practice was to bandage your feet in at least two roles of medicinal rolls and then two pairs of socks. All this just to keep your feet stiff enough. And I had to adapt the way I ran, kicked, and dribbled quite a lot to get used to the stiff feet.
So when I did play football with my friends on the weekends, I loved to ditch my shoes and play barefeet. It was so liberating. I could do so many more things than with those damn shoes in. It used to be cold (about 1℃-2℃). And the pitch was quite uneven, with rocks and gravel. But it still felt better without shoes than with. My friends ridiculed me. But I did not give in. I could not.
Now
I see why I prefer to run barefoot or with minimal shoes. It is just that feeling of splayed toes on naked ground that is incomparable to anything else. I don’t even care about the studies out there that say that barefeet running leads to fewer injuries or that it’s good for your pace. I do it because it just feels good!