The Best Seats
In The House

Located just west of Canada’s Capital lies the quaint and quiet village of Carp, Ontario. Anchored for years by historic Diefenbunker Museum, the small rural town has grown significantly after amalgamation with the City of Ottawa. Today the community retains its historic charm while offering residents charming restaurants, and parks along with a brewery and a vineyard.

As part of one of our most recent projects, we were commissioned by the city to design and install a unique set of stairways for use with some existing wooden bleachers inside the local arena.

The forgotten basement, the storage room, or the outbuilding that hasn’t been used in ages are all examples of projects we have had some involvement in over the past couple of years.

While we do spend a lot of our time on baseball and football fields and inside gymnasiums, we are often tasked with projects that require a refreshed vision and some old-fashioned ingenuity.

As space becomes limited as programming grows, planners, managers and operators are sometimes left scrambling for additional areas in which sports and other activities can be performed. Rather than incurring the massive expense of an addition to an existing facility or building an entirely new building, many are taking stock of what they can presently maximize.

In some cases, these spaces are basements, storage areas, sheds, barns and other such structures and with some planning, can be transformed into wonderful facilities all in themselves.

While we do indeed spend the bulk of our time working primarily with commercial and industrial clientele such as municipalities, colleges, universities and school boards, we do dabble from time to time in the residential space.

Outside of smaller padding or gym mat orders we often receive from private customers, we do get other large projects suited for homes, home gyms and backyards across Canada and the United States. We have supplied custom “Tar Heel blue” wall padding for a UNC fan, some bleachers and benches for a California resident, residential quiet room padding in the province of Quebec, among many others.

Nestled on the Canadian east coast lies the historic island of Newfoundland. With one of North America’s oldest European settlements dating from the early 16^thcentury, the island is marred with a colourful history that is still visible today.

Heading southwest from the province’s capital of St. John’s lies the quaint city of Mount Pearl – a suburb of the nearby capital city. As the second most populous city on the island, Mount Pearl shares much of the rich history with its neighbouring city and today the region serves as one of the most popular tourist destinations on Canada’s eastern seaboard.

Backed by over 60 years of clinical experience in the behavioral health and intellectual disabilities field, Grafton Integrated Health Network is a leader in care across the state of Virginia.

With six locations scattered across Old Dominion, Grafton specializes in serving preschool-aged children all the way up to K-12 and is the largest children’s residential provider in the entire state of Virginia.

Working with key stakeholders at the organization’s Berryville, Virginia location, our partners at Sparks@Play brought a unique project to our attention late this summer. Looking to add a motorized gym divider curtain to the gymnasium at the facility, Grafton approached our partners with a challenging project, which as it turned out, needed a highly specialized team to complete.

Located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, The Tech Academy is an educational facility founded on artistic, athletic and academic excellence, offering students a unique opportunity to prepare for further education. 

The institution is housed in a historic building, adding to the educational establishment’s charm and prestige.  The academy serves students ranging from grades 9-12 with courses offered in the arts, music, business, Canadian and world studies, English, French, mathematics, health and physical education, science, social science and more.

When it comes to versatility, our design and manufacturing team strives to innovate and create usable solutions for our customers on a daily basis.  With a growing need for a one-size-fits-all solution, many organizations and facilities are looking for new ways to utilize their current equipment or customize new purchases.

While our line of highway towable grandstand bleachers or transportable bleacher kits serve the purposes of a variety of facilities, we still felt there was a gap in the mobile bleacher space.  In evaluating our past and current customer’s orders, feedback and expressed needs, our team set out to revolutionize the industry once again.

Tractors and trucks are typically readily available to many of our customers and with a tow kit, they can easily move their bleachers when needed.  That being said, those operating with the use of forklifts were without a truly unique solution that could adequately suit the design and function of this machine.  

While customers have access on the internet to an endless amount of possibilities to upgrade or outfit their facility or stadium, they are generally unaware of all the options that exist in the way of bleacher customization.

When purchasing a big-ticket item such as a bleacher structure to safely house spectators, we have and will always aim to push the envelope, delivering highly customized products to suit the individual needs of our current and future customer base.

By showcasing our work using our blog and social media channels, we have been successful in displaying the high level of design and custom work that can be done to bleacher structures.  Whether your goal is to make your seating structures as safe as possible, expand capacity, provide accessible seating or make your bleachers mobile, we have the know-how and experience to get the job done.

Earlier this month a less-than-ordinary request came in to one of our sales people via our online chat. The prospective customer found Sport Systems online and was busy researching products they could use for an upcoming theatrical performance in Toronto, Ontario.

After some conversing, we learned that the customer was seeking something to aid them in creating a boxing ring area for their upcoming production. The initial thought was to use our custom padding or gym mats, until our sales team suggested the use of one of our Residential Rink Kits, typically used to enclose hockey rinks.

We see a variety of facilities, each with their own unique designs and configurations. Over our 35 years in the athletic infrastructure business, we have seen a number of jobs that have called upon our strength as a custom designer and installer across many of our product lines. Our custom padding department’s products are used in educational, athletic and health facilities of all shapes and sizes. Our bleachers department is no different, as we continue to build innovative structures to seat fans and spectators.

Basketball systems can appear to be quite cut and dry with regards to installation and product specifications, but with the development and renovation of so many facilities, we are continually challenged to design new solutions for our ceiling-suspended basketball nets.