The Best Seats
In The House

Cartwheels, back handsprings, handstands, tumbling and balancing are all part of the day-to-day operations of today’s busy gymnastics facilities.

One of the fastest-growing segments in terms of athletic participation, today’s facilities are getting bigger and often require a great deal of planning to set up but also to keep current with what participants and parents want.

With over 40 years in the business, we have seen the growth in this sector firsthand and have adjusted our product offering accordingly. In addition to growing our product line to meet the demands, we have also turned to research and development to ensure we carry the products that are the safest available.

Named after one of the most prolific Canadian writers of the nineteenth century,François-Xavier Garneau, the École Secondaire Catholique Garneau follows this historical Canadian’s lead on continuing to develop French Canadian culture.

Located in the east of Canada’s Capital, the school’s motto revolves around the words of Michael Montaigne who said, “The gain of the study, it is becoming better and wiser.” Today, École Secondaire Catholique Garneau invites students to engage in a perpetual momentum of improvement, progress,and wisdom through the pursuit of knowledge and excellence.

Following the success of a number of projects in Nebraska including a new grandstand bleacher for Pawnee Park in Columbus and new telescopic bleachers for Omaha Christian Academy, we were once again paired with our partners at Crouch Recreation.

Uncovering a wonderful opportunity to replace some outdated retractable bleachers in an Omaha high school, key stakeholders at Crouch Recreation brought the project to our attention and we quickly pooled our resources to have a detailed look at the project.

Located at Millard South High School in western Omaha were a number of retractable bleachers that no longer could satisfy building and safety codes and were quickly becoming a maintenance headache for the local high school.

Home to over 2,250 students, St. Thomas More Catholic Secondary School (CSS) is the largest school in Hamilton, graduating approximately 400 students each year with about 90% of those students leaving to pursue post-secondary education.

With an unwavering commitment to excellence in academics, the school is also home to over 70 sports teams, each of which have won at least one championship in the school’s history.

Keeping up with the level of athletics offered at such a large school is no easy feat and requires an innovative approach to facility management and operations. With one of the most decorated football programs in the province, the school’s main athletic field is often the focal point of athletics. The indoor gymnasium however, was in need of some upgrades to bring it to the level where it could rival the calibre of the outdoor field.

A global self-funded nonprofit organization, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) devotes itself to preventing death, injury or economic loss due to fire and other related hazards.

With such a broad reaching mandate, this organization sets the standard in safety by utilizing over 300 consensus codes and standards and has been a leader in safety since its inception in 1896.

Specifically designed to minimize the risk and effects of fire, the organization develops and distributes educational programs, tools and resources for all ages and audiences in addition to their internationally recognized code of standards.

While these regulations and guidelines can be far reaching, they also extend into the nature of our business in many ways as well. When it comes to setting the safety standards to bleachers and grandstands, the NFPA updates their codes and standards regarding these products once a year based on public and industry input.

Here are a few main conditions that must be considered when designing your next stand-alone seating structure.

One of the most common questions we field is whether or not a prospective bank of bleacher seating requires a guardrail or not. With these seating structures varying widely in size and design, the answer can be hard to determine, depending on who you talk to.

With spectator safety in mind, it’s no surprise that facility operators and owners want to ensure they get this part of their bleacher order correct. The risk of having an unnecessary injury looming over your facility or league is just not something that anyone wants. It is one of the reasons that we take a proactive approach to safety precautions by recommending solutions tailored for every product or situation.

For us, not much looks better than a fresh cut sports playing field as the morning sun rises high above the bleacher structures that adorn the sidelines. While they might be empty at that point in the day, we are constantly reminded of everything they bring to the events, to both the athletes and spectators throughout the year.

We are all undoubtedly familiar with their function – to seat throngs of fans who attend every game to cheer on family, friends and the athletes of tomorrow.  When it comes to ordering a bleacher structure for an athletic field or facility, questions about configuration and seating capacity are often the first to surface, especially for those unfamiliar with the process.

In what is often referred to as Sarnia’s premier baseball park is also its oldest. Dating back to the 1950s, the baseball diamond has long served the community as a hub for local baseball serving as a home diamond for the Sarnia Braves as well as other local teams.

Following the completion of a new set of dugouts built in 2014, plans were set in motion to complete the redesign in the years following. With plans set to build around the new dugouts, demolition on the site began in 2017, with the rebuild slated for 2018.

The existing 600-seat bleachers were in disrepair, so included in the rebuilding operation was a new grandstand seating system complete with customized accessibility ramps, viewing platforms and more. Change rooms, a new concession area, netting barrier, landscape design and baseball field backstop were all also part of the scope of work for the historic athletic field.

From where we sit, there is nothing better than witnessing scores of spectators rising from their seats to cheer on their local sports team. Having been involved in the sports infrastructure and equipment industry for over 40 years now, nothing makes us more excited than a well-planned athletic space or outdoor sports field. While we now support all facets of athletic equipment and the design process, our hearts are deeply rooted in the very seating that accommodates a crowd of rabid fans. Having designed bleachers and grandstands of all shapes and sizes over the years, we continue to pay attention to what facility owners and operators need and expect from their sideline seating.

As such, nothing ruins a good day at the field more than a mishap on the bleachers due to a lack of care and maintenance. With this in mind, we wanted to touch on a few easy tips for keeping your bleacher seating in game-day condition for many years to come.

Nestled smack dab in the middle of the Rocky Mountains lies historic Bozeman, located in the southwest portion of the great state of Montana. While not the most populous city in the state, Bozeman does serve as home to the state’s largest university and flagship campus of the Montana State University System, Montana State University (MSU).

With enrolment of roughly 17,000 students, MSU offers baccalaureate degrees in 51 fields, master’s degrees in 41 fields and doctoral degrees in 18 fields spread across its nine colleges. Over the past decade, the school has enjoyed monumental growth in both enrolment with major construction and renovation projects including a new Animal Bioscience Building and a major renovation to Gaines Hall.