No Season Like Sports Season

This one’s for all you sports parents. The ones who’ve huddled at the field in the rain and wind, the ones who’ve sweltered on metal bleachers in the heat. The ones waking up for early swim meets, the ones staying up for late-night ice rink time. The ones juggling the calendar, the carpool, picture day and snack duty. And how to get dinner on the table in between.

The last thing you want to do is constantly be tripping over all that sports gear. Or hunting for some critical item when your child needs to head out the door.

The good news is keeping track of sports equipment and apparel doesn’t have to be a contact sport. To help you stay in the game, we’ve pulled together some systems and solutions for keeping sports gear organized and ready for when they need it.

Give It A Home

Our best organization tip sounds simple, but it’s important: Give every item a home. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the garage, mudroom or closet. Just designate a home and a stick with it. Every. Day. No leaving it in the car until the next game (because that probably will be the day you’re not home and someone else is taking your child). No leaving it outside after practicing.

What if your equipment is all different sizes? That’s where a system like our new slatwall display comes in handy. Not only can you easily see what you’re looking for, but you can arrange 19 different hooks to fit what you need (and easily rearrange them come next season).

Here, tennis rackets can live comfortably with a hanging bag of tennis balls or your other child’s lacrosse stick and helmet. It’s also a great solution for clothing items or pads that could use a little airing out. The four pieces of durable PVC paneling (which cover a total of 16 square feet) can also be arranged vertically or horizontally to suit your needs.

Containerize It 

Those juggling a lot of different sports or ones with a lot of small items will want some containers to keep like items together. But don’t clutter yourself up with a lot of little piles. A storage shelf with baskets will help you containerize all the little things, and also put your vertical space to work for you.

Anyone with larger items – or a desire to keep them out of sight – might appreciate one of our deck boxes. It doesn’t matter if you use it inside or outside (though this is a great strategy if you’re limited in garage or indoor space). These 70-gallon bins are built with recyclable materials to withstand various weather conditions, which means they resist chipping, marring, dents, warping, splinters, and fading.

Sort It and Get It Clean 

Pale blue soccer socks won’t do when this season’s team color is bright orange. And it’s kind of embarrassing to show up in white baseball pants still sporting last weekend’s grass stains. To avoid missing uniform parts – or items that didn’t quite make it to the washing machine in time, we recommend having a designated place for sports-related laundry. Either it goes straight to the laundry room when your child gets home or there’s a special place in their room.

A rolling laundry cart like ours is a great place to start. These organizers make it easy to sort and keep all your sports gear together in one place – and avoid it getting mixed in with other laundry that might not get washed before the next game or practice. When you want to make sure all the game day gear is washed, just roll the cart in the laundry room or unhook the bag you need.