One of our most recent projects brought us to beautiful Brampton, Ontario, a dynamic city known for its diverse communities and commitment to outdoor recreation. Nestled in the heart of this bustling suburb, Chris Gibson Park serves as a vital green space for residents of all ages that offers a variety of amenities, including a splash pad for summer fun, soccer fields, a leash-free dog park, and even a 1.5-mile loop trail perfect for casual walks or jogs. In addition to all those fantastic amenities, the city was in the process of creating a state-of-the-art softball and baseball diamond and tapped our team's expertise to help keep balls in play.

With hockey season officially in full swing, we recently completed a significant project at a beloved community rink in the heart of Canada’s capital. Given the volume of hockey games being played each and every year across the country, our team is always busy leading up to hockey season helping rinks ensure their spectator netting is in the best shape possible.

One of our more recent hockey-focused projects brought us to Tom Brown Arena, a community ice rink nestled in the vibrant Hintonburg neighborhood, just west of the city's downtown core. Opened in 1967 as part of Ottawa's network of recreational facilities, the arena has served as a vital gathering spot for decades, hosting ice hockey leagues, public skating sessions, figure skating programs, and community events in a facility that also includes a single NHL-sized ice pad.

Here at  Sport Systems, we pride ourselves on our expertise in installing high-quality netting barriers for municipalities, ball fields, soccer fields, golf courses and various other facilities across Canada. While we’re known for our top-notch new installations, we’re equally skilled at upgrading, repairing, and replacing existing netting systems to ensure safety and longevity.

Outdoor netting barriers are critical for protecting passersby, nearby vehicles, and surrounding areas from stray balls. However, these barriers face constant exposure to harsh elements like wind, UV rays, and flying debris, which can inevitably degrade them over time. Eventually, every netting system reaches the end of its lifespan, leaving facility managers with a choice: patch it up year after year or invest in a professional replacement for a lasting solution.

Nestled just north of Toronto, Richmond Hill, Ontario, is a vibrant city known for its blend of urban growth and green spaces. With a rich history dating back to its founding in the late 18th century, the city has grown into a bustling community that values its recreational facilities, like Crosby Park. This local gem, home to ball fields and community gatherings, recently faced a challenge that required a tailored solution to keep its visitors safe.

The City approached us earlier this year with a unique request: design and install a custom netting barrier at Crosby Park to prevent foul balls and home runs from reaching an adjacent parking lot. This wasn’t a straightforward task, as the site presented several challenges that demanded creativity and precision.

With the bats officially swinging now in southern Ontario, this project came to fruition long before this year’s baseball season got underway. During the fall of 2023, the Municipality of North Middlesex reached out to us to help them keep balls in play at a couple of their local ball diamonds and we vigorously answered the call.

With the big bats dominating last year’s season, concerns were on the rise at both Parkhill Park and Ailsa Craig Community Park. With homes located nearby, balls were occasionally landing very close by or, in some cases, inside the yards and key stakeholders wanted to rectify the situation before someone got hurt. Add in the fact that these two ball diamonds were now also closely situated to new skateparks, the municipality wasted no time sourcing a solution to protect those users as well.

Along with the arrival of spring,  the last couple of months has brought plenty of growth. Along with the sprouting of flowers and the budding of trees, it also marks a time for the re-emergence of outdoor sports, including baseball.

Serving as home to the Ottawa Titans baseball team, Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Park has been a fixture of Canada’s capital since it was built back in 1992. Having served a number of teams over the years, it’s become a staple of summer baseball here in our fair city.

Serving as home to the Carleton University Ravens hockey teams, one of our recent projects landed us at the $13 million Ice House located on the school’s Ottawa campus. Boasting two NHL-sized ice pads along with twelve amazing dressing rooms, this facility is considered one of the Ottawa area’s best ice hockey facilities. 

With regulations requiring safety netting in NHL and other rinks across North America coming into place over a decade ago, many rinks are still continuing to make improvements to spectator safety. As with many sports, hockey is played with a very high-speed projectile that is capable of doing serious damage once shot out of play.

In the spring of 2022, the Town of Havelock was looking  for  the right company to assist them with keeping balls in play. This small eastern-Ontario town is filled with character and up until 2019 was the home of the world famous Havelock Country Jamboree which saw thousands of country music fans descend on the town for the annual festival.

While the pandemic slowed things down musically for the town, life has gone on and as local ball players continue to fill local parks and diamonds, and so the town reached out to us to design, supply and install a custom Netting Barrier for the town's ball field.

In what is being touted as the “Field of Dreams”, this $2.5 million project was put into motion at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. As we were forced to find open-air activities to participate in, the lack of quality locations and facilities quickly became apparent.

In search of more quality soccer pitches in the Ottawa area, Ron Palaczka, a coach and active member of the soccer community, reached out to the Maple Leaf Almrausch German Club. This non-profit club was founded in 1964 and is strictly managed by its members, operating as the only German Clubhouse in the National Capital Region.

The conversation between Palaczka and the club would eventually lead to the Field of Dreams project, bringing the second-largest turf field to the National Capital Region. The project includes  a state-of-the-art turf installation with premium lighting fixtures to keep the new FIFA-sized pitch lit up for evening play.

The University of Ottawa is the largest English-French bilingual university on the planet, comprising over 100 acres of beautiful real estate in Canada’s capital. Originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848, the university has grown to become one of the country’s most respected educational institutions.

Donning the garnet and grey, the Ottawa Gee-Gees and their respected athletic program consistently provide a high level of competition and play. With 29 varsity teams to its credit including a fiercely respected football team, the University of Ottawa has the athletic prowess to match its academic prominence.

Up until 2013, the Gee-Gees football team did not have a home field on campus, instead using outside locations such as the Varsity Oval (1881-1953), Landsdowne Park (1954-2011), and Beckwith Park (2012), before construction was completed on Gee-Gees Field in 2013. Situated along the 417 highway which cuts directly through the city of Ottawa, the new stadium provides the team with excellent exposure. We were fortunate to have been awarded the contract to design and build the grandstands that are located in the new stadium as well.