Watch CBS News

Professional Lacrosse Player From Md. Creates Spray To Kill Sports Gear Funk

BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Anyone having to pile into the family car after a kid has been picked up from a lacrosse practice can testify to how unpleasant of an experience that can be.

Mike Schuh talks with a professional lacrosse player who's come up with a way to make the funk coming out of the bag of gear disappear.

For the Philadelphia Wings and for the Chesapeake Bayhawks, #26 Drew Westervelt is a year-round professional lacrosse player.

He has endured years of the unpleasant side of sports.

"It's usually disgusting," Westervelt said.

Yes, his gear. Everyone's gear. It stinks.

"I think you talk to most parents they're the ones who have to drive around with the windows down," Westervelt said.

For those of you who don't know, most sweaty soccer, hockey and football gear never gets washed. And when it does, the stink doesn't go away.

"It's just a norm. I don't think there was any way to do anything about it," Westervelt said.

Well, until he and some friends who are chemists came up with a solution: OdorBalance. No perfume, the spray gets rid of body oils in natural and synthetic fabrics.

"The sticker on the front there says 'let your machine do the work.' It's as simple as throwing your gloves and pads and throwing them in the washing machine," Westervelt said.

OdorBalance keeps the funk from coming back and works for all sports using synthetics, according to Westervelt.

"I don't have the right answer for you as to why people have dealt with this for so long, but I think they're like anything else. There is a better way to do things," Westervelt said.

Westervelt is hoping police and military will use it to clean stinky body armor. He's also selling a spray to disinfect all the crummy turf fields he plays on.

"Anything you have guys sweating and bleeding on and it's not regularly cleaned, it's an issue," he said.

He'd like to be the Kevin Plank of sports cleaning.

Westervelt says his product is in area running stores, Lax World and some Whole Foods stores. Click here to find a store near you.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.