Sport technologies are methods, materials and equipment used when equipping sport centers.

          When searching for an end-to-end solution, our specialists consider construction norms, requirements and recommendations of the International and Russian Sport Agencies.

Sport surfaces

          Different kinds of sport have different requirements to flooring materials. Our specialists carry out floor base preparation works, flooring installation and field marking. As a rule we apply imported surface materials. We define two kinds of surface materials: open-air and indoor.

          Open air materials installation requires substantial flooring base and a drainage system preparation. Other requirements depend on the surface operating conditions. Sport surfaces must provide optimal characteristics for safe and comfortable play, be weatherproof, operate in different temperature conditions, not lose colour and be ultravioletproof etc. For football, tennis, rugby and hockey fields grass pitches are usually used as natural materials possess outstanding characteristics for ball games.

          An alternative to a grass pitch is a synthetic pitch. Synthetic pitch is a roll synthetic surface material with grass imitating piles. Synthetic piles are strongly fastened to a textile base material with latex sealant. Synthetic pitch is designed to imitate natural grass. That’s why the pitch is filled up with silica send or polymeric granules and silica send mixture for better natural grass imitation. Send filling enables to regulate pile height, respectively game characteristics of the sport surface (for example, less send filling, higher speed for tennis players). The ability to regulate pile height and surface density enables to adjust ball bounce speed to specific game tactics and player professional level. Synthetic surfaces possess a drainage system which allows water to pass through. If a drainage system was properly constructed, you can start playing right after light rain.

          Ball bounce is very important in a tennis game (proper bounce can be secured by short piles and high surface density). Football field surfaces have to be soft, as a ball is in the air 80% of time (material must not cause burns in case a player falls), be highly durable, as two football teams in spikes cause considerable load impact. Very often for football surfaces double geotextile is used. Pile durability is defined by the material used in production. Possible variants are 100% polyethylene, polyethylene with polypropylene (more durable), 100% polypropylene, polypropylene and rubber mixture possesses the best durability. After installation football surfaces are filled with silica send and rubber granules mixture. Seams are sewed and polyurethane glued.

Indoor sport surfaces are synthetic materials which can be poured in-place and rollable:

• poured in-place acryl;
• rubber seamless and rubber rollable surface materials;
• multi-layer seamless surface materials;
• rollable PVC surface materials;
• textile, taffeta and velour;
• tiles (often plastic) with different fastening;
• resilient floor-mats;
• synthetic pitch;
• sport parquet and linoleum;
• etc

The main advantages of synthetic sport surfaces are:

• simple installation and economy;
• surface characteristics adjustment through layer thickness change;
• high mechanic, protective and performance characteristics;
• high durability;
• large colour scale;
• high tearing resistance;
• simple repair.

          It is important to understand the main purposes of a constructed sport center and its operating conditions. If a center is designed as a competition site for a specific kind of sport, then the right choice is a professional sport surface with rigidly standardized characteristics, suitable for this very kind of sport and attested by authorized organizations.

          If you are searching for a multi-purpose sport surface for a gym designed for different sport events, than an optimal solution is a universal surface able to stand considerable load impact and minimizing maintenance expenditures.

          Surfaces applied for training gyms and multi-purpose gyms construction combine comfort, durability, and high abrasion resistance. Indoor and open-air tennis courts require the following surface characteristics:

• sufficient elastic return values combined with reasonable shock absorption;
• good surface-sport boots cohesion;
• comfortable play characteristics;
• ball visibility, good performance;
• stable ball bounce;
• different material softness levels, shock absorption levels;
• surface resilient characteristics conservation in different temperature conditions;
• large colour scale, haze effect (decreases blink effect).

          Multi-purpose surface materials are usually used for gyms. These materials enable to combine various kinds of sport in one place and to achieve maximal loading of the sport area.

          Wooden flooring is a classical gym surface. Wood is an ideal material for basketball fields. It is rigid and resilient at a time. Sport parquet is usually produced of beech, ash-tree, oak and covered either with oil or varnish. Oil covered materials require complex care (covering needs to be periodically polished), but cuts are easily removed. Wood is a rigid material, so that to make wooden surface less traumatizing and more resilient, a special single or double joist system is installed. Another requirement for wooden floors installation is a good waterproofing system installation.

          Joist system can be covered either with wooden material or with a rollable synthetic or natural material. Rollable materials are usually glued to the joist system, seams are properly sealed. The result is a waterproof sport surface with equal resistance characteristics along the full surface.

          It is important to define surface requirements to choose the best solution. Our company offers ready sport surfaces with a resilient base. An unrivaled leader in flooring materials production is Taraflex, trademark of the French company Gerflor. Gerflor rollable materials are remarkable for that they can be laid directly on a concrete base (specially prepared). This material combines a rigid, abrasion-resistant surface with a resilient base. Between a bearing layer and a resilient layer is a reinforcing fiberglass net layer contributing to material stability and which evenly distributes load impact over the entire surface.

          Gerflor offers sport surface materials for multi-functional gyms and also special finishing materials, for example, surfaces for indoor tennis courts, Tennis Tournoi. This material is used for professional tennis tournaments sites and possesses outstanding operating characteristics.

          Surface materials produced by Grabosport have a similar layer structure as Taraflex. But the price is lower. In a shoestring budget situation Grabosport materials are the best solution, customer saves resources and gets a surface material with good operating parameters.

          Depending on the purpose of constructed sport centers we provide our customers with highly qualified materials of the leading international producers, Taraflex, Regupol, Grabosport, Mondo etc.