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Memberline: News from ASBA Members

10-S Tennis Supply Becomes Official Court Equipment Supplier of USPTA

The United States Professional Tennis Association announced the start of a partnership with 10-S Tennis Supply, making 10-S Tennis Supply the official tennis court equipment supplier of the USPTA.

As part of the partnership agreement, 10-S Tennis Supply’s Six Star II tennis net will become the official tennis net of the USPTA. The Six Star II net features a tapered, extra-duty, braided polyethylene net body with UV stitching, double mesh on the top six rows, a double vinyl headband, six rows of stitching on the headband and a five-year warranty.

Stephen C. Dettor, President of 10-S Tennis Supply, stated, “We are extremely excited about this partnership with the USPTA. 10-S Tennis Supply has been a longtime supporter of the USPTA Florida Division and we are eager to increase the visibility of our offerings to the rest of the membership. We look forward to providing USPTA members around the world with high quality products and first class customer service.”

“We are very pleased about the partnership with 10-S Tennis Supply,” said USPTA CEO Tim Heckler. “We know that 10-S Tennis Supply provides superior products and we are proud to have them as our official court equipment supplier.”

London Paralympic Tennis Event Played on DecoTurf

The organizers of the 2012 London Paralympic Tennis Event chose DecoColor as the new tennis court surface. The event took place September 1-8 at Eton Manor, north of the London Olympic Park.

The tennis venue at Eton Manor was the only facility constructed specifically for this year’s Paralympic Games, as the Olympic Tennis Events were played on grass courts. The brand new 10,500 seat venue features three show courts, nine competition courts and four practice courts.

The singles and doubles events included 112 players from 31 countries competing for six gold medals. Esther Vergeer of the Netherlands was the top seed in the women’s singles as Shingo Kunieda of Japan aimed to keep his men’s singles title against France’s Stephane Houdet.

Sebastian Coe, The London Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Chair said, “‘Wheelchair Tennis proved to be one of our most popular tickets, and the venue at Eton Manor was a fantastic setting to showcase some truly world-class athletes.”

DecoTurf’s multi-layer tennis surfaces have been selected for use at the world’s most prestigious events including the US Open since 1978, the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, Davis Cup and Fed Cup matches, and at many of the finest facilities around the world.

The surface offers unique play characteristics, providing maximum player comfort, and exceptional durability. DecoTurf has authorized applicators around the globe that are trained to install the surface that is known for its, true ball bounce, low maintenance, vibrant long lasting colors, and overall customer value.

For more information about DecoTurf visit www.decoturf.com or call 1-800-DECO-1st (332-6178) /978-623-9980.

One A/E Firm, One Summer and Six Turf Fields

ASBA member GMB Architecture + Engineering of Holland, Michigan is watching with interest all of the sports action on six newly installed turf play fields. This has been the busiest year yet for GMB’s sports field architects, designing football, soccer and baseball fields for their college/university and K-12 education clients.
Hudsonville Public Schools of Hudsonville, Michigan upgraded to turf at their 5,500 seat football stadium, originally designed by GMB and constructed back in 1998. The Eagles of Hudsonville will host over a dozen high school freshman, JV and varsity football games on the new turf this fall.

Hope College’s most recent renovations to their athletic facilities include turf for their long tradition of successful football programs. The turf was installed this summer at the City of Holland’s Municipal Stadium, Hope College’s long time home field. The College purchased the stadium from the City this summer and through a community agreement, will share the field with Holland Public Schools and the City.

GMB also designed new turf fields for existing stadiums at Belding Area Schools and Grandville Public Schools that are marked for and will serve both their football and soccer programs. Caledonia Community Schools opted for a turf field designed for their high school soccer and lacrosse student athletes.

The sixth turf field design, and most unique, was for a newly constructed baseball stadium at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. This facility combines a baseball stadium with a residence hall. The residence e hall occupies the top two floors of the stadium building and houses 100 beds.

The type of turf at each of the six projects varied, with each school choosing the product that best suited their needs. Three of the six clients chose to go with the traditional slit film due to its proven track record, durability and budget advantages. One school chose to go with a monofilament as they already had one field on campus with that type of fiber and were very happy with the performance and familiar with the maintenance requirements. The last two schools, who were more interested in the aesthetic look and feel of the synthetic turf, chose to go with the newer blend which combines the durability of the slit film with the more realistic look of a monofilament.

GMB’s experience with turf field design dates back to 2004 when Kentwood Public Schools, a long time GMB client, chose to install turf at both their football stadium and soccer stadium. Since then, GMB has designed well over a dozen turf fields, including football, baseball and soccer, with more already slated for design this winter and construction summer 2013.

Hinding Tennis Refurbishes Highland Park in Brooklyn, NY

Just days before the start of the U.S. Open, newly refurbished tennis courts were unveiled in Brooklyn’s Highland Park.

The project began earlier this year and saw the renovation of 18 tennis courts, including eight for children.

Those behind the program hope it encourages kids to stay active and take up the sport.

“Our goal at the USTA is to grow tennis and parks and make it look like America,” said Gordon Smith, the executive director of the USTA.

“I look forward to hitting with the kids and hopefully getting them even more excited about tennis,” said professional tennis player Jack Sock.

“Our tennis programs here in Highland Park can go to a new level,” said Queens Parks Commissioner Dorothy Lewandowski. “There are great new courts available to the public for the great programs we offer for kids in this local Cypress Hills community. It’s just a wonderful addition to our parks system.” “It is always a pleasure being involved with USTA and American Express” stated Tom Hinding, owner Hinding Tennis. “We have been involved with 10 and Under Tennis from day one and we are constantly educating club owners, pros and individuals the importance of this format and how easy it is to get involved.”

The Fresh Courts program, which is a partnership between American Express and the USTA to support local tennis in communities across the U.S., is behind the effort.

For more information on Hinding Tennis, visit www.hindingtennis.com.

Hudson Design Build Group Completes 145,000 Square-Foot Tennis Building and Field House for New Sports Complex

Chelsea Piers Connecticut (CPCT) is a 400,000 sf state-of-the-art sports and recreation facility located in Stamford, CT. Opened in July 2012, the facility includes a 138’x400’ tennis center with seven indoor tennis courts and a 178’x400’ field house with a 100-yard turf field for soccer, lacrosse, football, field hockey, softball and baseball; hardwood courts for basketball and volleyball; and a 1/5-mile track. The new pre-engineered steel buildings were located on the roof of the existing building.

Hudson Design Build Group (HDBG) was retained by Chelsea Piers Management in fall 2010 as sports consultant and subsequent supplier of the Star pre-engineered steel buildings that would be utilized to house the seven indoor tennis courts , field house, support area and pool penthouse. Fred Volpacchio, Principal of HDBG, provided ongoing consulting and coordination services throughout the project.

HDBG was instrumental in the involvement of Hinding Tennis for the tennis courts and Putterman Athletics for the interior fit out of the facilities.

World Records, National Records, Personal Bests and Season Bests Abound on Mondotrack Surface at London Olympic Games

From the first day of the 2012 Olympic Games track and field competition—when athletes posted 12 national bests and 52 personal bests—the state-of-the-art Mondotrack track surface at London’s Olympic Stadium proved to be fast. When the Games were over, three world records, four Olympic records, 64 national records, and a slew of personal and season bests had been set on the track.
Topping the list of London 2012 track and field highlights on Mondotrack was Usain Bolt becoming the first man in Olympic history to win the 100- and 200-meter races and the men’s 4x100-meter relay in two consecutive Games. The Jamaican’s gold medal performances at the 2008 Beijing Olympics also were on Mondotrack.

The Games also produced the fastest 100-meter race of all time, with seven of the eight participants in the final crossing the line in less than 10 seconds. (The eighth, Jamaica’s Asafa Powell, was slowed because of an injury.) That race also saw four of the seven competitors establish or equal personal or season bests.

The three world records established during the Games on Mondotrack were:

• Men’s 4x100-meter relay: Bolt, along with Jamaican teammates Nesta Carter, Michael Frater and Yohan Blake, captured gold in the men’s 4x100-meter relay and established a new world record with a time of 36.84 seconds, 0.02 seconds faster than the previous record.

• Men’s 800 meters: Kenya’s David Rudisha set a new world record for the men’s 800 meters. In running 1:40.91 to break his own world record (which was set on Mondo’s Super X Performance track), Rudisha became the first man to run 800 meters in less than 1:41.

• Women’s 4x100-meter relay: The United States’ Tianna Madison, Allyson Felix, Bianca Knight and Carmelita Jeter ran the women’s 4x100-meter relay in spectacular fashion, finishing in 40.82 seconds and taking 0.55 seconds off the record that was set in 1985 by East Germany.

“These amazing results and the comments we heard throughout the Games about Mondotrack being ‘super fast’ and a ‘magic carpet’ are extremely gratifying,” Federico Stroppiana, CEO, Mondo Group. “Our efforts to develop tracks that are both soft and fast result in surfaces that provide the optimum blend of comfort and speed, making the tracks ideal for both training and high-speed competition and resulting in record-breaking athletic performances.”

The Mondotrack at London’s Olympic Stadium also served as the competition surface for the 2012 Paralympic Games, the world’s largest multinational sporting event for disabled athletes. In all, Mondo provided flooring and equipment for a total of 18 Olympic and Paralympic events, from table tennis to wheelchair basketball.

Mondotrack is the newest track surface by Mondo, the global leader in the sport flooring market. Designed to help athletes perform their best, Mondotrack provides optimal traction and a greater contact area than other tracks. It converts the maximum amount of force generated by athletes’ foot strikes to energy for maximum energy return, which helps athletes achieve faster times compared to running on other surfaces

More than 230 world records have been set on tracks made by Mondo, including five at the 2008 Olympics and three at the London Games.

Novacrylic Ultracushion® Selected for Fed Cup Final

The Novacrylic Ultracushion® system manufactured by Nova Sports USA (Milford, MA) has been selected for November’s 2012 Fed Cup final between the Czech Republic and Serbia. The Federation Cup defending champions (Czech Republic) will host the event at Prague’s 17,000 seat O2 Arena. The championship match will be played on an ITF classified category 4 cushion system consisting of five blended EPDM/acrylic rubber coats followed by two coats of the Combination Surface® color coating system. Prague’s O2 Arena is the third Davis/Fed Cup venue in 2012 to be played on a Novacrylic® brand surfacing system. For more information, contact info@novasports.com.

Earn Off-Season Income with Expanded Line of Cold Weather NORDOT® “4”  Series Adhesives from Synthetic Surfaces Inc.

Almost everything slows down when it gets cold. Rain water evaporates slower in winter than in the summer; automobile batteries get weaker and their oil gets thicker; chemical reactions, such as adhesive curing, either slow down or stop. While we can’t change the laws of physics regarding cold vs. hot, we set out to develop adhesives that permit profitable winter work. Our reasoning was that if the adhesive quickly developed a high green strength but a not fast cure after application, it would help offset the cold temperature problems mentioned above. High green strength would hold the installed surface in place even if the adhesive hasn’t yet cured, while the slow cure permits plenty of working time for installations. These properties would extend installation and repair times to include cold weather.

This was accomplished by designing adhesives that develop high green strength (high grab, holding power, grip, high tack, etc.), much faster and much higher when cold than any other commercial adhesive known to us. The result was a new “4” Series of NORDOT® Adhesives, #34P-4 and #34N-4. They are one part, high green strength, curing urethanes that spread easily even when cold. Based on their success, NORDOT® Adhesives #34G-4 and NORDOT® Adhesive #34S-4 have been more recently added to the line.

Additional benefits that come with all of the “4” series adhesives are that they have lower VOCs, which to our knowledge comply with all VOC laws regarding outdoor synthetic turf, carpet and other outdoor flooring (the VOCs of the “4” versions are on their MSDS sheets). Plus, the “4” versions have a lower odor; and, their green strength develops faster than the “non-4” versions.

For more information, please call or email Synthetic Surfaces Inc. at 908-233-6803 or info@nordot.com, or visit our website at www.nordot.com.