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The amount of wall padding a gymnasium needs has long been a topic of debate among facility operators and managers. The difficulty in assessing the right answer to this question lies in the fact that there is no regulating body on the matter, and that it can end up being very dependent on the unique needs of any particular gymnasium.

Both educational and public gymnasiums can be utilized for a number of different sports and athletic activities, each having a separate set of safety requirements, especially when pertaining to wall mats and wall padding.

Basketball is a sport in particular that requires a great deal of safety related padding when played within the confines of a gymnasium. Today, our athletes are continuing to grow bigger, stronger and faster and when mixed with a high-speed sport like basketball, the risk of injury increases dramatically. The latest installment of the NFHS rule book states that at least 3 feet of unobstructed space should be available outside of boundaries, but recommends facilities to go with 10 feet of space to ensure outright safety of participants.

We all lead busy lives and time can sometimes seem to fly by for athletic facility operators and managers. We all know proper maintenance is always cheaper than replacement with respect to athletic equipment as a whole, and the same holds true for your facility’s crash pads.

Any variety of gym mat or athletic padding is a very important part of your athletic program, as it is often depended upon to take the biggest beating, and protect its users against injury. As time goes by, crash pads can become slightly worn down, especially on the surface from hours of continued use.

Scuffs, tears and cracks can all compromise the integrity of your padding as well as the safety of your students, athletes and other users. The fact of the matter is, simply because the surface of the padding looks worn, does not necessarily mean the foam and padding are ready for replacement.

Given the sheer speed of short track speed skating events, it is no surprise that the risk for injury for participants in this sport can be high at times. In the province of Quebec alone, there had been over 280 injuries reported between 2009 and 2011 on short track speed skating rinks.

These findings have caused Speed Skating Canada to re-evaluate the safety guidelines with regards to speed skating protective padding as of late. In doing so, they have now established a minimum padding standard for both practice and competition speed skating events.

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.  

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.

Growing in popularity, especially for outdoor enthusiasts living in winter climates, indoor rock climbing or bouldering facilities are a great place to hone your current skills, or get involved in a new activity.

As with many indoor recreational facilities, safety is always on top of mind when designing and performing regular maintenance in your indoor climbing location. One area of great care and concentration should be that of the crash pads and mats placed below rock climbing walls.

With the average height of an indoor rock climbing wall being anywhere from 20’-45’, in the event of a fall by either yourself or one of your patrons, you want to be sure the right crash pad is there to break the fall.

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.