Athletic Floors from an Athlete’s Perspective
By Mike Neise and Ken Thomas

From the surface, most athletic flooring systems look alike. But, the truth is that it’s what’s underneath that counts. Like the old saying goes, “Beauty is only skin deep.”

There are many available flooring systems specifically designed to meet various needs, and they are not all created equally. While variety can be very beneficial from a floor performance standpoint, it can be a daunting challenge for architects, owners, facility managers, and general contractors as they go through the specification and bid process.

Whether your facility is a multipurpose room or a full-time gymnasium, the real difference is the “inner beauty” of the floor. When asked, highly trained athletes, players, and dancers alike will most often place floor system performance at the top of their priority list. They view the floor is an integral part of their gear, which can either augment or diminish their performance, and, in some cases, it can even affect their short-term and long-term health and wellbeing. 

While most athletes can’t tell you the details of why or what makes a floor system good or bad, most can quickly tell you if a floor is great or not when you put them on that particular floor. 

“Comfort” and “feel” are the terms that come to mind when athletes are asked about a particular floor…things that are simply not measured by material based tests that exist today. These subjective evaluations commonly parallel material-based testing results and take many more intangibles into account. 

Common material-based tests include:

* Durometer
* Tensile strength
* Component dimensions and tolerances
* Surface friction
* Force reduction
* Deflection
* Ball rebound
* Area deflection
* Rolling load

Many of these particular characteristics and measures are widely known and openly discussed in the market. There are, however, numerous characteristics that are unstudied and un-quantified that significantly influence system performance and athlete comfort. These characteristics are always included during subjective evaluation of the total system package. 

Athletes refer to these characteristics in different manners using various terms. 

Some of their terms include items such as:

* Overall response (the feel of energy return)
* Sound of the floor (audible vibration/ acoustics)
* Comfort level of the floor (all-inclusive term)
* Vibrations (inaudible
* Time it tacks for the floor to stop vibrating (dampening). 

These characteristics are currently not part of any main-stream testing but are directly connected to what athletes perceive when they experience a floor system firsthand. Don’t overlook the value of your athlete’s input. 

Mike Niese is the vice president of technology & research for Robbins, Inc., www.robbinsfloor.com, and Ken Thomas is the vice president of marketing.

Sidebar I
Additional Gym Equipment Considerations

School gym equipment is vital to the use of your school's gym. From bleacher seats to basketball goals, from gym curtains to gymnastics equipment, school gym equipment is a broad category.

School gym equipment is a very diverse topic. There are quite a few items that go into making up the average school gym. A well-equipped school gym will have even more equipment than this, but here is a list of the most common types of school gym equipment.

Bleachers
These are a must for any school gym. Besides pulling duty during games and other events, they are used for seating during pep rallies and school meetings. You can find a wide variety of bleachers for your needs.

Fixed bleachers were once the staple, but, today, moveable gym bleachers are rapidly becoming the norm. These motorized bleachers allow the school to have more room when the bleachers are not needed and open up a tremendous amount of space.

Basketball Goals
Few schools are without these vital pieces of school gym equipment. These also come in a variety of different configurations, from simple pole-mounted goals to ceiling-mounted goals to motorized contraptions that can contract towards the ceiling if needed.

The most common form of basketball goal found in school gyms today are ceiling-mounted affairs of Plexiglas and steel. These offer durability and stability as well as removing the pole from the gym.

Gym Curtains
Gym curtains are an important part of school gym equipment. Gym curtains come in manual and motorized versions and allow the gym to be sectioned off into separate segments. This is ideal for plays or anytime the gym will need to be sectioned off (co-ed sports, etc.). Gym curtains are available in a number of different sizes, though most gyms must use two or three to get full coverage for the entire gym.

Source: SchoolGymEquipment.com

 Sidebar II
Advantages of Steel Gymnasiums

Steel is an ideal building material for gymnasiums since the supreme strength of the steel makes it possible to use clear-span constructions that would be impossible, perilous, or simply too expensive to create using other building materials.

Steel gymnasiums place extra stress on the necessity of strong building materials and well-balanced constructions, since a gymnasium must include wide open spaces without any interfering and potentially hazardous pillars.

Traditional outdoor activities can also take place in steel buildings during the cold season, since they can be fitted with fields for football, soccer, baseball, etc. Steel gymnasiums will also serve very well as assembling halls and can be easily equipped with spectator seats.

As mentioned above, steel gymnasiums can house a wide range of activities, and when a school erects a gymnasium, they typically wish to be able to use it for many different projects throughout the years. A good steel structure should be able to cater for the shifting needs of a community and be easily adapted to new circumstances.

Time is always a factor when a new gymnasium is needed, and steel buildings get your gymnasium up and functioning faster than were you to choose a traditional building method. This means that less time will be spent building the new facility and more time can be devoted to actually enjoying it.

The safety issues are naturally always important when creating a new gymnasium, since it will house a large amount of people and any oversights can be disastrous. A steel building is fireproof and will withstand a large amount of stress. You can even be guarded against severe weather conditions, such as heavy storms. It is also common for insurance companies to offer lower premiums for steel constructions, since they are less prone to fires, snow damages, mold, and parasite attacks.

This article is courtesy of Coastal Steel Structures.

Product Roundup

FLI Transfer Cart and Work Station
Fred Lunt Industries has introduced a high-quality, multi-use, affordable Transfer Cart and Work Station. The FLI Transfer Cart allows for easy transfer of athletic equipment to issue areas. Combining the usability of a Transfer Cart and a maple top, the FLI Work Station gives you the ability to quickly store or work from the same convenient location. Both units include wire grid side panels, which allow you to hook and transport additional clothing and equipment with ease.
www.flindustries.com

Pulastic from Robbins Sports Surfaces
Pulastic floors deliver decades of durability and superior wear resistance for any indoor application. All Pulastic systems feature high-quality polyurethane resin and a resurfaceable wear layer, providing ideal traction, correct ball rebound and excellent shock and sound absorption. Pulastic floors meets LEED Certification requirements for use of recycled products and are free of mercury, lead and other heavy materials. Pulastic is strong enough to stand up to heavy tables, chairs and bleacher loads.
www.robbinsfloor.com

Lyon Antimicrobial Lockers
Lyon Antimicrobial Lockers are finished in an advanced powder coating technology from DuPont and Agion Antimicrobial that inhibits bacterial, mold and odor build-up on locker surfaces, as well as the touch transfer of microbes on locker handles and doors. Any moisture triggers the controlled release of powerful silver ions to provide superior antimicrobial protection for decades. The antimicrobial compound is completely inorganic, less toxic than ordinary table salt, and less irritating than talcum powder.
www.lyonworkspace.com

Herculan from Action Floor
Action Floor Systems, a leading supplier of premium maple sports floors and synthetic multiuse surfaces, offers the industry’s only water-based, solvent-free, synthetic polyurethane top coat. The environmentally friendly Action Herculan top coat requires no masks or building evacuation during application. Herculan is a high-performance, monolithic, nonporous floor. It’s an ideal choice for multiuse applications.
www.actionfloors.com

Boing Safety Padding from Phunzone
Phunzone has introduced Boing safety padding for all child play areas. It can be safely and easily attached to many different kinds of walls. Boing is available in seven bright colors. Boing padding is an excellent and affordable way to increase child safety and decrease your liability. Boing padding is a special “skin urethane” material, which has superior horizontal impact attenuation properties while providing a tough UV-treated outer protective skin.
www.phunzone.com

Future Pro Y-Beam Ceiling Suspended Basketball Structures
Future Pro takes basketball equipment to new heights with the introduction of Bison Y-Beam Ceiling Suspended Structures. Y-Beam structures are available as rear fold, front fold, side fold or stationary, for virtually any height or ceiling. All feature a 6" heavy-duty center beam. All components are finished with an unobtrusive gray or matte black powder coating. Y-Beam Ceiling Suspended Structures will provide uneventful installation, superior playability, and many years of trouble-free service.
www.futureproinc.com

LG RexCourt from Gerbert
Looking for the ultimate multipurpose flooring solution? LG RexCourt performance flooring, distributed in the United States exclusively by Gerbert Limited, offers the look of hardwood with shock absorption, elasticity and stability, noise level reduction, and style. RexCourt is engineered for outstanding durability with a special polyurethane coating for easy maintenance and economical, long-lasting good looks.
www.gerbertltd.com

COURTCLEAN
COURTCLEAN damp mop system is the industry’s newest tool that is “sweeping” the nation. COURTCLEAN is fast and effective. It produces a clean surface, causing traction to be at its highest level. Additionally, it prevents the “sanding” of finished surfaces caused by dirt between shoes and the floor by eliminating nearly 100 percent of unwanted debris and dust particles
www.courtclean.net

Valspar Flooring
Reinforcing its reputation as a pioneer in environmentally responsible, high performance flooring products, Valspar Flooring has introduced new Valsport WP-4.1 Sealer and WP-8.1 Finish—eco-friendly yet extremely durable oil modified urethanes (OMU) for use on gymnasium and athletic wood floors. Use of these products can also help contribute toward U.S Green Building Council’s LEED sustainable building efforts. www.valsparflooring.com