Articles

posted February 8, 2006

Up on the roof.

Installing a seventh of a mile walking track for UnumProvident Corp. has Competition Athletic Surfaces moving up in the world.

The Chattanooga athletic surfacing company specializes in building, resurfacing and repairing running tracks and tennis courts across the Southeast - and does so with notable success, growing from sales of $400,000 to over $3 million since 2000.

By Margaret Ahrweiler

The idea of a floor, on the surface, seems pretty simple: something to stand on. Outside, it meant grass or dirt. Add sports and recreation into the mix, though, and it becomes something to stand on, run on, jump on, sit on, roll on, bounce on, fall on, race on, dance on, meet on.

More complicated yet, every year seems to bring a new sport or fitness with new flooring requirements: Did planners have to worry about Pilates or inline hockey needs 20 years ago? On top of that, dozens of different manufacturers, each with an array of products, compete for a slice of the sports surface pie.

By Aimee Desrosiers

(Published May 2005)
Pacific Life Open

Color affects our lives in almost every way. It can be pleasant and soothing, such as a sky blue or seafoam green; it can signal warning or danger, like a yellow or red light; and different colors can be used to distinguish among a group of items, such as color-coded folders in a file cabinet. Colors can indicate events (red and green at Christmas, black and orange at Halloween), can be a sign of tradition (wearing white for a wedding or black for a funeral), or can describe your emotions (red hot, blue mood, green with envy). Colors are even used to indicate economic levels (a blue-collar worker, a white-collar job).

By Laurie Black Gross

(Published August 2005)

Mention logos, windscreen, and tennis facilities, and the word "branding" keeps popping up. That word simply means utilizing various marketing methods to link an identity with a specific message in order to set oneself apart from the competition. Branding is, perhaps, the reason behind the growing practice of printing club names and mascots on tennis-court windscreen. But talk long enough about the subject and, sooner or later, everyone gets around to the money issue.

Larry Ball, president and CEO at BP International Inc. (formerly Ball Products) in Deland, Fla., equates his company's quickly growing logo business with an increased savvy and sophistication among his club and sports facility customers.