Articles

A year ago the gymnasium floor at the Chota Recreation Center couldn’t be called feet-friendly, despite its close acquaintance with hoofers, fitness fanatics and badminton buffs. A worn 12-year-old carpet covering a concrete surface wasn’t in the least hospitable to feet, elbows, knees, hips and other body parts that made contact with the floor in the busy multi-purpose gymnasium at Tellico Village in upper East Tennessee.

"Our gymnasium is used all day long from 8:30 in the morning to 7 at night, Monday through Friday," says Center manager Alicia Williamson. "People use it for badminton, fitness classes, meetings and line-dancing. And on the weekend it’s given over to recreational basketball."

When he hired Competition Athletic Surfaces (Chattanooga, TN) to resurface the courts at Manker Patten Tennis Center, Ned Caswell could hardly have been more eager to get the job done. Lee Murray, a principal of Competition Athletic Surfaces, figures he cut 4-5 days off the Manker Patten assignment by spraying, instead of squeegeeing and spreading, the cushiony DecoTurf (Andover, MA) layer onto the newly paved courts.

"We’re convinced spraying is a better way to do the job," says Murray, a 25-year veteran of the paving and athletic surfacing industry. Besides saving time, spraying on the acrylic surface seems to give it more buoyancy. "When it comes out of a nozzle as spray, it tends to stand up," says DecoTurf Regional Sales Manager Ron Melvin. "It’s kind of suspended. It feels more cushiony."

By Dave Flessner

Business Editor

After five years of building and repairing tennis courts and running tracks across the Southeast, Competition Athletic Surfaces Inc., is reaching new heights this summer.

The Chattanooga paving company recently installed artificial turf for a rooftop garden at Erlanger’s T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital and soon will build a walking and jogging path on a repaired roof atop one of UnumProvident’s downtown office buildings.

Competition Athletic Surfaces helped debut a bold new look for the U.S. Open that may create as much buzz at this year's tournament as the Williams sisters' ensembles or Andy Roddick's headgear.

The 2007 U.S. Open, set for August 27 through September 9, will feature blue inner courts and green outer courts, marking the first change of court colors since the event moved to Flushing, NY in 1978.