The Best Seats
In The House

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. 

Located just inside Canada’s National Capital Region is the small town of St. Albert, Ontario. The small, Franco-Canadian community is located within what is known as The Nation, a municipality in the united counties of Prescott and Russel. In addition to having a rich history including a nearby ghost town, St. Albert is also home to one of the nation’s oldest cheesemakers.

In the fall of 2022, we were contacted by a school in the region that was looking to perform some upgrades and modifications to one of its rooms. Looking to create a room for students requiring a safe and calming space, key stakeholders from the school were looking for a custom padding solution that could cover both the flooring and the walls of the room.

Managing long-term relationships with our customer base over the last 40-plus years has been one of the many factors that has contributed to our longevity as an organization. While we revel in developing new relationships and customers, it is our repeat business that has been a constant factor in our company’s success.

Recreation centres provide community members with access to a variety of resources. With intentional efforts made to promote inclusivity, programming can range from bingo for the elderly
to after-school programs for children and swimming facilities for families. However, catering to a diverse community also presents challenges. For individuals with physical, cognitive, or behavioural challenges, these centres must also provide properly trained staff and additional accommodations in their buildings. With organizations such as the Dovercourt Recreation Centre, special attention has been placed on meeting the needs of those experiencing behavioural difficulties. To address the centre’s goal, our team was brought in to provide a safe “calming space” for their facility.

Vermont, known as the “Green Mountain State,” has a strong reputation for its beauty. With scenic mountain overlooks, thick, green forests and wildlife of all varieties, it’s a dream come true for any nature enthusiast. Despite its breathtaking scenery and often tranquil environments, however, the need for proper law enforcement and infrastructure still exists. Recognizing the need to maintain public safety, the town of Wilmington recently requested the assistance of Sport Systems in the renovation of their police station’s holding cells.

With business connections extending overseas, families geographically scattered, and new vacation destinations continually being introduced, most find themselves in an airport at one point or another. While flying is one of the most common modes of transportation, its biggest deterrent is discomfort. Teaming up to address the potential concerns of travelers, the Halifax-Stanfield International Airport has worked hard to address the physical discomforts of travelers while the US Customs and Border
Protection services (USCBP) maintains safety as its highest priority.

In a world that is becoming increasingly competitive, the beneficial aspects of collaboration can go unrecognized. The term “group project” can evoke a sense of dread, whether one has experienced a team assignment from the perspective of a slacker or team leader. While collaborative efforts can pose significant challenges, the complementary pairings of experts are well worth the risk. Recently, the partnership between Sport Systems and RMG Contract Interiors Inc. (RMG) provided an extremely successful outcome for three Ontario schools.

As schools across North America begin to plan reopening, many are in the midst of upgrading facilities and spaces. With students learning virtually, schools have been placed in a precarious state of affairs over the past twelve months, leaving many facility managers wondering what the next steps would look like.

As the planning process continues, we are seeing a flurry of activity as the pandemic rounds the corner and we begin to resume our daily lives in the safest way possible. In addition to athletic infrastructure such as gymnasium upgrades, our custom padding department has been working diligently on churning out new designs and custom projects.

One such project was brought to us once again, by our partners at King Carpentry in southern Ontario. Working closely with school boards, their team is knowledgeable and effective and is quick to secure jobs and perform installations in a safe and timely manner.

With the continuing increase in mental health awareness, more and more educational facilities are turning to safe rooms, de-escalation rooms, sensory environments and the like to the keep students safe and happy while at school.

Over the past five years, our team has been involved in the process of designing, consulting and installing these types of highly specialized environments across North America. These spaces can be found in schools, mental health facilities, addiction centres, hospitals and private residences, and research shows that when utilized properly, these environments are extremely beneficial to their users.

As our awareness of mental health continues to expand so too does the need for properly planned and inclusive spaces. These spaces are highly customized in design and often feature unique elements created with the end user or users in mind.

Today, these padded spaces are used in a number of different applications ranging from healthcare facilities and educational facilities such as schools, to a variety of mental health institutions.

With the rise in demand for these types of spaces, we have transformed our custom padding department to not only handle the increased volume of requests but have also invested in research and partnerships that aid us in ensuring they are as safe and welcoming as possible.