The Best Seats
In The House

Winter is upon us! The temperature may be dropping, but the indoor sports season is just heating up. There's no rest for the chilly, so don't let cold temperatures and snow on the field get in the way of your team's training regimen. When it is time to bring the sports indoors for the winter season, will your space be ready? Sports Systems can outfit your gym space or indoor arena with all the necessary equipment for the winter season.

Tom Dempsey holds the record for longest field goal in an NFL game at a whopping 63 yards. 

Tom Dempsey only has one and a half feet. 

Maybe that half foot gave him a distinct advantage. Perhaps it forced him to train harder than the next guy. Either way, its easy to overlook the efforts of a kicker. Though they often score points when it matters most, they never seem to garner the same respect as a quarterbacks or receiver. Not to mention they're paid way less! 

Don't overlook the kicking game. Don't overlook your football goal posts.

Football goal posts may seem like an afterthought to an outdoor facility. They're just there on the periphery, used only for a single sport and only a few times a game. 

But they're essential! 

Sport Systems offers a couple of options for your field. If space is a concern we found a pretty clever solution in a combination football goal post and soccer goal hybrid setup. Constructed of both 2 and 4 inch square tubing, our durable hybrid unit is sandblasted and powder coated for durability. Mother nature, bring it on! 

David and Goliath Walk Into a Gym. Together. 

We at Sport Systems enjoy a challenge. 

Our record of large scale renovations and seating solutions speaks to our engineering and execution capabilities, something PROFIT Magazine mentioned specifically while ranking us among the 500 fastest growing companies in Canada. Look no further than our projects with Carleton University, Queen's University, and the University of Ottawa. We're proud to say our seating will be enjoyed for years to come as football begins making a return to Ottawa.

We're also proud to supply peripheral equipment to the Frank Clair Stadium project at Landsdowne Park. This ambitious stadium marks a departure from traditional "grandstand" architecture and embraces a provocative, modern look sure to endure the coming decades. With this project we're excited to play a small role in bringing CFL Football back to Ottawa in 2014. Ottawa Fury FC will also enjoy this world class facility. 

So our solutions are proven to work well in both traditional and contemporary designs. All of the projects mentioned above were ambitious in scale, but ambitious doesn't necessarily mean massive. Sometimes, the solution to a large project seems rather obvious. Other times, what you might call a "smaller" project presents unique challenges that send us back to the drawing board. 

Let's spend a second talking about where the rubber meets the road and the pedal meets the metal! Neither of these really fit today's subject exactly, but they aren't entirely irrelevant. Gymnasiums and sports facilities are where the human body tests its limits against itself, against others, and most often, against gravity. Many sports require a forgiving surface, whether for the prevention of injury or because a routine demands a cushioned finale, like in gymnastics. Gymnastic crash pads and mats are essential to any gym where gymnastics or any gymnastic-inspired activities are taking place. Plus, who doesn't love diving headfirst into a 30-inch sea of foam?

Sport Systems Canada gymnastic crash pads are available in far too many choices to list here. That's why we have a website. What you need to know about all the sizes you'll see listed is that our pads are made of 44 ILD (Indention Load Reflection) polyurethane foam. If you're not a foam enthusiast who knows exactly what means off the top of your head, rest assured. The short explanation is that a 12 x 12 x 4 inch slab of our foam can withstand 44 pounds of weight before taking an indention. Luxury memory foam beds usually have an ILD of about 14. This means our foam is durable and supportive without feeling swampy to athletes climbing on and off of it. 

We've taken a few opportunities to show you current projects we're excited about to help you understand what we're capable of on a client-to-client basis. Truth be told, seeing individual projects through from start to finish gives us that special pride for a job well done. 

But, sometimes focusing on individual projects can make you lose sight of the big picture. For instance, Sport Systems' commitment to growing communities through sport equipment has been a successful strategy for building relationships and, in turn, our business.

One can be a metric for the other. 

Alright, alright. We don't like to toot our own horn, but from time to time it's nice to take a step back and appreciate how far we've come. This also helps us decide where to go in the future. 

So, let's crunch some numbers...

Here's a fact no parent on the planet can disagree with: children are expensive. 

Kids don't need fancy clothes; they'll just stain or outgrow them. They don't need gourmet cuisine options; simple healthy items should do the trick. Hand me down clothes? Totally understandable in multi-children households. What about youth lacrosse equipment? Youth football equipment? Volleyball? 

Youth sports equipment is a different matter. Allow me to explain. 

It's no secret that sports offer children learning experiences that are hard to capture in the classroom. Any well-rounded youngster should, if physically capable, garner the benefits of team sports at an early and noncompetitive age. 

Doesn't it make sense to hold sport facilities to the same standard as the classroom? If new teaching methods are proving effective in other districts, who wouldn't want these innovation to benefit their child? 

So you finally got that new bike that you've had your eyes on and you've been riding your bike around happily all summer long. But now that summer has ended and fall is upon us, it's time to start thinking of how you are going to keep your bike protected during the cold months ahead. With the winter months comes a lot of precipitation including rain in some areas and heavy snow in others. Leaving your bike out in any wet conditions will cause your bike to rust and could cause other mechanical issues. We don't want all of your precious money to go to waste on your investment so we have a solution: 

Our Polyethylene Bike Lockers!

These lockers are our most popular style bicycle lockers that have lots of benefits. First, these lockers are ideal for any climate that you live in and are maintenance free. Second, the size of the lockers allows you to fit not just one but two bikes. If you have a roommate or a significant other who also has a bike, sharing is always caring! 

Hitting a deep three pointer feels great. Hitting a deep three pointer without touching the rim or backboard, causing that unaccompanied swish sound, is all that much cooler. The clunk of banking it in sounds crude in comparison. The silence of nailing the shot on a net-less hoop disappoints and confuses. Did that even go in? I couldn't hear. Can you tell? I couldn't. 

Aside from this one instance, you probably don't think about nets that much. For most sports the net is something to be avoided, dividing players or hung in the background to catch wayward balls. Which may strike you as an afterthought until you realize nets are essential to a proper facility. Next time you're at a game, look around! 

Outside or inside, nets work hard to keep the potential chaos of sport safely confined to the court, rink, or field. Sport Systems Canada works hard to make sure our sports netting work hard for you as well. 

No one but a goalie should fear the puck hitting him or her square in the face. The same can be said about lacrosse goalies and their dense rubber balls. You volunteer for that kind of risk when you step in the crease, not when you show up to cheer on your favorite team. Like helmets and facemasks, netting barriers are an essential piece of safety equipment for these exciting and fast paced sports. 

Put simply, if you're hosting hockey, lacrosse, or even less violent sports like tennis, you need netting barriers to protect onlookers. While we could go on and on listing the various options and specifications of our netting, it's probably best for you to check it out for yourself. If you're in the Ottawa area, visit the R.A. Centre, St. Laurent Arena, or J.A. Dulude Arena. Our project at J.A. Dulude Arena features clear NHL approved netting to keep spectators safe without blocking their view of the action. Very nice. 

If these are too far of a drive (or flight) check out pictures under the "Installation Examples" portion of the sports netting tab on our website. If you do want the technical rundown on our sports netting (Break strength? Fire retardant? Knotless?) you'll find that information there as well. It also doesn't hurt to give us a call and pick our brains about your particular project. 
Who knows? You may even qualify for a volume discount!

When you are looking to build a new, or refurbish a current athletic facility, coming to Sport Systems Canada is one of the best moves you can make. We have been in business since 1978 and have the experience, products, and service you need to complete your project without a hitch.

Our people will help your people by making sure facilities are built to proper specifications for the individual sports you are building for and that you have the right equipment that is going to make your venture a great success. 

So you've invested in a new gymnasium floor and high quality bleachers with SSCI, and while the quality of the product and customer experience left nothing to be desired, you may have one or two final concerns. 

How can I help protect my investment from unnecessary wear and tear? 

Before your athletes take to their basketball court, batting cages, or tumbling routines, be sure to go the extra step and install high quality mats from Sports Systems. Our interlocking floor mats help protect the court surface (and your investment) when activities get more intense. 

We manufacture a complete line of interlocking rubber floor mats, gymnastics tumbling mats, wrestling mats and all-purpose gym mats. Our custom weight room flooring provides a solid foundation for serious workouts while protecting the floor from the damage of heavy weight. 

Our mats are also great for martial arts and wrestling per the standards of those competitions.