The Best Seats
In The House

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.

This spring we were approached by the Islamic Institute of Toronto, and tasked with making some great improvements to the gymnasium in their beautiful facility located in Scarborough.

The Islamic Institute of Toronto (IIT) was established back in 1996 and has grown into one of the premier Islamic Educational Institutions in Canada.  Today the educational center offers courses in Arabic Language, Islamic Jurisprudence, Ethics, Spirituality and much more in their Toronto location.  The institute now resides on an 8 acre piece of property and contains a school, bookstore, administrative offices and obviously, a gymnasium.

The good people at the IIT opted for six new ceiling suspended basketball systems for their gymnasium, and ended up going with the popular 3103 Forward Folding / Rear Braced System from us.  This system is a perfect fit as it is designed for areas allowing sufficient space behind the backboard for a rear brace and unobstructed room to the front to fold up. 

It’s been nine long years since CFL football fans in Ottawa have had anything football related to cheer about. This season marks the return of the CFL to Ottawa with their new expansion team; the Ottawa REDBLACKS, and the city is abuzz with excitement for their home opener on July 18, 2014.

The REDBLACKS new home will be the freshly designed and renovated TD Place located at Landsdowne Park in Ottawa, and along with a sharp new look, seating and concessions, Sport Systems was contacted to install players benches for the football club.

The bench chosen was our 18 foot length portable aluminum player’s bench, equipped with backrests for player comfort.