Sports equipment organizers garage

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Perhaps the most important out of all sports mom tips is advice on how to store all that equipment. I mean, it spills out everywhere, right? You trip over cleats in the mudroom, some gloves are in the garage while others are in the kids&#; rooms&#; so unorganized. But with these sports equipment storage ideas, you&#;ll know just where everything is so you can focus on other things&#; like winning as a sports mom and trying to be on time for all those practices and games!

Best Ways to Store Sports Equipment

I was bringing up laundry from the basement when I tripped and fell over a tennis ball, that was the lst straw and I needed to find clever ways to organize and store all the sporting equipment in the house as throwing them out was out of the question. I did some research and I found storage tips for,

• Balls of all shapes and sizes
• Football helmets
• Gloves and mittens
• Skate shoes and ski poles

I have compiled what I found and made a list just for you,

1. Use a Large Laundry Basket

This may seem pretty obvious, but getting a large laundry basket and throwing all the sports gear in is a simple and clean way to make sure they don&#;t spill out of the closet and into your peace of mind.

If you keep your kids&#; sports equipment in a closet, a large laundry basket is a great way to wrangle all those balls and racquets. What I liked most about this idea was the simple elegance of it, laundry baskets are cheap and they can accommodate a lot of sports equipment.

2. DIY Storage for Small-Sized Sports Equipment

Use pieces of gutter troughs to make little shelves in which small items can fit. Most of the work for the shelving has already been done for you by the manufacturer. You only need to cut the gutter into required length, cap off the sides, and mount your new DIY shelf

Here&#;s another example of the ball corral with gutter troughs attached to the side for small ball and mitt storage.

3. Pegboard For Garage Storage

Pegboards are a genius way to organize your storage for anything, including sports equipment. Buy a board and dedicate it to sports equipment. The sports equipment will look like trophies hanging in your garage. Make sure to get some strong hooks for the pegboard on which everything will hang. You can even mount some baskets or brackets to hang anything, from your bike to that pail of tennis balls.

For garage storage, a pegboard is a genius idea! Add hooks for helmets, baskets for smaller balls, and a pallet bat stand for those baseball bats.

3. Mesh Laundry Bag

Mesh laundry bags come in handy when you want to hang up small items that can fit in. They are cheap and easy to get not to mention quite neat to use. Here&#;s another example of pegboard storage in the garage, but the balls are stored in a mesh laundry bag. Not a bad idea!

4. Pails For Balls

Put your balls in a pail and hang it up on your pegboard or stick the pail in a corner away from human traffic. You will always know where all your balls are and you won&#;t have to worry about tripping over them as you go about your business in the garage.

Attach pails to the pegboard to hold small balls like tennis balls and baseballs.

Also read: 16 Ways to Organize with Pegboards

5. Bungee Cords To Secure Balls to The Wall

Let&#;s be honest, footballs, basketballs, volleyballs, beachballs are too big to fit in a pail or laundry basket. You can maybe fit one or two in, but what to do with the rest? If you have some strong flexible rope, say bungee chords lying around, you can put them to good use by making this DIY storage idea for large balls

Make use of some studs to create a flexible storage area for sports balls. Add a u-shape to connect the studs together at the top and bottom, drill some holes, and then string 3-foot bungee cords to keep everything inside.

7. DIY Rolling Storage Cart For Sports Equipment Storage

Who doesn&#;t like the idea of a rolling cart you can move around the house when you need to reorganize things without calling for help to drag it over? If you fancy yourself a carpenter, I have just the hack for you, that you can use to make a cart as big as you need to store all your sportswear. What&#;s more, you can customize sections of the cart for different types or sizes of gear.

If you&#;re not afraid to tackle a DIY project, a rolling storage cart provides ample storage for absolutely everything in your sports arsenal.

8. Garage Cubbies

I recently bought a new bookshelf for the house after the old one got too big for a house that was getting increasingly smaller with each addition of new stuff. The old one was still in relatively good condition and just needed a few repairs and a touch of paint and so I could not just throw it out.

At first, I put the old bookshelf in the garage as I brainstormed on what to do with it, but then those cubbies started filling up with stuff, especially sports equipment that I keep in the garage. This was my lightbulb moment, I would spruce up the bookshelf and make it into a proper storage facility for the family&#;s assorted sportswear in the garage.

Repurpose an old bookshelf or build your own garage cubbies. Love that it provides storage for shoes, helmets, and other smaller pieces of equipment.

Hang Ski Poles and Ice Skates

Skiing equipment is a pain to store for the summer. These long poles and shoes do not fit into anything and cannot be left to lean against a wall throughout summer, someone is bound to trip over them and disorganize the entire setup. You need to find a quiet place in the corner of your garage and hang up the equipment until the next winter when it can be brought out again.

Use rubber-coated hooks and ladder hooks to hang ski poles and ice skates when they&#;re not in use.

DIY PVC Football Equipment Storage

I love playing with plumbing equipment. I just love how the pipes fit into each other and this idea I saw online has me intrigued.

It seems the creator joined PVC pipes to make a cage in which he fit in crates where he stores his football equipment. He also made a stand for the t-shirt and helmet.

For a cheap solution, try this PVC football equipment storage idea. (Unsure of original source &#; If it&#;s yours, let us know so we can credit you!

PVC Ball Rack

Another genius idea to organize with PVC Pipes Projects, only this time, the creator designed a rack to hold his footballs, netballs, basketballs, and volleyballs. I like this idea since you can make your rack as big or as small as you require depending on the number and sizes of balls you need to rack up.

A PVC ball rack is another affordable project you&#;ll want to tackle to corral all those balls.

Sweater Hanger

A sweater hanger makes for great helmet storage, don&#;t you think? What&#;s more, one hanger can take up to 3 helmets and go into your closet or on the pegboard we made earlier. You can have all your family&#;s helmets in the same corner of your garage assigned to football and never have to worry about tripping on them again.

Wire Basket for Outdoor Storage

You lack a garage, or maybe you simply don&#;t have space for your sports equipment inside the house. Worry not, take some appropriately sized baskets and hung them on your outer walls somewhere away from direct sunlight or itchy fingers.

I would recommend this hack for the equipment you use quite often. The equipment that you rarely use may not be able to stand the weather outside for long stretches of time waiting for you to use them, sinf indoor storage for those.

Attach baskets to the back of the shed door for balls and gloves. What a great idea for those who don&#;t have a garage! Want the kids to confine their equipment to their bedrooms? A wire basket holds a lot, and it provides some decor for the room, too.

Chalkboard Schedule

And a bonus tip for keeping parents organized: Put a chalkboard schedule near your sports equipment storage area to keep track of the kids&#; games and practices. The schedule will help you know which sports equipment to bring out of hiding or which are nowhere near use and need to go to the attic to clear up space.

One Crazy House if Full of Ideas to Organize Your Living Space, Check These Ones Out:

There truly isn’t one person that doesn’t need a few solid storage solutions. Even if you don’t have children, you probably still need a place carved out that you can store out-of-season items or even a spot for your personal sporting equipment. But, if you have kids in sports, your need for storage is exponentially greater &#; it’s an absolute necessity!

Thankfully, we’ve found some clever and space-saving ways to store all of that big and bulky equipment. Most of the storage solutions we found work best in a garage, but you could easily use them in any area that you’ve designated and have wall space to spare.

15 Clever Sports Equipment Storage Solutions

Ball Claw | $

These cool holders are easily installed and there’s one to fit any ball. Just install the claw and be able to grab the rock at any given time that a pickup game with the neighborhood kids comes to call.

*Note: this solution also helps to preserve the life of your basketballs.

Bungee Cords for Ball Storage DIY

Bungee cords hooked on a simple square frame, make for getting balls in and out easy.  This system fits without hardship in-between the wall and a garage door which is a great way to use any wasted, excess space outside.

Rolling Storage Cart DIY

If you have the space, this rolling cart is genius! It’s simple construction and you can get the free plans to built it yourself, HERE. Balls, helmets, gloves, bats, and more can all be fit inside making them easy to get to and not filling up any corners in or outside of the house.

Moveable Wall Storage DIY

We love this Rubbermaid FastTrack system.  And personally, I have used these tracks for years and it makes changing the configuration of hooks for each sports season an absolute breeze!  They also sell specific hooks for different sports equipment.

Garage Stud Pockets DIY

If your garage walls are unfinished, then check out just how easy it is to add practical storage in-between the studs. Nail a few boards across the studs and just add a few hooks!  These “pockets” are an easy way to utilize the walls and clear any clutter-filled corners.

Laundry Bags | $

You can easily buy a pack of these really inexpensively and then utilize them for this rad idea we found at Real Simple. You may have not thought of laundry bags as an easy storage solution for your sports equipment but they work wonders! You can hang multiple balls flat against the wall,  see through it (if you buy mesh or transparent ones), and grab it easily on your way to practice.

Install Some Pegboards DIY

A wall of peg boards lets you arrange and rearrange your equipment easily! You can essentially hang up anything and everything with its installation. If you add hooks &#; your softball and baseball bats will have a home. Or, if you add some baskets, like you see in the photo, you can throw in extra practice gloves, batting or golf gloves, and more.

Use DIY Inside Storage Outside

Sometimes the best solution is to use things you already have around the house.  An old dresser or repurposed bookcase could make a great area for sports equipment storage. Or you can buy some of those cubbies we see in stores like Target and WalMart and use them outside!

Repurpose Wood Pieces DIY

Grab some old pallets and get to work! You can easily create a organization corner in the garage made of of some repurposed wood pieces that can hold all the things; hockey sticks, bats, and more!

Rawlings Equipment Organizer | $

If you don’t want to DIY your organization, you can easily find some affordable ways to do it. Just take a look at this Rawlings masterpiece that has a spot for all the major needs. Balls, helmets, bats, and more fit right inside!

Organized Living Skate Rack | $

Perfect for the skaters and hockey players, this rack was made with them in mind. It’s easy to install and keeps all of the equipment at an arm’s reach and organized. And it holds two of everything, for brothers and sisters are both neat and tidy.

Innostage Trunk Organizer | $

Foldable and easy to manuever, just throw this in the trunk and start organizing. This is the perfect solution tosports equipment filling up your car throughout the “in” season. Just place the extra balls, gloves, and the like inside and ready-to-grab.

Organized Living Big Mesh Sports Basket | $

This is a durable mesh basket that can clip onto a lot of different surfaces from grids to pegboards. You can really fill this up with all kinds of sports equipment or just designate it for the very many balls that you have filling up the garage &#; from basketball, to football, to bouncy balls that the kiddos love!

Neatfreak Two-Tier Sports Bin | $

Here’s a nice big that’s modern and chic but can help out in the playroom, garage or even in the mudroom with your organization. The fabric bins can be easily wipes clean from any dirt that comes off the equipment and it holds quite a bit as well! It’s also super easy to assemble for those that aren’t the most DIY-inclined.

Hammock Storage | $

Now, I know we’re looking at easy organization and storage for stuffed animals here but this works for sports equipment too, we promise! Just install it wherever it’s needed and throw in balls, gloves, and more inside. It’s really just a super simple way to get everything up and off the floor.

The parents of kids who keep active with sports know the struggle of trying to keep their garage floors free from the untidiness that sports gear can cause.

Leaning bikes, loose balls, discarded elbow and knee pads, athletic cleats scattered across the floor&#;it never ends.

It’s unfortunate because garages are the perfect room in your home for all of your sports equipment storage needs.

The garage is commonly the last part of the house you’re in before driving your kids off to their game or practice.

And it provides a spacious, centralized storage area for all of your family’s athletic gear, which is better than having it scattered throughout the house.

Why you may be struggling with your sports equipment storage managment

The main reason many garages can’t manage both their sports gear storage needs and general storage needs is simple – they’re using the wrong storage systems.

Or, even worse, there are no practical storage systems being used.

A family of five who all stay active with recreational and organized sports can accumulate dozens of pieces of athletic gear of all sizes.

Take the above photo, for example. Between balls, rackets, bikes, baseball and tennis gear, and winter sports gear, a garage can quickly get overwhelmed by all of the things a family uses for their sports.

Smart, efficient storage systems are essential to help you keep everything organized, easy to find, and clean.

If your garage floor is not exactly a “sports gear-free” zone, here’s a complete guide explaining the do’s and don’ts of sports equipment storage for your garage.

Ditch or donate outgrown and worn-out sports gear

It’s common sense and a simple, fundamental organizing principle that having less to store makes organization easier.

Garages are filled with thousands of pieces of worn-out athletic gear. Kids will sometimes outgrow their sports gear in less than a year.

These things aren’t just needlessly occupying valuable garage space, they could be of great use to someone else, including the less fortunate.

Start your cleanup effort by donating old items that still have some life left in them to any charity that recycles old sports gear.

Another option is to sell your old gear to a used sporting goods retailer like Play It Again Sports.

Add a slatwall storage system

Once you’ve pared down your collection of sports equipment, it’s time to choose the best way to store everything.

The choice is actually quite simple – nothing else matches what a slatwall storage system offers.

The key to keeping a garage floor clutter-free is to make use of the available storage space on your walls.

Slatwall panels accomplish this by giving you wall-to-wall storage possibilities using a variety of hanging accessories. Set up zones that keep your sports gear, yard tools, and other items separated and tidy.

This maximizes storage space, keeps things securely in place, and optimizes your garage’s organization capabilities so everything is easy to find.

BEFORE: This garage was using repurposed kitchen cabinets with mismatched colors. Underutilizing the walls for storage led to floor clutter.

AFTER: The garage makeover included a new floor coating and slatwall and cabinetry were installed for easy-to-manage storage. Floor clutter be gone!

The storage versatility of slatwall

The beauty of slatwall storage is that its versatility enables your wall panels to essentially be blank canvasses with a limitless number of storage configurations.

Having an ample amount of storage versatility means that you’ll enjoy lots of freedom when hanging your items. Adjusting and moving things around as your storage needs change is no issue.

For example, when one sport is done for the season, its gear can be moved to a less accessible area and replaced with easier to reach equipment for whatever sport is in season.

Making your storage systems as convenient to use as possible can save you hours of time that would otherwise be wasted searching for misplaced items over the course of a year.

Add cabinetry and overhead racks

Supplementing your garage wall storage with a couple of other storage systems will set your garage up as a highly functional space for storing sports gear and a lot more.

A cabinet system can be incorporated into your garage design in order to give you more storage options.

Cabinets can be used to store sports equipment, tools, and valuables or hazardous materials that you need locked up. Visual clutter is eliminated because everything is hidden in drawers and behind cabinetry doors.

Using overhead racking also expands your ability to store things in the garage and, like slatwall, takes advantage of an underutilized part of the garage.

In this case, it’s the garage’s ceiling area that can have heavy-duty racks added for storing bulky and out-of-season items.

The drawbacks of DIY sports equipment storage

Plenty of garages rely on DIY storage systems to store their athletic gear. That may be cost-effective but also has some drawbacks.

First and foremost is the aesthetic downgrade most DIY storage systems add to a garage space.

Very few of the DIY storage ideas you’ll find in garages actually look very good. In fact, many of them look downright terrible.

While looking online, I came across one garage that had a beat-up wooden pallet standing upright and fastened to the wall, with a couple of the pallet’s bottom slats pulled off to allow yard tools to be stored.

Then there was the hammock I saw that was hanging in a garage corner to hold balls and baseball gloves. Needless to say, neither were aesthetically impressive. DIY storage projects also tend to have an inconsistent level of functionality and durability issues.

Aim for something higher than just hammering nails into exposed wall studs for hanging things, or storing yard tools between the studs and nailing a 1 x 3 furring strip to hold everything in.

Slatwall storage doesn’t just allow you to store more efficiently, it makes your garage look better while doing so. Durable PVC slatwall panels add a professional-looking finish to your garage interior.

Color-matched screws and finishing trim, along with powder-coated metal hanging accessories that are all the same color create a clean, consistent appearance.

Now that we’ve established which sports equipment storage systems are most ideal for the garage, let’s address storing specific types of athletic and outdoor activity gear.

Essential bike storage solutions

Leaving bikes leaning against the garage wall or with their kickstands engaged in a corner aren’t ideal storage methods.

They’re taking up floor space, can fall over, and are more vulnerable to damage from vehicles entering and exiting the garage.

Instead, use horizontal or vertical wall storage to keep your floor clear and your bikes safer.

Two horizontal bike hooks on your slatwall will store one bike flat against the wall. This means they’ll protrude less into the garage space, but take up more of the slatwall space.

Vertical hanging (pictured left) involves a single point of contact with the bike’s front wheel hanging from a vertical bike hook. This creates a larger profile, as the bike hangs perpendicular to the wall. You’ll have more slatwall hanging space at your disposal, however.

All of your biking accessories like water bottles, helmets and gloves, tire pumps and pressure gauges, spare tires, and repair tools can be kept organized and right beside your hanging bikes on the slatwall.

For large families with a lot of bikes and a bigger garage where available floor space is a non-issue, a sturdy bike rack is another bike storage option.

Football, hockey gear, and other sports apparel

For storing equipment from sports that use a lot of padding (like football and hockey), designate a zone on a slatwall panel to keep everything together.

Use a combination of hooks, baskets, shelving, and a dedicated hanger (like our hockey hanger, which can also be used for football gear and jerseys) for the job.

Other miscellaneous sporting accessories like helmets, elbow and knee pads, skipping ropes, and frisbees can be contained neatly inside a mesh basket or individually hung on hooks.

For storing sports apparel or general outdoor apparel like boots, raincoats, and your gardening shoes, angled wire shoe shelves, and garment hooks can be easily hung wherever you need on the slatwall.

Corral those bats and balls

Along with bikes, those pesky loose balls your kids use for their sports are one of the most common garage floor clutter culprits.

Hanging mesh baskets can hold a bunch of your balls together in one place. Garage Living’s mesh baskets are deep so they can hold more and the see-through design makes finding balls easier.

Sports equipment storage isn’t the only thing hanging baskets can be used for. Gardening accessories and tools, cleaning products, and automotive supplies can also be stored in them.

Another option for storing balls is to use a hanging ball rack that’s conveniently adjustable for balls of various sizes.

Baseball bats are another tripping hazard that don’t belong on the floor. Keep your Louisville Sluggers stored safely with wall hooks.

Racket (and racquet) storage

It’s one of the many oddities of the English language that the main piece of equipment used in tennis is typically spelled “racket”, while “racquet” is used for most of the other, well, racquet sports. But I digress&#;

Instead of hanging your rackets/racquets on a nail (which isn’t recommended because it stretches the strings), opt for a dedicated tennis racket holder for the wall.

Double hooks can also be utilized for securely hanging your badminton, tennis, racquetball, and squash rackets/racquets in the garage.

The perfect golf gear storage solution

Sure, after finishing playing 18 holes you could just leave your golf bag in your car trunk – but that comes at the expense of leaving trunk space for groceries or other storage needs.

And since most golf bags nowadays stand upright on a floor just fine, you might also wonder why not simply storing it standing up in a garage corner won’t work.

That’s an option, but it comes down to (once again) looking for ways to not take up garage floor space and protecting your investment.

A new golf bag and set of clubs can get pricey. We don’t like their chances when matched against a vehicle that’s backing into a garage if they’re in the blind spot of the driver.

The golf rack pictured below is the perfect golf gear storage solution. There’s room for a couple of golf bags and two pairs of golf shoes.

Cabinetry could also be used by storing your golf bag and equipment behind one of the system’s taller locker-style doors.

Skateboards, roller blades, and scooters

Another rolling floor hazard are skateboards, roller blades, and scooters.

Any number of slatwall hooks can be used to keep them safely out of the way such as J hooks, double hooks, or utility hooks. Hanging shelves could also be used.

For a larger and heavier scooter, a couple of horizontal bike hooks will capably support the extra weight.

Fishing equipment

Any serious angler can accumulate a fair amount of rods and fishing accessories that become difficult to keep organized.

Fishing outerwear like jackets, vests, hats, and waders can be stored on hooks, shelving, or tucked away inside a section of cabinets.

Cabinets could also be used for fishing rod storage and are the best spot in your garage for all of those lures, baits, hooks, floats, fishing line, and other easy-to-misplace small fishing accessories.

Camping gear

Overhead storage racks were made for things like camping gear.

Your camping equipment can even be kept in overhead racking year-round since it tends to be bulkier and some items can be a little trickier to store.

Tents can be stored there separately while cookware, utensils, plates, cups, and camping tools can be kept in labeled storage bins. Because garage cabinets have such storage versatility, your camping gear could also be stored inside of them.

It’s advisable to keep first-aid kits or survival kits stored inside your home, as some of the medical supplies inside them are sensitive to heat and cold.

Sleeping bags should also be stored inside, where they’ll be safe from potential mold caused by excess moisture and pests that may be in the garage.

Cleaning your camping gear and storing it properly will ensure your equipment lasts much longer.

Fitness equipment

Setting up a section of your garage as a workout space makes a lot of sense if you have the room. You’ll save on gym fees and it’s a lot more convenient using the garage to work out than it is to drive to the gym,

As you can see in the picture below, this garage corner is set up as an easy-to-use workout space and can accommodate all of these homeowners&#; sports equipment storage needs.

Learn more about using your garage as an exercise space by viewing our Fitness Room Garage gallery.

Water sports and winter sports equipment storage

Winter sports equipment and water sports gear may be used at completely opposite times of the year weather-wise, but they’re actually quite interchangeable when it comes to storing them in the garage.

Using a variety of hooks and shelves to store your gear works, as will cabinets. Double hooks, J hooks, and utility hooks have so many uses, whether you’re storing a long item like a rake or a canoe paddle.

Skis, sleds, and snowboards are just as easy to store in your garage as a kayak, water skis, and your pool and boating gear.

Don’t forget to dry out your athletic gear

Allowing your family’s sweaty athletic gear to dry out after being worn is essential for hygiene reasons and to prolong the life of the equipment.

No one wants their kid to be the one on the team other players avoid because their equipment smells so funky!

A standalone equipment drying rack in the garage will work, but using specialized wall hanging accessories (like the hockey hanger pictured) will keep your garage floor free for car parking and other uses.

A mudroom is another ideal space for some of your sports equipment storage and drying-out needs.

Don’t hesitate to use a fan to speed up the drying process if items are particularly damp and need to be worn again the next day.

Take care of your sports equipment storage needs

Being the parents of kids who are active in sports is a significant time commitment.

Why not save yourself from the wasted time that comes from looking for lost items by outfitting your garage with better storage systems?

You’ll appreciate the increased functionality that an organized garage provides and it just may make it a little easier to get your kids to their practices and games on time.

Garage Living will get your garage set up to handle any of your sports equipment storage needs.

All you need to do to get started is to schedule your free design consultation with us.

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