While much of what we do here at Sport Systems is out of necessity, there are some projects that also display how we're passionate about creating solutions that make a real difference, especially when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable. Recently, we had the privilege of partnering with Walk of Grace, a remarkable family-owned organization in the Ottawa-area that is dedicated to empowering children and adults with developmental disabilities.

Here at Sport Systems, we take pride in designing and installing custom wall padding solutions across North America through our trusted network of dealers. This week, we’re thrilled to highlight a recent project completed by our long-time dealer and installer, Ash-Stevenson, based in Scarborough, Ontario. Ash-Stevenson serves the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Southern Ontario, and has consistently delivered exceptional quality and service on behalf of Sport Systems for a number of years now.

Serving as something of another feather in our cap, we’re proud to announce our recent collaboration with VCL, a trusted local contractor, to supply and install high-quality padding for the state-of-the-art pickleball courts at Altea Fitness Club in Ottawa. Located conveniently on Carling Avenue in the Nation’s Capital, this 129,000-square-foot flagship facility which was previously a Canadian Tire store, has transformed into Canada’s largest premium fitness and wellness club. 

Located in a historic district of Canada’s National Capital, the York Street Public School has been a fixture in Ottawa’s Lowertown neighborhood since it was built in 1921. Having been constructed in what is known as the Collegiate Gothic Style, even through decades of development that has taken place around the school, its original design still reigns true to this day. 

Ahead of this year’s summer Olympic Games in Paris, Cadillac Fairview teamed up with Team Canada in an effort to expand opportunities for play this summer with the launch of “CF Play Makers,” - an initiative for school-aged children to harness the power of sports and playtime.

Looking to give children more access to physical play opportunities, the program aims to promote the many health benefits of physical play while inspiring a passion for playtime and organized sports. Starting in Ontario, the program will spread across Canada by refurbishing play spaces at schools and other community spaces.

Image: Pickleball Kingdom

If there’s one game that is making big moves, it’s one that you’ve likely been exposed to in one way or another over the past few years. Popularized throughout the 2010s, we now find ourselves in the middle of what many are labeling the “pickleball gold rush”. With the first national tournament in 2009 drawing over 400 players from Canada and the United States, the pickleball bug has since bitten participants of all ages.

As such, the search for space has become a growing challenge for facility managers and communities alike. Although many have repurposed tennis courts and converted other under-utilized outdoor spaces into pickleball courts, it has hardly kept  up with demand. As part of the rush, we’ve watched as individuals and even commercial real estate players get into the game in an effort to secure more space for additional courts.

Proudly serving the National Capital Region for over 100 years, to say that the Ottawa Boys and Girls Club is a staple in the community would be an incredible understatement. The club currently provides free community-based services and supportive places for area residents across four full-service clubhouses located throughout the city, along with a number of satellite campuses.

We’ve had a long-standing relationship with the local Boys and Girls Club for a number of years now and working alongside them always gives us the added bonus of making a difference in our community. 

As the need for highly-specialized padded rooms continues to grow, so too does our custom padding department. Working once again with our partners at King Carpentry - with whom we’ve done many of these rooms - our latest project brought us to the picturesque St. Lawrence Seaway.

A call was placed from a high school in the area who saw our work in a neighbouring school and was looking to replicate the work. With a growing number of students in need of a safe and calming space to facilitate de-escalation and relaxation we were once again called to design and install a fire-rated safe room.

With the rise in mental health awareness, we welcome opportunities to participate in projects that foster such development. For one of our recent projects, we were proud to have been invited to lead a project at Canada’s largest research facility for mental health and addictions.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) is the result of an amalgamation of four separate facilities - the Queen Street Mental Health Centre, the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, the Addiction Research Foundation, and the Donwood Institute. 

Having completed a number of projects in the beautiful state of Nebraska, we returned for another job, this time  in the state’s Capital city of Lincoln. Originally named Landcaster, the city was renamed in 1869 after the great President Abraham Lincoln. In that same year, the University of Nebraska was established in Lincoln and today remains the largest university in the state, serving nearly 30,000 students.

Our partners at Crouch Recreation in Omaha, brought us yet another opportunity in the Cornhusker State, this time at an established Christian school in neighbouring Lincoln. With a history dating back to the 1950s, Lincoln Christian School has been serving local families and the community with faith-based education for decades, currently boasting nearly 900 students and over 80 faculty members.