The Best Seats
In The House

Long track speed skating, as its name suggests, is one of the fastest competition sports on the planet.  With highest recorded average skater speeds of upwards of 34 MPH (54 km/h) in Olympic competition, you can very well imagine that safety is a main concern of participants and organizers of speed skating events and facilities. 

As of recent, Speed Skating Canada has prepared a set of guidelines for establishing the minimum speed skating crash protection needed for both practice and competitive applications.  Although these published guidelines are thought to be the utmost in safety, the organization stresses that facilities ideally should not only meet these speed skating padding standards, but exceed them to further ensure skater safety.  

The idea seems simple enough, locating and acquiring a bench for use for coaching staff and players for a variety of sporting activities at your recreational field or facility. The fact of the matter is; there are many choices, including style, size, mounting preference and utility.

This article will quickly guide you through the variety of choices you have when selecting a players bench for your athletic program, field or facility.

As with all athletic facilities, the safety of participants, staff and spectators is always priority number one. When it comes to ceiling or wall mounted basketball equipment like backboards and backstops, the Aut-O-Loc system is the industry leader, providing a new standard in gymnasium equipment safety.

This safety strap is engineered with safety in mind; this basketball backstop strap operates much like a seatbelt in your vehicle.

The patented inertia plate in all systems can automatically sense a centrifugal force of fall. When sensed, the Aut-O-Loc instantly stops the backstop from falling with help of its steel paws and locking teeth located in the housing. This system prevents both damage to the basketball system, as well as any inherent danger to participants and spectators below.

For the second year straight, we are honored to be named as one of Canada’s Fastest Growing Companies once again in this year’s PROFIT 500. The PROFIT 500 is an annual celebration of entrepreneurial achievement which ranks Canada’s fastest growing companies using their 5-year revenue growth figures.

Now in its 26^th installment, the PROFIT 500 recognizes and rewards businesses that have proven themselves over a number of years, established a stable and growing stable of customers and clientele and have sustained an impressive amount of growth.

Over the past 5 years the average PROFIT 500 Company has increased their revenue by an average of 536%, or 59 times the rate of inflation over that time period. Impressive stuff!

Every company on this prestigious list is accompanied by an amazingly inspiring tale of dedication, innovation and growth. Another astounding fact about this year’s list in particular demonstrates that over 80% of the firms on the list sell to other companies, proof that the B2B market is sizzling here in Canada.

By now, most of us know and realize the true value a gymnasium floor cover can bring to your athletic facility. We’ve heard countless time as to how these floor covers can save and even make your facility additional revenue due to their extreme durability and versatility.

At this point, it comes down to simply choosing the specific type of floor cover you think will suit your facility best. While not seemingly a terribly difficult question to answer, there are a few factors to consider, mainly being what exactly it is you plan on doing with your cover, and how many times a year you plan to have it in use.

Let’s look at the two products offered by Sport Systems, and go over the differences between the two to help you make the informed decision prior to your next purchase. We carry both a heavy duty and an ultra heavy duty protective cover product which we find serves most facilities we service quite well.

Having gone through the process of deciding which seating solution is right for your indoor gymnasium seating needs, you have settled on telescopic seating, simply because of its unbeatable versatility.

After evaluating and making the initial decision to go with a telescopic bleacher system for your gymnasium, the next question is what type of seating you would prefer for your future spectators.

When it comes to the actual seating platform, you have a couple of additional choices to make, depending on the exact needs of your facility:

Athletic facilities come in all shapes and sizes, and same is true for the wide variety of protective padding applications used for these different facilities. From gym settings to educational athletic facilities we have the padding to provide your facility with durable and long-lasting protection for your participants.

Post, Column & Beam Padding

The title suggests it quite clearly. Post, column and beam padding is used to protect permanent structures in your facility against both wear and tear as well as potential injury to participants. This type of padding spans a wide variety of applications and is used in both indoor and outdoor settings. From warehouses and schools, to outdoor playgrounds for our children, these pads are all custom-made to fit posts, poles, columns and I-Beams.

This protective padding is constructed of 2” high density foam and can be rounded, square, hexagonal in shape.

With so many options and a variety of suppliers on the market today, we have compiled the following points of consideration for your next purchase.

Foam

Obviously a vital part to your wall padding, foam comes in a variety of options, most of which are pretty good. What you will want to make sure of is the ability of the padding to absorb shock from an impact. There are two units of measurement to help you identify this, foam density and indentation force deflection (IFD) (or indentation load deflection). Foam density is more of an indicator of the durability of the foam and has little bearing on the ability of the padding to absorb shock. While ILD is a measure of force required to compress a 4” thick piece of foam to a pre-determined percentage of its original thickness. Higher ILD rating is equal to more shock absorption.

Time marches on, and as we all lead busy lives, we sometimes can accidentally overlook routine maintenance of equipment found in our athletic facilities and sports fields. We have compiled a quick 6-point checklist you can use to constantly assess the condition of your bleachers to ensure they are always in tip top shape for the big game.

Have a good look at everything

This one is easy and quite obvious; get out and do a quick walk around your bleachers or grandstand seating. Be sure to carefully inspect the stairs and ramps, making sure they are clear of debris and are in good working condition. If you notice anything else along your walk through, make sure you carry a notebook and make notes of anything that might affect the smooth operation of your bleachers.