flooring for indoor sport
Great expectations
T
he ‘PE and Sport Strategy for Young People’ sets out the government’s aim of giving every
young person in England access to five hours a week of high quality PE and sport. The percentage of young people doing at least two hours each week has risen from 25% in 2002 to 90% in 2008, according
to official figures. For 5 to 16 year olds, the expectation is that schools will provide three of these five hours, two hours through high quality PE within the curriculum and at least one hour a week outside the curriculum (outside of school hours but on the school site). The additional two hours a
week are to be made available by community and club providers with the aim that every young person should have access to regular competitive sport; coaching to improve their skills and enjoyment; a choice of different sports; pathways to club and elite sport and opportunities to lead and volunteer.
Optimising performance and reducing injury risk
With schools providing the majority of sporting activities for young people, aged 5 to 16 years old, it is essential that their sports facilities include suitable playing surfaces that help to reduce the risk of injury and enhance performance. MIKE HARRISON reports.
T
HESE SURFACES also need to be adaptable to multi-use since most schools will offer a variety of
different sports to encourage wider participation, as well as using them for non-sporting activities such as school assemblies, discos, concerts and examinations. Ease of cleaning and maintenance and environmental sustainability are also important factors for the school to consider when choosing its sports flooring.
Uniformity
New European Standards have been introduced to encourage development of sports surfaces that will meet the needs of the most demanding sportsmen and women, from grassroots level through to Olympic athletes. BS EN 14904 is the first of these to be adopted in the UK and relates specifically to indoor surfaces for multi-sports use. Setting out criteria for force reduction, vertical deformation and skid resistance, this Standard aims to ensure that uniform friction is achieved across the entire surface, giving consistency of grip and slide, and ball rebound characteristics.4
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