Sports Flooring: What's Under Foot?

Blue Springs Fieldhouse in Blue Springs, Mo.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TARKETT SPORTS

After the city of Blue Springs, Mo., purchased a building in late 2014 to renovate and transform into a state-of-the-art recreational fieldhouse, one of the top goals was to install new flooring.

"The concept behind the Blue Springs Fieldhouse was to provide our community with indoor recreation space that provided recreation and fitness for all," said Dennis Dovel, director, Blue Springs Parks and Recreation.

During the renovation process, one of the main objectives was to find a top-notch athletic flooring provider. Flooring was needed for the facility's basketball courts, a spin studio, aerobics studio, a fitness center and a turf field.

Ultimately, flooring manufacturer Tarkett Sports was chosen—for its "very dependable product with a great warranty with a product line that met a wide diverse range of different installation methods—from turf to natural wood floor products to sheet good products," Dovel said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TARKETT SPORTS

"Many options were considered. We ultimately chose FieldTurf for the turf field, a laminate sheet good for the basketball court, spin studio and fitness center," he said. "In the fitness center we also used a rolled rubber in the free weight area. In the aerobic studio we installed a maple floating wood floor. Additionally, we used carpet in some of the office and pedestrian areas as well and tile in the locker rooms and restrooms."

Today, the 76,000-square-foot indoor recreational facility houses four basketball/volleyball courts with a walking track around the perimeter of the floor surface, an indoor soccer/football field, aerobics studio, spin studio, child watch, three party rooms and a state-of-the-art fitness center, as well as parks and recreation support services offices.

William Thornton, North American technical manager for Tarkett Sports in Calhoun, Ga., added that the facility's "batting cage area was redesigned to house brand-new fitness equipment.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TARKETT SPORTS

"That has a combination of a wood grain pattern vinyl and recycled rubber in a nice design. The rest of the space upstairs has small offices and administrative spaces," he said. "This has our Omnisports in two colors and Tarkolay, which is a slip sheet membrane used for complex concrete issues, which they had on this due to the removal of the soccer field, refill the depression with new concrete. They also were dealing with some moisture problems in the concrete and the Tarkolay accommodated that issue as well."

In the downstairs area of the fieldhouse, the two soccer fields were removed along with the resilient flooring and the laser tag area.

"All of this was converted into four basketball courts with four volleyball courts and four pickleball courts on one half and a brand-new FieldTurf soccer field on the other half," Thornton said. "On the lower level, a new spin room was included that has a red maple design vinyl flooring and a new aerobics room that has ClutchCourt Performance, which is one of our MFMA Maple systems."

The flooring has been in the facility for three years, and Dovel said the "products are great."

PHOTO COURTESY OF TARKETT SPORTS

"We have had little to no issues with all the products and those that did arise, Tarkett has been extremely responsive to fix the issues," he said. "The products clean up very easily and are durable for a multitude of situations. With the Omnisport, it allows the basketball courts to be very flexible to allow for a wide range of uses beyond basketball and volleyball. By having a surface that allows for a multitude of uses, it allows our staff to program and rent the facility for a wide variety of uses. This allows us to book the facility and assist with the overall budget."

Thornton said the new design by SFS Architecture proposed new layouts to accommodate the needs of Blue Springs and the surrounding population. "One soccer field instead of two and more flooring space for other activities such as mentioned above in the main gym space," he said.

"The goal for Blue Springs was to create a modern facility that would not only meet the needs of the community," Thornton added, "but also become a focal point of recreation and community gathering."

Blue Springs Fieldhouse offers membership opportunities, fitness classes, personal training, and more. Additional information can be found at www.bluespringsgov.com.

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Blue Springs Fieldhouse: www.bluespringsgov.com