No lies, our very first season we may not have washed the kneepads until…well, never. Makes me want to throw up just thinking about it now, but we were definitely rookies to all things volleyball.
So there we were at a post season practice and one of the other girls’ kneepads were SO white and I made a comment about it. She looked at me and said “well yeah, my mom is neurotic about washing them after every practice.” Y’all!!!! Two words….MIND.BLOWN!!!!
We are supposed to wash the kneepads, who knew?! I’m not too proud to admit how dumb I felt at that moment. Why it never occurred to me to wash her kneepads, I will never know. Needless to say we were much less smelly from that point on!
Tip #1: Wash all the things! Kneepads, ankle braces, arm sleeves…just wash them. Maybe not every practice because….life, but wash them every few times for sure.
Tip #2: Air those suckers out! Have your player take her stuff out of the backpack between practices. Think about how drenched in sweat those suckers are when they strip out of the gear at the end of practice. Then they stuff them in the backpack and they live there until the next practice. No fresh air, no drying out. Even on non-wash days, we now take our things out between practices. Let the shoes air out too!!
Tip #3: Buy extras. This is another one that I ask myself why it took so long to realize. Just buy more….more kneepads, more arm sleeves, more ankle braces. It makes it so much easier to get the wash done between practice without the oh crap these are still wet panic moments! We have two-three sets of kneepads and two-three sets of ankle braces now. And lemme tell you, life is so much easier!!
Tip #4: Get a shoe bag….and maybe some deodorizers. For between the washes and to help keep the backpack from being totally smelly, seal up the stank! Anyone here ever play soccer? We had cleat bags and I would stuff my cleats and shing uards in there after practice and contain the grossness. Why don’t volleyball players have the same? I mean I guess for soccer you were trying to contain the mud and dirt and grass from the cleats and the containment of the smelly-ness was just a wonderful byproduct. But hey, that doesn’t mean I cant get something similar for my volleyballers. So I hopped on Amazon, every busy mom’s best friend, and voila….we use these bags for the shoes, ankle braces and kneepads and use these deodorant sticks to absorb the odor. GAME.CHANGER!
Our one warning is don’t try to take the shoe deodorizers on the planes…they trip up TSA every time. Its just not worth the hassle for a weekend tourney. Leave them at home and just make do for the few days you’re gone!