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With the rise of both personal fitness and the popularity of shows such as American Ninja Warrior, more and more people are getting active and challenging themselves in ways they might not have thought possible.  In additional to grueling endurance, participants of this type of exercise are strong, fast and rely on quick decisions.

As they are faced with numerous challenges, participants often race through a series of obstacles on a course, and the fastest time usually wins. 

Once again we found ourselves in the state of New York for one of our recent projects.  Located in Yonkers, The Julia Dyckman Andrus Center or ANDRUS is a private, non-profit organization that specializes in teaching children and families the skills to express and cope with strong emotions.  Providing childcare, home visiting, mental health services, residential treatments, and special education programs, ANDRUS aims to be a national leader in shaping policies and practices that give children and families the skills required to overcome challenges and adversity.

In the construction phase of their new facility, key stakeholders within the organization reached out to us in an attempt to secure a custom wall padding solution for a pair of rooms inside the facility.  As with any complete wall padding project, the nature of the project requires an on-site visit to really understand the complexities of the rooms and prospective padding.

Two years ago, we were commissioned to renovate and install new athletic equipment at a newly acquired facility by the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston.  At that time, our team provided that facility with a new walk-draw gym divider curtain as well as customized netting for the mezzanine section of the gymnasium.

Fast forward to 2016 and once again we are hard at work with our long-time partners at the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston and Area, this time aiding them in adding vital equipment to a recently renovated gymnasium in the Robert Meek Youth Centre.

Not far from our offices on the outskirts of town, this project brought us to one of Ottawa’s most well-respected post-secondary educational institutions; the University of Ottawa.  In addition to being situated in the very heart of Canada’s Capital, the University of Ottawa is also the world’s largest bilingual university, serving students in both English and French.

This project found our team on the campus of this historic university as they were in the process of upgrading the current basketball systems in the university’s athletic complex.  In total, the school was interested in upgrading four wall-mounted basketball systems, complete with a new design, which would allow the facility to move the nets out of the way for other events held in the gymnasium.

As part of a global education community spanning roughly 2,500 schools, the Waldorf education curriculum is one of the fastest-growing educational approaches in the word.  Rooted in over 90 years of history, the Waldorf model focuses on creative problem solving, the development of personal connections and aiding their students in becoming centred, giving them the necessary confidence to succeed in life.

The Toronto Waldorf School officially opened its doors in the fall of 1968 with 19 children enrolled in Grades 1 and 2.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Today the institution educates children of all ages with programming running from early childhood programs all the way to the school’s Grade 8 curriculum, focusing on developing lifelong learners from within its walls.

Operating 119 fitness and lifestyle centres across the United States and Canada, the Life Time Fitness and Life Time Athletic brands are well on their way to establishing themselves as leaders in the health and wellness field.

As part of the organization’s expansion into Canada, we have been with them every step of the way.  Our team provided them with assistance and products for their Mississauga location back in 2012 and for their Ajax location just last year.

As the organization was ready to unveil yet another state-of-the-art fitness and health facility, we were right there to provide them with everything they needed once again.  The site of their most recently established Life Time Athletic location is located in the Vaughan region just north of the City of Toronto.  The facility offers members the benefits of a full-service spa, cafe, indoor cycling studio, indoor turf field, basketball courts and much more.

We all love the roar of the crowd while taking in a football game, or the rush we get while watching players blaze down a basketball court.  The sensations that sports illicit in both spectators and participants can sometimes make us forget about everything that went into the design and production of the courts, bleachers and other athletic products used on a daily basis.

Before these products hit the floor of any gymnasium or grace the sidelines of any football field or soccer pitch, they oftentimes have gone through years of research and development.  While technological and design elements are forever changing, making our lives easier, safety is still the top priority for equipment and infrastructure manufacturers like us and the customers we serve.

One of our more recent, multi-facility projects brought us to the picturesque Ottawa Valley, just west of Canada’s capital region. Encompassing two school boards in the region, a number of schools have been operating with padding that no longer is deemed safe for use under current guidelines.

This project had us working at five different schools in both the Renfrew County District School Board and within the Renfrew County Catholic District School Board. The schools range in locations scattered throughout the Ottawa Valley starting in Arnprior and working up the line in schools in the Petawawa area.

Sport Systems was commissioned to remove the out-dated existing padding from each of the five schools as the pads no longer met the Ontario Physical and Health Education Association (OPHEA) guidelines. In addition to the removal of the existing padding, the school boards also ordered a number of replacement pads for multiple locations within the schools. The padding installation locations varied from school to school, but the bulk of the padding ordered was for use as protective wall padding in the gymnasiums of the school. The remainder of the padding was designed for use on stages and bleacher seating sections for additional safety for both spectators and participants.

What has been somewhat of a topic of debate for a number of years is the amount of wall padding that is required within gymnasiums and other athletic facilities. Today, there remains no governing body outlining specific standards, but there have been many opinions formed on the subject.

Our recommendation is that there is always up to 10 feet of unobstructed space surrounding a basketball court and that wall padding is installed in high-speed areas such as below basketball goals at a maximum of four feet above the playing surface.

With this in mind, one of our most recent projects had us designing, manufacturing and installing a number of customized wall pads for use in a number of community centres.

The City of Vaughan was the location of this project, situated just north of Toronto with a population of over 320,000 people. The municipality encompasses the communities of Concord, Kleinburg, Maple, Thornhill and Woodbridge and was officially incorporated as a city in 1991. The city put this project out to tender which Sport Systems successfully secured, and then got to work designing the perfect padding systems for their community centres.