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It’s February, and Major League Baseball fans know what that means...it’s Spring Training time!

Our favorite MLB players have been working hard all winter long during off-season training.  Though they have been out of the sight of fans since October, our teams were always on our minds.  It is finally almost time again for nightly baseball broadcasts!

Spring Training is not just a time for Major Leaguers to suit up and take to the field for a new season.  It is also an exciting time for MLB fans to get a first glimpse of their favorite teams’ rosters, uniforms, batting orders, last-minute trades, and all sorts of surprises before opening day this year.

As we approach the start of the 2014 baseball season, it seems that Toronto Blue Jays fans in particular can hardly contain their excitement for the start of regular season games.  On January 31st, tickets for the Blue Jays home opener went on sale to the public, and on January 31st the tickets completely sold out.  

Contagious team spirit, bleachers full of school colors, marching bands - it’s hard not to be a college sports fan!  Whether you root for your own school, a hometown favorite, or your beloved alma mater, collegiate athletics give us all something to cheer about.

We all know the big favorite in the college sports world this time of year: men’s basketball!  Each fast-paced game is a guaranteed crowd pleaser, keeping sports fans always on the edge of their seats, if not on their feet.

For Division I basketball teams, regular season games are all played in high anticipation of the NCAA Division I Championship Tournament.  Eager college basketball fans are taking careful notes and tracking stats and rankings on all potential March Madness contenders, and anyone who’s watching has definitely taken notice of the Syracuse Orange this year.

With North American groundhogs recently predicting a longer winter season than we had hoped, even the idea of a mere six weeks, gives us all hope that we will soon be swinging the sticks.

Golf courses and facilities can certainly expect a quick start to the season when this long, treacherous and record breaking winter season comes to an end.  In addition to the spring thaw revealing the condition of fairways and greens, it is also an opportune time to get out and review other aspects of your golf course and facility that Jack Frost may have affected.

With high winds, ice and snow storms, the winter can often leave your beautiful course in disarray come spring. Making it not only important to check up on fallen trees and debris around the course, but to ensure any golf equipment left to the elements is still in good working order.

This winter season has been one for the record books.  The weather forecast has brought one polar vortex after another, sandwiched between bitter cold arctic blasts.  It seems like everywhere - even the southern US - has been buried with wintry precipitation this season.  Luckily, we will be rounding the bend into springtime soon enough!

After the Thaw

As many of us dig ourselves out of this particularly cold and snowy winter, it’ll soon be time to take to the fields again for outdoor sports.  The best way to shake cabin fever is to get outside and get moving.  With spring sports right around the corner, be sure your outdoor fields and nets will be ready to receive the warm-weather rush.

Extreme winter weather like this certainly takes its toll - on our sanity as well as our sports equipment!  Outdoor nets and goal posts are often left out in the cold during the off-season, allowing for a great deal of winter wear-and-tear. 

All of this arctic moisture can sneak into cracked paint, causing extensive rust damage on goal posts.  Not only is rust unsightly, it can compromise the structure and safety of your goal posts as well.  The wet winter weather along with biting winds rips at sports netting, often making them brittle and weak.  Once the damage of winter is done, netting is more susceptible to holes and tears.

Be Prepared!

Before eager athletes reclaim the field from Old Man Winter this spring, invest in quality goal systems that will last.  From goals and nets for soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey to football and rugby uprights, Sport Systems has the long-lasting gear you need. 

Our goal posts and frames are sand blasted and powder coated for a chip-resistant finish, preventing against rust-causing moisture damage.

Knotless nylon netting can absorb the blows of athletic equipment as well as the winter wind.  Our quality sports netting installs in a snap, making it an simple part of spring field maintenance.  

Google Glass, the zealous new device from the folks at the world’s largest search engine, along with other forms of wearable tech, has come under heavy scrutiny by most industry professionals and analysts since its inception and release.

As with any new product or service, it will obviously take some time to determine the true success or failure of Google Glass. Over the past few months however, you might have noticed that more and more professional sports teams and athletes are beginning to experiment with Glass.  Could Google Glass eventually become a part of the sporting equipment world?

As the countdown to Sochi continues, the next sport in SSCI’s Olympic event spotlight is Speed skating!

World record holder and three-time world champion speed skater Christine Nesbitt is a top contender this year for Canadian gold in Sochi.  After she ascended the podium at the 2010 games in Vancouver, it is hard not to speculate whether Nesbitt will bring home the gold for Canada again in 2014.  

Christine Nesbitt is a long track speed skater from Calgary with two Olympic medals under her belt.  As a youngster, Nesbitt was a natural distance runner who also enjoyed hockey.  It wasn’t long after combining her skills from those two sports that she was nationally ranked as a speed skater.

A common question as most of us can recall a time or situation where we have seen both the diamond hung design as well as the square hung design with regards to netting. Here are a couple of ways to tell the difference, and the advantages to each:

Diamond Mesh

Because of the way this mesh is hung, it drastically reduces the amount of netting needed to cover a certain area, and hence, can often be the less-expensive option between the two. This being said, there are also problems that arise from hanging your net in this fashion.

Diamond hung meshed nets do not typically hang as straight, and it’s pattern will often cause the netting to be pulled in from the sides. This design often is equipped with poorer seams as well. The main reason for this being, the rope border has to be sewn diagonally across the meshes, which leaves an irregular net border to sew to.

Below is a list of commonly used terms related to bleacher seating specifications:

Non-Elevated Bleachers - a term used to describe a type of bleacher that when seated on the first row, your feet are at ground level...Read More

During soccer season, diehard teams will rarely miss a game, rain or shine.  Weather doesn’t keep players from taking to the field - in fact, playing in the rain and mud add another dynamic to gameplay that some players even prefer.  

While it might be fun to play soccer in the rain, it’s not always as enjoyable to be on the sidelines in a monsoon.  It is certainly easier to be a good sport about the rain from on the field than it is on from the bench. 

Soccer players keep warm and focused by keeping in motion.  But once a player is subbed out, he needs a place to take shelter from the storm and recuperate before returning to the game. Without the chance to dry off and warm up, your players could catch cold and risk missing future games.  

When we think gymnasium flooring, we immediately think basketball, volleyball, badminton and other sports played in indoor gymnasiums. The fact of the matter is, the gym floor in your institution is often used for so much more.

Today, gymnasiums have transformed into multi-use rooms, hosting sporting events, pep rallies, assemblies, dances, drama productions and more. The unfortunate reality is these non-sporting events are much harder on your gymnasium flooring than the day-to-day sporting activities typically housed in gymnasiums.

While traditional traffic from sports like basketball and volleyball indeed adds wear and tear to your gym floor surface, additional damage is done when the gymnasium is used for other events. The dragging of chairs, tables and other furniture combined with increased traffic of patrons without clean footwear, lead to unnecessary deterioration of your gymnasium floor surface.