By Bob Modersohn
Des Moines Register

Gym bags aren't just for gyms any more. They're designed specifically for every sport and back-to-school purpose.

For many, they are fashion statements.

Sports bags - from less than $8 to more than $1,550 - have become as personal to athletes as the right blue jeans and hairstyle are to the fashion conscious.

You wouldn't wear just any hat, would you? It needs to have the right attitude.

Search the Web and you'll find sports bags designed just for tennis players, or cheerleaders, or soccer players, even croquet players and yoga enthusiasts (a rolled-up mat fits underneath the bag).

It won't come as a surprise if a dodge ball sports bag hits the market. It could include room for a first-aid kit.

The trend has gone from bags carried by hand or over the shoulder via a sling to popular newer backpack styles.

Wilson's Tour 4 Super Six tennis sports bag with Thermo-Guard at $69.95 goes a couple of steps further.

It holds not one or two, but six racquets, constructed to protect racquets and gear from wear and to afford easy accessibility.

Thermo-Guard thermal lining apparently makes the "Six Pack," well, cooler.

"It cuts down on the heat, keeping it cooler in the (car) trunk," says Liz Kinley at Kinley's Golf and Sport in Des Moines, Iowa.

Or just bare bones

Still not enough storage? Some tennis bags hold a dozen racquets, she says.

You can still buy a bare-bones duffel style gym bag, log-shaped with two loop handles and a sling strap, like an 18-by-10-inch nylon roll bag (www.sportsteam.com) for $7.95.

But why?

You'll be dumping that smelly, sweat-soaked T-shirt on top of your tennies. By the time you empty it from your zipped bag, your shoes will smell worse than the T-shirt.

Many soccer players have been stepping up to new backpack-style Adidas and Nike bags.

Odyssey Pro Packs, large or small ($60 and $50), feature three rear compartments, two on the side and one on the bottom. There's even a cell phone pocket on a chest strap.

Gigantic sports bags with end pockets are still on the market, too.

They're so big that kids can't carry them. They have to be dragged, like a soft-sided footlocker. Some styles even feature wheels at one end.

Today, if a company has a brand-name clothing or shoe line, chances are it has gotten into the sport bag act, too.

Gucci makes a stylish small duffel bag that sells for a pricey $895 through Neiman Marcus. Not big enough? Gucci's large duffel bag will hold a ton of stuff, but you'll pay a whopping $1,550. Armani's shoulder bag is close behind at $1,295.

Pricey designers

If Gucci doesn't meet your taste, Bally offers its Ferentillo weekend bag at $495. Tommy Bahama, Filson and Tommy Hilfiger offer nylon or canvas bags $69 to $285.

At the other end of the sport bag spectrum are simple "sack packs" that allow players to carry the minimum items to and from practice.

For minimalists, there is a single-compartment $10 pink Adidas sack pack with drawstrings (instead of straps).

The sack pack carries gym clothes for gym class, water bottles, a towel and sunscreen.