What Does a Sport Floor Mean to You?

By Geoffrey Potts April 5, 2017

A sport floor; the foundation of fond childhood memories, running around clumsily learning how to play basketball.  Years later, the court where friends cheered from the sidelines, as champions were made and skill, determination and talent were put to the test.  The surface that the legends of today make their name upon in the modern-day coliseums.  A sports floor; to some a legacy, to others a place of momentous joy and to some, even hope.  What does a sports floor mean to you?

The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Dubuque choose a floor for their legacy.

Each person has their own idea of what it means to be a sports floor, but not any surface can be called as such.  Some people may call concrete taped with game lines a sports floor, but is this really the case? Of course not.  A true sports floor has clear standards in performance, safety, comfort, ease of care and the longevity of the floor all while remaining affordable.  Let’s look at the requirements to be able to call a surface a sports floor.

From the most basic, to the highest quality, both products are sold as sports floors.

Performance

Performance is what everyone thinks when they first look at a sports floor, and shock absorbance is the biggest factor in performance.  Concrete, for example, has little to no ability to absorb the kinetic energy of a knee landing on the ground.  On concrete a person is going to feel that and be immensely uncomfortable; however, on a sports floor, that impact will greatly cushioned as to not interrupt focus.  Sports floors are rated based on a class system from 1-5, designated by the ASTM F2772 standard. For sports such as basketball or volleyball, that have tremendous interactions with the floor, a class 2 floor is recommended with a class 3 being optimal.

Lumaflex, a class 5 sports floor

Safety

Probably the most important quality in a true sports floor is safety.  Safety is simple in terms of whether the surface is healthy.  Does it provide fewer injuries, does it encourage good air quality, will it not pinch you?  The answer for all sports floors is yes.  A floor that provides fewer injuries requires enough shock absorption to not get injured from falls as well as a surface that allows sliding, but not slipping.  Tiled floors have cracks in between them, so as people jump on the floor, it will expand and contract, opening the cracks larger for contaminants as well as possibly being a pinching hazard. The best floors are sealed together and do not have cracks or divots for dirt, dust and grime to hide. Not coincidentally, a safe floor that performs well also is a comfortable floor.

Omnisports is the first and only asthma and allergy friendly™ certified sports floor.

Cost, Maintenance and Longevity

A sports floor of any kind is an investment, and investments need to be protected.  A good sports floor, well taken care of, will last between 35-40 years.  Obviously, not all floors are the same. A floor such as a vinyl composition tile is a low-cost flooring, but it is not built for sports.  A few games of basketball and volleyball and that floor will be shredded.  Tiles with cracks and crevasses collect dirt and are hard to completely clean thoroughly.  The ideal floors only require uncomplicated, short mop and rinse treatments that remove most dirt and other contaminants that leave the floor looking new day after day.

A firsthand experience that not all floors can perform under pressure.

When it comes to sports floors, you really do get what you pay for, but there is at least one notable price point.  Omnisports is one of the longer lasting floors, and is by far the easiest to clean.  Most other floors require stripping and re-varnishing, or have cracks in between tiles, or even an open top entirely, which allows contaminants to get trapped.  All Omnisports needs is soap, water, a machine included in the initial cost and about 30 minutes depending on the court size, and viola, a brand new looking floor for decades.  In addition to its ease of maintenance, Omnisports is the jack of all trade floors, available in class 2 or 3 shock absorption.  With a polyurethane coating and a compact PVC layer, not even tables would scratch or deform this sports floor.

Omnisports is the pinnacle of versatility in sports flooring.

Floors are the foundation we stand upon.  They hold us up, and support us.  Each experience we ever had was on a floor, but how many floors do we really remember.  We remember the gyms and the courts where important experiences from our past took place.  It is one of the few floors that can jump to the forefront of your mind.  What does a sports floors mean to you, because someone will remember yours.