From the quality of your flooring to the supporting elements in your gym, safety should make the top of your list. Unfortunately, when designing a gym, most facility operators often overlook a crucial component — custom wall padding for athlete safety.
Injuries can occur in a blink of an eye during gym class. Athletes can quickly lose control of their momentum and balance. If this happens, they run the risk of hitting a nearby wall, column, corner, beam, or other hard surfaces. And, without protective wall padding in the gym, they can get seriously injured.
We are specialists in creating protective wall padding for indoor and outdoor sports facilities. We feel it’s our responsibility to share our inside knowledge on ensuring maximum protection of student-athletes in the gym and on the field with custom wall padding for athlete safety.
Safety and Compliance
In many cases, local law obliges schools and sports facilities to install gym wall padding. Although these regulations vary from district to district, there are many good reasons to install gym wall pads. Suppose you’re not familiar with the current rules and regulations in your area. In that case, it’s best to check the safety code for gyms without delay.
As new safety instruments are continuously developed, the rulebook changes often. That is why you should always be up to date with the local and state regulation. With this in mind, don’t shy away from professional help or contact the appropriate regulatory authority. Ensuring student protection and regulatory compliance should be a priority for every school gym.
Custom Wall Padding for athlete safety: A Must for all Indoor Sports
Concussions are a common injury for student-athletes. Sports such as basketball and handball are often marked by intense and fast-paced action. Athletes endure hard contact, dive for loose balls, and can lose control during fast break plays. A high-impact collision with a hard surface can cause a concussion and sometimes broken bones.
Even in sports with minimal contact, such as volleyball, the risk of concussion is always present. As athletes run to save the ball from going out of bounds, they put themselves in danger of hitting a nearby wall or column. These injuries can be particularly serious, as the players are often entirely focused on the ball. This exposes them to more severe injuries.
Every P.E. activity comes with its risks, and there are no athletic activities that are entirely risk-free. The only question is how to maximize user protection. The best answer to this is to minimize the possibility of injury.
Cushioning the blows your student-athletes endure upon impact can help significantly reduce the risk of head trauma. This brings us to the next important part of this issue.
Avoiding Concussions
Recent statistics show that for people from 15 to 24 years of age, sports-related injuries rank second only to vehicle crashes as the leading cause of concussions. This is a staggering statistic, especially when we consider that a significant percentage of sports-related concussions can be prevented by ensuring adequate safety standards in the gym.
According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 300,000 sports-related concussions occur each year in the US. Studies have also found that high school students are more vulnerable to injuries than older athletes. It also takes high school students more time to recover from an injury.
Traditionally, school physicians and coaches rely on students to self-report their symptoms. But, this system is problematic mainly due to two reasons. Such reports are simply not reliable and valid enough. More importantly, the students are not knowledgeable enough to determine what constitutes a concussion and what issues could stem from it if it’s not treated correctly. If left untreated, a concussion can affect the student in three ways:
- A rare but fatal event, caused by a massive brain swelling
- A less severe, but debilitating injury with persistent headaches, dizziness, and eventually depression that can last for several months
- Cumulative long-term health effects
Taking this into account, if you are a facility operator or coach, make sure to play it safe at all times. Even if you have all of the safety elements in place, it never hurts to be extra careful. Educate your students on this issue, and keep your eyes on the play during gym class. Suppose you suspect that a student has sustained an injury. In that case, it’s your responsibility to run immediate testing and provide the necessary help.
Visual Appearance
Safety should always be your number one priority. But aside from providing added protection, custom wall padding will also enhance your facility’s visual appearance. Custom-created pads will brighten up your facility and give it a fresh new look. You can use them to spread brand awareness and build up your school spirit. You can custom design your wall padding with school symbols and tailor it to fit any space you request.
Is Your Padding Up to the Task?
Gym wall padding can help keep your student-athletes safe while significantly reducing the risk of serious injuries. It’s one of the simplest and most effective ways to promote safety in your gym. Don’t ignore the potential safety hazards in your sports facility. Choose our top-quality, easy-to-all install, custom wall padding, and make sure that your gym is as safe as possible.
We’re based in Northern New Jersey, and we service most of NJ, NY, CT, PA, DE & MD. We provide our clients with knowledgeable and reliable experts from start to finish. If you live outside of our service areas, we can ship the wall padding straight to your address, anywhere in the US. Call us today at (973) 801-7219 or fill out our online form and we’ll get back to you without delay.