Having wall pads and other safety features in your athletic facilities is a great idea—not if they're in poor condition. Though you should inspect and ensure your wall pads are in good condition before every season, you also need to make sure they are repaired quickly if an accident does happen, so your athletes and fans have safe surroundings to play in and watch the games.
Here, our team at Fieldwallpads.com will discuss the steps you should take when your wall padding solutions have been damaged during the sports season—when time is of the essence.
ASSESS THE DAMAGE
After every game, event, or practice, you should inspect your wall pads and other safety equipment, especially if there was at least one hard collision involved. Typically, you won’t immediately notice damage to the wall pads unless a hole is prominent, or the collision is so severe that the padding is knocked off the wall or other surface.
If you notice damage of any kind, even if the wall pads are even slightly off-center or look like they need to be touched up, you should contact a professional—and we’re the perfect one for the job. When you contact our experts, we quickly diagnose any issues and set to work remedying them. No matter if you need a simple patch or an entirely new wall pad, we will work quickly and efficiently to get you up and running.
SEEK TEMPORARY FIXES
Not all repairs can be made in one day. If this is the case for you, it’s important you keep athletes away from the damaged area(s) to keep them safe. If you are set to host a sporting event before your wall padding or other safety feature is repaired, set up additional safety barriers in case there is a collision.
Many schools have additional pads stored away for gym classes and other needs. If your school or program has these extra tools, you should consider strapping these products on top of the damaged areas in a pinch.
ASSESS THE EFFECTS ON YOUR BRAND
Once your athletes and their safety have been taken care of, you can begin to investigate the less-obvious consequences of broken stadium wall padding: those that reflect on your brand.
We cover branding more in our outdoor wall padding blog, but here’s the gist: your brand is, essentially, the image you put forth to your audience, athletes, and sponsors. As for why it matters in the context of your athletic facility, DigitalSport puts it this way: “Great branding is a must. Your brand influences how people see your company or team. It helps you to forge connections with your target audience and increases recognition.” Connection and recognition: two things that are important for building a fan following for any team!
A broken piece of gym wall padding, though, makes achieving the connection part of that portion impossible. Its mere presence suggests that you don’t care about the safety of your athletes—even if the exact opposite is true and you’re keeping them far away from it!
When seeking the temporary solutions outlined above, it’s critical that they look good as much as they accomplish your safety-related goals. Though you can’t have perfection until repairs are complete, at least make sure that your quick fixes don’t look sloppy or jerry-rigged.
Consider Logistical Shuffling
If you’re in a larger facility, you may simply have the option of closing down the gym space with the broken pad until repairs are completed. Then, you’ll hardly need to worry about negative brand repercussions at all! The keyword here, though, is hardly. Taking this route requires extensive communication between all the teams and athletes that use your facility to make sure everyone gets where they need to be on time and that spectators aren’t disappointed.
Certain smaller facilities, like rec centers, can also make use of this tactic. Communication will simply need to take place via social media or signage posted near the facility’s entrance—any way that you can minimize unpleasant surprise.
FIND THE HIGHEST-QUALITY PRODUCTS
Well, you can check this step off the list! Fieldwallpads.com is proud to provide top-notch gym pads and more for teams across the nation. Since opening for business over three decades ago, we have been conducting our own individual studies to further enhance our products and their safety features; we’re the real deal.
Our products are proven to reduce the chance of injuries while enhancing the brand awareness and visual appearance of your athletic facilities. If you’re in need of new wall pads, we’ve got you more than covered.
CONTACT FIELDWALLPADS.COM TODAY FOR STADIUM PADDING AND MORE
To learn more about the products we offer or to request a quote, give us a call at 1-800-257-6405 or message us on our contact page today.