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It’s that time of year again when professionals and organizations gather for Parks and Recreation Ontario’s annual educational forum and trade show. The 2016 edition will be held in picturesque Collingwood, Ontario at the Blue Mountain Conference Centre.

This event is slated to once again be the province’s premier event, bringing together park, recreation, culture, community development, health promotion, education and community agency professionals, elected officials, volunteers and students.

The PRO Forum is a great mix of trade show booths and educational speakers, programs and sessions to further the professional development of all those in attendance.

The trade show focuses on bringing innovative products and services to the attention of over 600 industry professionals. Vendors range from sporting equipment and infrastructure businesses, such as ours, as well as school-focused and workplace safety products, e-learning technologies and aquatic products, to name a few.

Keynote speakers Jeff Tobe, customer experience expert and Stephen Carter, founder/CEO of QED marketing are only the beginning of the educational opportunities found at this year’s show. The 4-day forum kicks off with the Parks and Recreation Annual General Meeting, updating members and delegates about the activities, projects and public affairs across the province. The Annual General Meeting is also the time when PRO Member Awards and HIGH FIVE Trainer Awards are presented.

With the advancements in technology and architectural design over the last few decades, today we are witnessing the construction of some truly amazing sports facilities and structures. What were once traditionally designed in square or rectangle-type shapes, gymnasiums, practice facilities and other athletic buildings are taking on a variety of shapes and sizes.

With these advancements come additional products tailor-made to properly address the various structures currently in use and those that will come in the future. While the majority of our gym divider curtains satisfy the needs of a bulk of the facilities in operation today, we do carry a specialized line of divider curtains that can be completely customized to fit unique ceiling contours.

In tandem with low oil prices, the U.S. dollar has strengthened as of late. While there are many speculative theories on the connection between the two, most believe the connection lies in the fact that when crude prices increase, more U.S. dollars head out of the country, while the opposite typically exists when crude prices are low.

No matter which way you slice it, or which theory you subscribe to, there is no denying the strength of the greenback, especially when compared to the Canadian dollar. The chart below illustrates the growth of the U.S. dollar over the past three years in comparison with the Canadian dollar.

As you can see, the American dollar has experienced a 43% increase since 2013, as compared to the Canadian ‘loonie’. Our American customers have not been in this powerful a position from a buyer’s standpoint since May 1, 2003; the last time the American dollar was at this level.

While transportable or mobile bleachers are nothing new, the technology and development of these products have come a long way since their inception. We have been manufacturing mobile bleacher systems for a number of years and continue to manufacture towing kits that can easily be installed to existing bleachers, making them completely transportable as well.

Most of these systems, however, are typically smaller in size and are unable to seat large amounts of people without having multiple bleacher structures. The bulk of our portable bleacher systems range anywhere from 5-10 rows in height, which are a perfect fit for many applications, municipalities and other organizations.

However, when we begin to get into larger seating structures, there is a fair bit more ingenuity and technology involved, as illustrated in our newest line of highway transportable grandstand bleacher systems.

What has been somewhat of a topic of debate for a number of years is the amount of wall padding that is required within gymnasiums and other athletic facilities. Today, there remains no governing body outlining specific standards, but there have been many opinions formed on the subject.

Our recommendation is that there is always up to 10 feet of unobstructed space surrounding a basketball court and that wall padding is installed in high-speed areas such as below basketball goals at a maximum of four feet above the playing surface.

With this in mind, one of our most recent projects had us designing, manufacturing and installing a number of customized wall pads for use in a number of community centres.

The City of Vaughan was the location of this project, situated just north of Toronto with a population of over 320,000 people. The municipality encompasses the communities of Concord, Kleinburg, Maple, Thornhill and Woodbridge and was officially incorporated as a city in 1991. The city put this project out to tender which Sport Systems successfully secured, and then got to work designing the perfect padding systems for their community centres.

The roots of basketball history go all the way back to 1891, when Dr. James Naismith, a native of our hometown of Almonte, Ontario, first invented the game. This is not to say that there has not been a fair amount of innovation in both the way the game is played as well as with the equipment that is used in today’s game.

One of those innovations is the invention of the breakaway rim, which today is the most common configuration of basketball goals in the world. While in the early days of the sport, the act of dunking the basketball on the goal was considered to be “ungentlemanly”, the game has evolved to not only accept dunking as a common form of scoring, but it has morphed into somewhat of an art form, as players participate in slam dunk competitions regularly.

Artist Rendering of Richardson Stadium at Queen's University.  A project we were proudly awarded in 2015.

Another year is in the books and it was a great ride. We had the pleasure of participating in and completing a number of new and unique projects for our growing customer base. During the past year we have grown as a team, both in numbers and in terms of the quality of products and services we offer our global base of clientele.

No matter how much our team grows, how many different projects we take part in, or how many new partnerships are formed, we would be nothing without you. To our supporters, our past and present customers and our trusted suppliers, we thank you and truly hope you will be a part of our continued growth and success in 2016 and beyond.

Nestled in the lower mainland of British Columbia, lies the City of Chilliwack, about an hour’s drive from the province’s largest city, Vancouver.  Boasting a population of roughly 84,000 residents, Chilliwack was incorporated back in 1873 and is one of the oldest municipalities in British Columbia. One of our most recent and rather interesting projects once again landed us in western Canada when the City of Chilliwack expressed interest in a need for a unique and versatile bleacher seating system.

The project went out to public tender and together with our partners at RecSport Products, we were able to secure this unique bleacher seating system in western Canada. The client was in need of a large-scale grandstand bleacher system that in addition to seating a fairly large crowd, could be easily transported to various locations when needed.

As winter rears its head on us here in the northern hemisphere, we begin to take to both outdoor winter activities such as hockey or skiing and indoor sports such as volleyball, basketball and badminton. Net sports become a larger part of our business during the fall and winter months as activity ramps up in gymnasiums across North America.

Badminton has been an Olympic sport for almost 25 years and has continued to grow in popularity exponentially. In addition to excellent motor skills and coordination, the sport of badminton also requires players have strong aerobic stamina, agility, strength and speed and is a staple in many educational athletic programs. As we get into the indoor season, we will highlight a few of our most popular options with regards to the industry’s best badminton systems.

Founded nearly 50 years ago, Sheridan College has transformed into one of Ontario’s leading postsecondary institutions and shows no signs of slowing down. The college’s 110,000+ alumni power workforces across North America and around the world with specialties in the fields of arts, business, community service, health, technology and the skilled trades.

Today, the institution is spread across unique campuses spanning the Greater Toronto Area with locations in Brampton, Mississauga and two campuses in Oakville, Ontario. Much the same as the academic side of the college, Sheridan’s athletics have blossomed over the years as well. With the goal of enhancing student life by striving to provide gender-balanced varsity representation, the Sheridan Athletics programs have every student athlete accounted for. The Sheridan Bruins are represented proudly in the sports of basketball, soccer, volleyball, rugby, and cross country with each sport having both women’s and men’s teams.