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A new and rapidly growing sport has just touched down in Canada’s capital region as Archery Games recently opened Ottawa’s very first Archery Tag location. Archery Tag is a sport that resembles dodge ball, but without the balls. In this intense game, participants are equipped with bows and patented foam-tipped arrows.

Two teams are separated by a ‘safe zone’ and are equipped with specialized targets. Each team battles to tag opponents with their arrows and also knock out the five discs that make up the opposing team’s target. Much like dodge ball, players are eliminated once tagged with an opposing arrow, but are eligible for return when a target spot is knocked out or when one of their teammates is able to catch an opposing team’s arrow.

This past spring, we partnered up with a group of researchers from Seneca College in Markham, Ontario to perform an intensive applied research and innovation project. The goal of this project was to undertake exploratory secondary market research on five Middle Eastern countries including: United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait and evaluate those that might offer attractive business opportunities for Sport Systems moving forward.

This project took place over a fourteen-week period in which all the work involved was undertaken in collaboration with and with guidance from the Seneca College Applied Research and Innovation Department, with the ongoing help of the Seneca College Library Specialists and the support staff of the Faculty of Business.

All of the secondary market research used in conjunction with this project was carried out according to the Forum for International Trade and Training’s (FITT) format and requirements.

Working closely with our management team for the duration of this project, Seneca’s researchers introduced a number of weighted factors based on our preferences, such as country size and future growth potential, political characteristics, strength of demand of associated products, commercial infrastructure and more.

Our recently completed project was on behalf of the Hastings and Prince Edward District School Board which currently serves over 15,000 students and borders Maynooth, Deseronto, Prince Edward County and Quinte West in southeastern Ontario.

Our latest project took place at Centennial Secondary School located in Belleville, Ontario, an institution based upon three main values which it embeds in its students, faculty and community. These values are: Academic Excellence, Athletic Prowess and Artistic Integrity; encouraging their student body to improve and develop literacy and numeracy skills, sportsmanship qualities and artistic creativity, which fosters the development of their self-awareness and self-confidence.

Many gymnasiums today are designed and constructed to be used as multi-sport and multi-event facilities. While time is blocked off for sports such as badminton, basketball, volleyball and training exercises, these facilities are also used for pep rallies, assemblies and other events.

These facilities have to be able to quickly transform and allow operators to schedule a variety of events and activities in a relatively tight block of time.

Ceiling-suspended basketball nets can pose a problem for some gymnasiums, either blocking sightlines during events or obstructing play for other sports. To remedy this problem, we offer a couple of winch options that aid in raising these basketball systems up and out of the way quickly and safely.

In addition to traditional fitness applications such as training facilities and gymnasiums, a large portion of our custom padding department is dedicated to the production of fully padded rooms for a variety of different uses. While each padded room comes with different application requirements, the majority are used as a safety precaution in hospitals and health facilities or simply for providing relaxation, comfort or to heighten the senses.

As of late, we have been involved in projects aiming to design and build Snoezelen multi-sensory environments for clients around the globe. Here are some of the basics surrounding these popular sensory-focused padded rooms:

What is Snoezelen Multi-Sensory Environment?

This concept was actually designed by a pair of Dutch therapists in the late 1970’s who were working at a local centre for people experiencing intellectual disabilities. These therapists eventually would create an environment for their patients that would excite the senses and prove to be quite beneficial to their early subjects.

The annual Puppets Up! Festival just wrapped up this past weekend in our hometown of Almonte, Ontario. The three-day festival runs each year during the month of August where puppets and performers provide hours of entertainment for families and children of all ages in the town’s historic downtown.

While downtown’s Mill Street was lined with vendors, live music and puppet performances, the main attractions took place in a number of tented theatres and inside some of Almonte’s historical buildings. Complete puppet performances took place at various times throughout the weekend in these designated locations, pleasing spectators from start to finish.

As with your vehicle or any other piece of machinery or equipment, properly scheduled maintenance is a sure-fire way to get the most out of that product’s life cycle. The same holds true for athletic equipment and infrastructure, whether that equipment has mechanical or moving parts or is simply stationary.

Larger-scale projects such as bleacher and grandstand seating are often overlooked, but require a good deal of attention. These large structures are often located outdoors 365 days of the year and while they are built to withstand terrible weather conditions, they too require regular maintenance to ensure your spectators are always safe.

We have compiled a quick checklist that can be used at any time of the year and hopefully on an ongoing basis that will help you and your facility maintenance staff perform routine checks.

The town of North Bay, Ontario was selected by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) as the Ontario Regional Office for the construction of emergency landing fields in 1933. This base closed at the end of World War II, but was reopened in 1951, originally as a flying school and then as a fighter base. It was not until 1966 that this station was officially designated a Canadian Forces Base (CFB) and was known as CFB North Bay.

The Air Command was restructured in the early 1990’s and was renamed 22 Wing, as it is known as today. Today, this facility is responsible for providing surveillance, identification, control and warning for the aerospace defence of Canada and North America at the Sector Air Operations Centre.

One of our busiest departments is our padding department. We receive thousands of inquiries, questions and requests for custom padding designs and solutions each year. As one can very well imagine, this portion of our business has expanded well beyond the traditional athletic applications such as gymnasiums and athletic floor mats. Today, we proudly equip a wide variety of organizations and facilities with highly detailed and highly customized padding solutions, where no two projects are ever the same.

Aside from the traditional applications, we design and create custom padded room designs for use in treatment centres and healthcare facilities such as hospitals. We provide many of our commercial and industrial clientele with strategically placed wall, column and frame padding to keep employees safe and also offer a padding line specifically designed for use with veterinary facilities, keeping staff and animals safe during their visits.