University of Richmond Athletics share tips on how to win the ‘stain game’
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RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- Now that school is back in session, you may be noticing more laundry starting to pile up at home -- and if you have an athlete or even an active child under your roof, the stains may be driving you insane. That's why 8News is "Taking Action" to help you win the stain game.
The University of Richmond's (UR) Athletics Department knows a little something about laundry. They do about 35 loads of laundry a day -- and around 45 loads on game days.
"That includes player shorts, t-shirts, towels [that] are used, sports medicine towels ... we have weight room towels, coach's gear," said Chris Williams, UR Athletics' director of Equipment Operations.
He said that, during football season, it's mostly grass stains that keep his crew up at night -- literally. But the toughest are probably during baseball season, when pants are stained by the rubber or clay turf.
Williams showed 8News the following examples of a jersey and pants that needed a combination of elbow grease and Spec Tak -- what Williams calls the MVP of detergents.
The trick, according to Williams, is pretreating. His staff often uses a spot treater called Desandex, which he compared to products like "Shout" at Kroger.
"That type of product [is one] where you want to prespot it or spray it beforehand," Williams said. "So, after a game, we’ll spray it on the jerseys, so it’s already getting started while we're travelling back. To me, that’s the main key, is [to] spot stuff early -- and don’t throw stuff in the dryer if you do have a stain, because it’s going to be very hard to get it out."
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Williams said a chemical called "The Brick" will get out field paint. It's also effective for things like ink stains.
When drying clothing, he said to be sure to use the cool-down cycle for things like jerseys with numbers that can otherwise stick together. If you're hanging clothing to dry, use plastic rather than metal hangers to avoid rust stains.
"The players will tell you: if you look good, you play good -- so that’s our philosophy in here," Williams said.
It also just feels good to triumph over a stubborn stain, Williams said.
"For us, when we get a clean uniform, we get excited when we see something like that -- like our job is done," he said. "We may have lost that game, but we won the laundry battle that day."
Even if you don’t use the exact products the pros do, the same principles apply. Whether it’s grass, spaghetti sauce or ink, treat stains as early as possible.
If the stain doesn't come out the first time, treat and wash the article again before putting it in the dryer. That's because, once it goes in the dryer, the stain sets in and becomes almost impossible to get out.
