Here at Sport Systems, we take pride in designing and installing custom wall padding solutions across North America through our trusted network of dealers. This week, we’re thrilled to highlight a recent project completed by our long-time dealer and installer, Ash-Stevenson, based in Scarborough, Ontario. Ash-Stevenson serves the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and Southern Ontario, and has consistently delivered exceptional quality and service on behalf of Sport Systems for a number of years now.

Serving as something of another feather in our cap, we’re proud to announce our recent collaboration with VCL, a trusted local contractor, to supply and install high-quality padding for the state-of-the-art pickleball courts at Altea Fitness Club in Ottawa. Located conveniently on Carling Avenue in the Nation’s Capital, this 129,000-square-foot flagship facility which was previously a Canadian Tire store, has transformed into Canada’s largest premium fitness and wellness club. 

One of our more recent projects landed us in the beautiful Leslieville/Riverdale neighborhood of East Toronto. Not far from the Don River, it’s also home to the Riverdale Collegiate Institute (RCI), which was founded in 1907 as Riverdale Technical School, and now operates as a public high school, serving around 1,340 students in grades 9-12 under the Toronto District School Board. 

In addition to offering strong academic programming, the school boasts over 90 clubs and teams, including athletics, arts, and social justice initiatives and fosters a vibrant community. In the 1990s, Riverdale Collegiate Institute underwent significant renovations to modernize its facilities while preserving its historical character. The original 1907 building, designed by C.E.C. Dyson had its facade meticulously maintained to retain its architectural heritage. Other  renovations included upgrades to the interior infrastructure, classroom and library upgrades, along with various accessibility improvements to ensure the school remained functional and relevant while honoring its historical significance.

Removable wall padding was once a ubiquitous feature in school gymnasiums, but it has progressively fallen out of favor due to a multitude of safety concerns and maintenance issues. The primary issue stemmed from the fact that the padding was, by design, removable. This feature, while intended to allow for flexibility and occasional removal for cleaning or other athletic purposes, was often exploited by students who would deliberately take the pads off the walls. This not only left unsightly gaps and exposed hard surfaces, creating a risk of impact injuries, but also led to the pads themselves being damaged or lost.

The process of reinstalling the pads was also often carried out haphazardly, with little regard for proper alignment or secure attachment. This resulted in pads that were misaligned, loose, or even completely detached, posing a significant hazard to students engaged in physical activity. The constant removal and replacement also led to accelerated wear and tear on both the pads and the wall surfaces, necessitating frequent repairs and replacements.

Located in a historic district of Canada’s National Capital, the York Street Public School has been a fixture in Ottawa’s Lowertown neighborhood since it was built in 1921. Having been constructed in what is known as the Collegiate Gothic Style, even through decades of development that has taken place around the school, its original design still reigns true to this day. 

Serving more than 25,000 students, one of our recent projects landed us at Thompson Rivers University in beautiful British Columbia. The school, which offers over 140 on-campus programs and 60-plus Open Learning programs, continues to grow across its main campus in Kamloops and across its secondary campus in Williams Lake. 

In addition to its highly respected academics programming, TRU is also home to the Wolfpack athletics program, which has been making a name for itself in soccer, basketball and volleyball, among others. As part of their budding athletic programming, our team was contacted to help design some padding for use in the gymnasium at the Kamloops campus. Key stakeholders at TRU were looking to provide protection for their student athletes from collisions into walls below basketball nets; one of the most common areas we provide padding for in gymnasiums.

We’ve done a wide array of basketball systems over the years in a number of different locations. From private residences, universities, colleges and high schools to community centres and summer camps, we feel like we’ve truly seen it all.

One of our more recent projects allowed us to continue to expand our portfolio of basketball system installations, adding off-campus student housing to the growing list. Located in the heart of Canada’s Capital, the THEO is conveniently located close to both the University of Ottawa and NIHN. Serving students from both of these respected institutions, the THEO exists to provide a safe, fun and most importantly, an affordable place for students to live off-campus.

If you were lucky enough to have access to a time machine, you could head to almost any school across North America and you’d likely find a set of removable wall pads in the facility’s gymnasium. 

At the time, it was a great choice. Teachers and staff were convinced that giving students the ability to remove their own gym mats for use in gym class was a fine idea. And it was.

To a point.

The truth is, there are some facilities that still use removable padding on their walls. We manufacture and sell it ourselves, so we know it does still have a limited use out there in the market. In some cases, this solution is exactly what facility operators are looking for, depending on the specific programming that school or facility provides.

If you’ve followed us for a while now, you would know of our long-standing relationship with the good people at Boys and Girls Clubs across North America. We’ve helped a number of clubs get set up for athletic play in their gymnasiums, providing them with new padding solutions, basketball systems, gym dividers and much more.

Given our proximity to the Nation’s Capital here in Canada, we especially take pride in servicing our local clubs with new equipment and solutions whenever the need arises. Having a strong relationship with our local clubs, we’re proud to participate in improvements whenever they reach out to our team.

As the need for highly-specialized padded rooms continues to grow, so too does our custom padding department. Working once again with our partners at King Carpentry - with whom we’ve done many of these rooms - our latest project brought us to the picturesque St. Lawrence Seaway.

A call was placed from a high school in the area who saw our work in a neighbouring school and was looking to replicate the work. With a growing number of students in need of a safe and calming space to facilitate de-escalation and relaxation we were once again called to design and install a fire-rated safe room.