Omnisports™ Gives Rider University Stunning Versatility
Every university campus has its workhorse—the building that hosts everything from a career fair to a basketball tournament.
This space tends to be the environment that graduates will remember most about their alma mater. It’s where they built new friendships in intramural sports or unwound after class with a pickup game. Perhaps it was where they met a future spouse at a dinner or a dance. It might even be the place where they tossed their caps in the air to punctuate the end of their college days. What can make this type of facility both memorable and functional? How can you affect the emotional appeal and practical nature of the most utilized space on campus? You do it from the ground up.
Choosing the right floor is a critical decision that can make or break your workhorse facility. When renovating its Student Recreation Center, Rider University and Director of Auxiliary Services Jill Shockley knew they needed a surface that had the aesthetics of a classic athletic floor, but the versatility to go from event to event without hindrance. Athletes needed to enjoy its playability, but the floor also needed to tolerate tables, chairs, and other equipment.
Prior to renovation, the Student Recreation Center was featureless and colorless. Its polyurethane surface had no shock absorption and did little to create an enjoyable atmosphere for sports and other events. The old floor was not comfortable or attractive, nor was it easy to keep clean. Transitions between events required considerable effort if the floor was to be neat and tidy. With a full schedule of events, this wasn’t always a possibility.
Jill and her colleagues at RU began looking at sports flooring options that could meet the needs of 4,000 undergraduate students, plus faculty, staff, and other users. It was imperative that the new floor be versatile. The Student Recreation Center had a diverse schedule of events that could range from a career fair to basketball games, all within the span of a couple of days. Since intramural sports and practices would be held on the floor, it also needed to have high-performance athletic properties; it needed to look like a traditional athletic surface and perform accordingly. Rider University found one unique sports surface that met all of these criteria and made the busiest building on campus a place where everyone wanted to be.
The Solution for Rider University
Omnisports 6.5 mm Golden Maple with Omnisports HPL
To create a versatile and memorable space, Rider University chose Omnisports™ 6.5 mm with Omnisports™ HPL for heavy equipment.
Omnisports™ 6.5 mm is Tarkett Sports’ most popular indoor athletic surface for a reason. It meets all the criteria of the ASTM F2772 sports flooring standard, including, ball rebound, surface friction, and vertical deformation, with Class 2 shock absorption. However, it really excels in multi-use applications where sports and non-sporting events are booked back-to-back. Since Omnisports™ doesn’t require a protective covering and cleans easily, transitions can happen quickly. This is due to its uncommonly fast indentation recovery and its nonlinear embossed surface that does not trap dirt.
“If you’re looking for a versatile product, I think this is a great option. It has the look of a wood floor, which is what a lot of people really like in an athletic facility, but the versatility to really take on various events to be able to go from maybe a career fair during the day to intramural programs at night, which is something that we do a lot in this facility. It’s our largest facility on campus, so it’s really important that it is versatile.”
—Jill Shockley
Omnisports™ not only has high sports performance characteristics, but it also has the look of traditional maple and provides good contrast for game lines. It helps create an environment where students and athletes want to play, practice, or just spend time.
“I think it looks beautiful and we’ve had only really positive feedback about it. [For] people who come to campus, it’s a ‘wow factor.’ It’s been really great.”
— Jill Shockley
Rider University chose to use Omnisports™ HPL around the borders of the 6.5 mm court surface, which allows heavy equipment to be moved more easily around the edges of the court. This adds to the versatility of the space by providing more point load tolerance in certain areas without sacrificing appearance and maintaining a measure of shock absorption.
“We did do the HPL, the ‘high point load’ on the outsides of the courts so that we can bring heavy equipment and heavy items in, and that’s been really great. We’ve had really positive feedback from our students who love the look of it. They love the feel of it. It has a little bit of a ‘give’ unlike our old floor. So it’s been really positive, and I don’t have anything bad to say.”
—Jill Shockley
With Omnisports™, Rider University has a versatile sports surface that can easily be the hub of any activity. The floor creates a place where students will form memories in both quantity and quality. It is a workhorse floor for the busiest building on campus.
Tarkett Sports • 175 N Industrial Boulevard • Calhoun, Georgia 30701 • 888-364-6541 • tarkettsportsindoor.com
