The Best Seats
In The House

As part of the gymnasium renovations at Parry Sound High School, we were commissioned last month by W.S. Morgan Construction on behalf of the Near North District School Board to supply and install a new set of  retractable bleachers.

The first step for most facilities is evaluating the bleacher systems available to them, and determining whether or not telescopic bleachers are a good fit. These seating solutions offer facility operators a versatile spectator seating solution, giving them the opportunity to seat the masses when need be, or simple tuck the seating away for extended floor space for non-spectator events.

Portable bleachers can be a great addition to any sports facility, giving your added versatility and the ability for your fans to watch your event in multiple locations. There are a couple of factors to consider when thinking about purchasing transportable bleachers, firstly whether they will be used primarily indoors or outdoors and then you must determine what size of bleachers your facility will need.

For indoor applications our Tip & Roll Portable Bleachers are tough to beat. Just as the name suggests, these bleachers can easily be tipped up and rolled to any suitable location inside your facility and can typically be moved by just one person. These units have the ability to seat anywhere from 16-42 people depending on the size chosen, and allow for easy movement for using multiple units to increase crowd size.

This summer, the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario and St. Gregory Catholic School called upon Sport Systems to help them with the design and installation of a new Gym Divider Curtain to give their gymnasium another level of versatility.

The product installed ended up being our 4050 Centre Drive Gym Curtain, an industry leading product that travels at roughly twice the speed of other typical gym divider curtains. This product bears some similarities to that of our Top-Roll design curtains, but rather than the drive pipe being located at the top of the curtain, it is located in the centre. This innovative design is what gives the curtain it’s unbeatable speed, allowing both the top and the bottom half of the curtain to roll up at the very same time.

Typically speaking, elevated bleachers are larger in size and are used when spectator visibility is a main concern. These elevated units offer a clear line of sight by eliminating visual distractions, such as passers-by, walls, barricades or other ground-level obstructions.

The qualifying feature of elevated bleachers is that when one sits in the front row, their feet are at the same heigh as the elevated front walkway.  The elevation is determined by the client's specific needs and in most cases require stairs, ramps & handrails.

Conversely, non-elevated bleachers are usually smaller and more versatile and require no additional walkways or stairwells.  With non-elevated bleachers, when sitting on the first row, spectators' feet are at ground level.

Below we have included a number of images to help you further visually decipher the difference between the two types of bleachers:

               Elevated Bleachers - University Of Ottawa                                                                 Non-Elevated Bleachers

In July we installed custom designed, FIFA approved soccer players team shelters and referee shelters at TD Place in Ottawa.  These shelters were designed and manufactured for FIFA, The Canadian Soccer Association and the Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group for a truly unique and custom application. 

Knowing exactly what your facility needs for gymnastics in particular can be somewhat of a challenge, especially for the inexperienced. With the large variety of madding and gym mats on the market today, choosing can sometimes seem like a daunting task.

It was a busy Wednesday night on July 9th when the Capital City Speedway hosted the Mould Family Memorial Race Night proudly sponsored by Sport Systems.  The night featured fast paced racing across 6 classes and a fantastic half time show in light of the fan appreciation focused evening.

After the fan appreciation half time event it was time for the 15 lap Mini Stock feature, with all eyes on Nolan Gould and the Sport Systems Mini Stock machine.  In the 2nd lap Gould had moved from 6^th position to the lead, but had some stiff competition in the field.  Unfortunately for Gould, points leader Jason Moss (car #12) was looking to play spoiler.  After restarts on laps 3, 4 and 8, Gould stayed up front as Moss played peek-a-boo in his rear view mirror.  With the white flag ready to drop Moss took the lead out of turn 4.  Moss then ran into lap traffic on the back straight and the veteran Gould managed to regain the lead. 

The facility was looking for netting solution for their driving range, and found Sport Systems to bring the greatest deal of knowledge and expertise to the table.  We got to work, and both designed and installed approximately 1300 linear feet of golf course netting. 

Given the sheer speed of short track speed skating events, it is no surprise that the risk for injury for participants in this sport can be high at times. In the province of Quebec alone, there had been over 280 injuries reported between 2009 and 2011 on short track speed skating rinks.

These findings have caused Speed Skating Canada to re-evaluate the safety guidelines with regards to speed skating protective padding as of late. In doing so, they have now established a minimum padding standard for both practice and competition speed skating events.