WINning On and Off the Volleyball Court

You see me smiling in all of my volleyball pictures? That’s because I love the sport and it brings me so much joy! I get to play volleyball AND hang out with my friends at the same time? Win-win! But sniffing those knee pads… that’s taking an L, guys.

On Sunday, I played a hard-fought coed game. When I was removing my shoes and knee pads to change into my off-the-court shoes (it really helps your volleyball shoes last longer if you only wear them on the court! Pro tip!), I smelled something so funky, I had to take a look around and make sure it was really me that was the source. Good day in the morning was that smell funky! Was it my shoes? Was it my bag? Was it my knee pads? Foolish, foolish, foolish me. I decided to sniff my knee pads. 

Maybe sniff is putting it lightly. I took a deep inhale into those knee pads like I was at the end of a yoga class and it was that last deep breath before the om. Big mistake. Huge! I immediately started coughing — maybe I was gagging? — and was so horrified. It was like the smell jumped into my nostrils, traveled through my nasal cavity, and karate chopped me in the uvula. It was at this point that I felt personally victimized by my knee pads. 🤢

“I gotta wash these ASAP,” I told myself. Again, foolish. When was this going to happen, realistically? I had games on Monday, drop-in on Tuesday, and another game on Thursday! There was no way I was going to be able to wash and air dry all of my knee pads in time for all of that!

And so, here we are. Thursday night. Four-plus hours of volleyball this week. Another hour tonight. Knee pads still hummin’. I needed to do something about this for real before I started another week with funky knee pads. What did I do? I grabbed a bottle of the WIN Detergent I recently received and went to work.  

You don’t need much to do the trick which is great! I thought I was going to have to use the entire bottle or set the knee pads on fire, quite frankly. (Don’t set your knee pads on fire.) Fun fact: When you find yourself singing “Livin’ on a Prayer” while your knee pads are washing, you know you have a problem. 🙈

I’ve actually used WIN detergent before, but never on my knee pads. It worked great tonight, though! The odor was instantly neutralized, and I now feel like I can go back to living my best volleyball life. 

While my knee pads air dry, and I am awake past my bedtime, I took a nice shower, washed my hair, and drank a huge water bottle of cold water. Bedtime = time to slip into something cozy. And what’s something cozy, warm, and funk-free I can wear on a chilly night like tonight? My prAna Cozy Up Pants and T-Shirt! (Take 25% off with my prAna discount code AREEprAna25) I can sweat with reckless abandon in this cozy gear because the hemp blend used in this line is naturally odor reducing. Granted, I like to hope I don’t actually sweat with reckless abandon, but who knows what kind of dreams I’m going to have tonight! You don’t know my life!

Have you ever sniffed a piece of activewear or sports equipment and immediately wished you hadn’t? Have you ever tried detergent specifically for sportswear? Are you a volleyball player who knows the struggle of keeping your knee pads fresh so that they can last longer? Do you have any friends who tell you, “this stinks! Here! Smell it!“??? What’s wrong with them?!