More and more stores are carrying the SportzGemz pouches. It’s exciting to know that this natural mineral will get rid of the smell in all types of sports equipment. And if the dog chews the pouch, it won’t harm him.

Check out:

• Rinkside Sports in PEI
• Offside Pro Shops inside the SportsPlex in Langley, BC
• All Seasons Source for Sports, Terrace, BC
• MVP Athletic Supply, Langley BC
• Mt. Washington Ski Resort, Mt. Washington, BC

We’ve updated our packaging and our point of purchase information.  We’ve also joined the BC Sports Rep Association for more exposure.

To further our efforts to be an earth conscious company, we’ve changed the mine we purchase our mineral from.  The new mine contains are purer mineral, raising our active ingredient from 65% to 95% and it is in a drier climate.  Starting with a drier mineral means that we don’t have to dry out product prior to shipping and keeps the moisture content in the mineral more consistent.  The result is an even more effective product!

SportzGemz are carried in many independent stores, pharmacies and Home Hardware stores across Canada.  For a complete list of retail locations visit our corporate site, Fresh-N Home Products.

We are still having a great time chatting with all the athletes and their families.

Today we had fun posting pictures at Twitter/WendyRatel.  Follow the link to see some great shots.

Boys taller than Nicole, she was in heaven.

Nicole’s favorite of the day was having her photo taken with the basketball team from Cleveland, Ohio.  Nicole is 6′ tall, so to have these wonderfully tall guys hanging out was fantastic.

Nicole was able to share her own basketball story.  Basketball season is very short, but very intense.  Shoes remain in the locker with her books and clothes when she’s not practicing.  After a few practices, everything stunk.  She took a set of SportzGemz to school and put the smaller pouches in her shoes and left the larger one to work in her locker.  Overnight the smell was gone from her locker and the lockers of the two other basketball players who were close by.  Everyone was very happy.

We also has a chance to talk with Scott from Medicine Hat.  Scott’s hockey team had just been eliminated in overtime.  He said it was a great game and was not happy with the loss, although he was glad to be done and have some time to check out Vancouver.  Scott’s off the check out the West Coast Trail for the next week or so and enjoy the hospitality of Vancouver

Renee’s friend says he’ll be by tomorrow to pick up his SportzGemz.  He’s also trying to persuade Renee that she should talk to our neighbour across the way and get a spray on tatoo of moons and stars.

Had to have the photo of the guy in the bathrobe.

This was a photo we just had to have.  When you see a guy walking down a road in a bathrobe, there has to be a story.  This is the only time, so far, we have “paid” for a picture.  We had to trade a set of Footwear Fresh-N (our 2 piece set) for this photo.  Our friend told us that he wouldn’t smile and had to wear his sunglasses!  Even with all the rules, it was worth it!

As you can see, Nicole is having a great time.  How many other young girls can say they have had their photo taken with men from all over the world, and what better people than the police and firemen – we should be very safe!

More to come!

Monday, August 3rd was Day 3 of the games.

Today I had help from Nicole and a very dear friend of hers.  We all had a blast chatting with the athletes and fans from around the world.

The girls explain how the product worked in mime to a fellow from Brazil, which had everyone laughing.  Nicole’s friend was hilarious and obviously plays charades.

Denise from Sporty Jewels getting in the game.

It was a bit cooler and the girls were playing Toss the Rocks again.  Today we had the kids Toss the Rocks and gave them Freezies.  Freezies are a Canadian treat, we found out.  Several people had never heard of them of tried them before.

We also ended up discussing all the different words for running shoe – sneaker, trainer … with a lovely couple from Australia.  We concluded that work out shoes, sneakers… stink, no matter what you call them.

To get a break from the heat, the girls headed to 8 Rinks to talk with the players about SportzGemz and hand out fliers.  If you’ve ever traveled with a hockey bag and had to keep it in your hotel room, you know all about stinky hockey gear.  What’s even worse is having to play with wet gloves and skates.  When you’re on the ice several times a day, it’s difficult to dry the equipment out.  Using SportzGemz dries skates and gloves in 4-5 hours.

Singing as they paraded to their game

The South Africa soccer team was lots of fun as they paraded down vendor row, flag flying and singing!  The pageantry of it was beautiful.

We weren’t sure what they were singing, but the passion was fantastic.

Singing and parading with a flag is something we just don’t see here.

Gotta Love it!

It became our mission to collect photos from as many teams as we can. Maybe we can produce our own calendar this year!

More to come tomorrow.

Day 2 at the 2009 World Police and Fire Games is behind us.  We have 8 more to go!  Soccer got going big time today, with 35 games played.  Hockey also started and both Burnaby 8 Rinks and the Bill Copeland Arena were very busy.  Rugby starts tomorrow!

We’ve had lots of fun chatting with folks from all over the world.  Kim Plumley, my beautiful assistant for today, and I agree that the firefighters from Trinidad and Tobago were our favorite for the day.  Carolyn had a young officer from Ireland tell her she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen last night, so that made her day!  Tomorrow we’ll be taking a camera and seeing how many photos we can get.

The SportzGemz are starting to get noticed.  It often takes a bit for people to “get” the concept. The heat is helping us!  We all expect to sweat buckets when we’re working hard on the field, the court or at the rink, but not so much when we’re walking down the street.   Hotels rooms, after the shoes are removed at night and with all that smelly sports equipment are not the nicest places to be.  People are looking for a solution and we have it for them.

We’re also having tons of fun playing Toss the Rocks!  Toss a Diva Diamondz in a square and you can win a pair of Diva Diamondz, a pair of Gentlemen Gems or a print by Bill Reid, courtesy of Metopolis at Metrotown, our neighbour.  People are stopping to play.  It’s fun.  We’ve also been handing out Freezies to the “hot” athletes and they seem to appreciate that.

More later.

The 2009 World Police and Firefighter Games are being held from July 31st to August 9th.  SportzGemz are one of the featured products for sale at the Burnaby Lake Venue.

Chad Turpin, the chair of the games, has used SportzGemz for 2 years now and loves them.  We were chatting about this time last year and he mentioned the games and how he thought we should be a part of them.

We’ll be onsite for all 10 days from 9am to 9pm.  A portion of our sales will be going to help kids play sports.

When your tired of your home and car smelling like a locker room – you need SportzGemz!  Not only will they remove the smell, but they dry the sports equipment as well.   When the sports equipment smell is gone, the bacteria and fungus that cause itchy skin, rashes and fungal infections is also gone.

SportzGemz work in all sports equipment.  Choose from a 2 piece set for your footwear (Footwear Fresh-N or ShoeRocks), the original 3 piece set of SportzGemz with 2 shoe size pouches and a larger one for the bag or car, or the 5 piece set of SportzGemz5 with 2 shoe size pouches, 2 glove size pouches and a large pouch for the equipment bag.

SportzGemz and SportzGem5 will be available February 6th and 7th at the Richmond Ice Sports Centre.  We have been invited back by the tournament coordinators.

Team pricing is avialable, please contact me at 604-671-1031.  Preorders will receive a special bonus.

If you’re looking for a great stocking stuffer, SportzGemz are perfect.

Look for us at the West Coast Christmas Show, November 28-30, 2008 at the Tradex in Abbotsford.

We have a new pattern for our SportzGemz5 – great grey fabric with a skull print. The kids love it.

See you there!

We are very happy to have Board ‘n Batten on our team.  Board ‘n Batten will be distributing SportzGemz, Diva Diamondz and Gentlemen Gems in Eastern Canada.  Look for new locations to purchase our products in the near future.

Board ‘n Batten have been distributing products to the gift store market for almost 20 years.  They have the rights to several brands from the United States and supply over 4000 stores in Canada.  SportzGemz, Diva Diamondz and Gentlemen Gems are the first Canadian brand they have brought on board.  We are very excited about this opportunity.

Look for SportzGemz, Diva Diamondz and Gentlemen Gems at the Toronto Gift Show, January 25-29, 2009.  Board ‘n Batten can be found at booths 8455 and 8351.

If you live in the Vancouver region and are out and about stop by the Cranberry Festival in Fort Langley October 11th.  We have a booth and will be selling the SportzGemz in the parking lot of Euphoria Chocolates.  You can also purchase SportzGemz at the Fort Langley Museum.

From October 16th to 20th you can find us in booth #316 at the Vancouver Interior Design Show.  We will have the full line there including Diva Diamondz, Gentlemen Gems and ShoeRocks.  At the booth we will also be carrying Warm Buddies.  These cute teddies make great gifts.  We have created some great gift baskets for Christmas giving, so stop by and say Hi!  If you’re looking through the exhibitor list, you can find us at the Consciously Canada + Built in BC booth.