The Best Seats
In The House

Western University, in London, ON, is well loved for its athletic programs by students and fans alike. Recently, we highlighted Sport Systems' acquisition of a major project involving the TD Waterhouse Stadium. While such jobs are exciting to work on, Sport Systems recognizes the importance of our smaller-scale projects and executing them with the same level of excellence. For that reason, Sport Systems eagerly accepted the invitation to install floor coverings in Western’s gym.

As anyone can reasonably expect, there has been a lot of talk about the 2020-21 school year and athletic programming. While few know how this year will shape up, there are plans currently being put in place in states and provinces across North America to ensure a safe return to school.

With the outbreak of COVID-19 earlier this year, schools and countless numbers of businesses were instantly shuttered in the interest of public safety. Following these abrupt closures came a lot of questions, not only about how students would complete the school year, but what this could potentially mean for next year’s students.

When it comes to your school or local gymnasium, much of the activities that take place on the court are athletic in nature and make up the majority of the time and energy spent in the space. For many facility managers and operators out there, getting bogged down in the day-to-day can sometimes get in the way of ensuring that these types of athletic spaces are working for us as well.

The fact is, your gymnasium should also serve your facility, be it a school or community centre, as an additional source of revenue. While this is common sense to many, there are a number of ways you might not have thought of that can contribute to your operation’s bottom line.

Gymnasiums, once used solely for basketball games or gym class in public schools during the 1960s and 1970s are now becoming popular venues for social and community events. Over the decades, the large open space design of gymnasiums has been used as a makeshift setting for a large capacity banquet or an occasional awards assembly for the small local community. Fortunately, in the designs of today’s gyms, this multi-purpose concept has been embraced and modernized to accommodate an array of activities from sports and athletics to community events.

Making Your Facility a Winner

Whether you are interested in renovating and upgrading an existing gymnasium or creating a brand new one, solutions are available. With sports equipment, seating and lighting options available come in an array of designs ranging from stationary to foldable and even retractable, to allow space for other purposes. Gym divider curtains are also available to section off spaces for various events. Additionally, there is a wide selection of flooring options as well, all of which will help in making your facility a winner. 

The proper maintenance and care of gymnasium flooring will help preserve what was most likely a costly investment. The frequency in which a gymnasium floor should be cleaned is dependent on the amount of traffic involved.

While gymnasium flooring comes in a variety of coverings ranging from hardwood, linoleum, rubber and padded, knowing how to clean it safely will increase the life and look of the flooring for years to come. Here we will review the care of some of the most common floor coverings used in gymnasiums.

You’ve done your research, tested a few different products, and have finally chosen a heavy-duty vinyl gym floor cover for your facility. During the process, you have assessed the prospective use of the cover, what you expect from it, and are expecting to save thousands in possible damages and perhaps even earn a little extra from your cover during its life.

Choosing the right floor covering system can often be the hardest part, but now that you have the cover in your facility, proper operation is the key to success moving forward.

Thinking outside of the box, like only our esteemed partners would, the team at 53 Colours approached us as they were preparing to open their second location. After providing us with years and years of excellent service and a stellar product, we were honored to have come to mind and jumped at the opportunity to help another local business in their growth.

Specializing in custom signage, print, vehicle graphics and more, 53 Colours has been serving the Ottawa market and beyond from their flagship location in Carleton Place. Looking to expand their business, they acquired another location in nearby Smith’s Falls, giving them an even deeper market penetration and allowing them to meet more potential customers face-to-face.

On the surface, these large, custom-sized slabs of vinyl may seem easy to use.  Just lay it down and trample away on it, is the thought of many of the misinformed.  While our gym floor covers are certainly designed using the toughest vinyl available to protect your coveted gym flooring, they do require a certain level of care and proper use to guarantee adequate protection.

While simply rolling out your gym floor cover ahead of your next non-sporting event in haste is relatively unlikely to result in any major damage, it is the compounding effects these activities can have that ultimately make the difference. 

As such, we have compiled a couple of helpful tips you can use in your facility when storing, placing and removing your gym floor cover to add yet another level of lasting protection to your gymnasium floor.

One of our most recent projects brought us to beautiful Greensboro, North Carolina, the home of Pitt Community College.  The college, established in 1961, now awards associate degrees, diplomas and certificates for more than 60 programs, serving more than 23,000 credit and non-credit students each and every year.  The college is currently the seventh largest in the 58-member North Carolina Community College System and is home to the Pitt Community College Bulldogs, who are represented with athletic programming in baseball, men’s basketball, softball and women’s volleyball.

With February 8, 2016 marking the Chinese New Year, one of our most recent projects landed us at the largest Chinese New Year Festivals in Canada. Showcasing a diversity of Asian culture and community, the Lunar Chinese New Year Festival kicked off on February 5, 2016 and ran for a total of three days.

Delighting guests with an in-depth cultural tour, the festival displays an amazing series of decorations and demonstrations spread over 36,000 square feet of space. The festival was held at the Markham Pan Am Centre location in Markham, Ontario and was home to four Toronto 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am competitions including badminton, water polo, table tennis and para table tennis.