Toadvine Blog

After six-year-old Toby Lee fell between a 13-inch gap between the footboard and the seat of a bleacher set at a community sports area in Minnesota and died of his injuries, legislators decided to pursue greater scrutiny in the area of bleacher safety. 

In 1999, after the the tragic death of Toby Lee, Congress petitioned the Consumer Product Safety Commission to issue national safety standards for bleacher and grandstand facilities due to numerous injuries to children at basketball and hockey arenas resulting from falls between the gaps of bleacher seats and guardrails.

Congress stated in a letter to the CPSC that uniform national standards were needed to help efforts at the state level to prevent injuries and deaths due to poorly designed or out of date bleacher facilities. The recommended national standards to be implemented were to include:

• Minimum spacing requirements for gaps between bleacher guardrails and between seats and footboards for new construction

• Side and back safety features

• Guidelines for retro-fitting older facilities

Although Congress emphasized the importance of watchful parents during sporting events, they also stated the responsibility venues have to insure that their facilities are safe. The desire for safer facilities not only locally, but nationwide, created the desire to press for strengthening safety standards legislatively in order to quickly inact the establishment of safe bleacher standards.   

House Bill H.R. 836 was created in 1999 and entitled, “The Bleacher Safety Act” proclaiming that new and safer standards would be adopted within six months. Minnesota was the first state that required the issuing of this federal standard.

To help your school meet those required safety standards, Toadvine Enterprises has created Vine & Branch, a maintenance and safety inspection program for all your indoor and outdoor seating equipment. Our maintenance and safety program can help you maintain your required annual inspections and can also help you with any upgrades or written records. For more information on keeping your school bleachers safe, fill out our Maintenance and Safety form and a member of our staff will get back to you. Let Toadvine help you keep safety the name of the game.

Although soccer is undeniably touted as the most popular sport for women in the NCAA, soccer had not gained the popularity at the college or youth level, until recently. With the growing popularity of the World Cup championship, the sport of soccer is sparking massive growth and interest in spectators, media, and corporate sponsors while promoting greater cultural awareness.

Ticket purchases to the 2012 World Cup soccer game were made overwhelmingly by US patrons than any other country, other than the host nation. ABC and parent company ESPN have spent a combined $425 million to secure the US rights to broadcast the World Cup games, the most spent by any single country.

As these national trends emerge, locally, those same trends are also being mirrored. Youth soccer leagues including Upward, YMCA, and more competitve leagues like Mockingbird and Javanon have seen an explosion of interest and participants within the last several years. Multiple leagues abound within the area that provide opportunities for children to play on a competitive level up to high school age. Rec leagues have also seen heightened interest and talent emerge as a result of continual play at a more competitve level.

The Kentucky Youth Soccer Association, an organization with more than 50,000 players, coaches and administrators, feels so strongly about the rise in soccer interest, that they are taking that message on the road this month with a first of its kind mobile soccer marketing tour entitled, “the Kentucky Youth Soccer Experience.” This soccer informational tour has plans to visit 60 soccer communities and events throughout the area to promote soccer and healthy living, while also bringing awareness to the battle against childhood cancer, in honor of a young local soccer player, Lane Goodwin, who lost his battle with cancer last year.

Investment in soccer at the collegiate level also saw a huge boost recently, when the University of Louisville announced that it would build a 5300 seat, $16 million soccer complex which would become home to the UL men's and women's soccer team and attract Big East Championship Games. This complex is slated for a September 2014 open. 

Players who thrive at the collegiate level still don't have to leave Louisville to further their playing career. The River City Rovers, a Premier Development League with more than 73 teams, is considered a “shop window for major league soccer players” ages 17-30. 

Opportunity abounds at all ages in our community as the soccer boom continues to magnify. From pee wee to grown up, players who love the game of soccer can stay involved at every level and score many years of playing right here in the Louisville area. 

The cardiac Cardinals have been a thrill to watch all season and that thrill only intensified on Monday night when the University of Louisville turned on the heat to come back from a first-half, 12-point deficit to defeat the Michigan Wolverines 82 to 76.

As the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament, UL earned those bragging rights with their 35-5 regular season record and a 16-game winning streak coming into the tournament. But character and determination really began to dominate when the 13 players on this tight knit squad suffered the devastating injury of point guard Kevin Ware. 

Although they fell behind in the second half of the semi-final game to Wichita State by 12 points, and in the first half of the finals to Michigan by 12 points, a scoring spurt led by Luke Hancock and four straight successful 3-pointers exhilerated the crowd and surged that fixated drive the Cardinal team has displayed all season. Not only did they come to the Georgia Dome to win, they came to win for Ware. With Hancock's on fire 3-point shot, Siva's 18 point solid contribution, and the dominance of Chane Behanan with 15 points and 12 rebounds, the Cardinals were unstoppable and came away with a hallmark 6 point win, very well one of the most memorable in Coach Pitino's 12 seasons at UL.  

The Lady Cards had a shot to earn the Championship title in New Orleans, as they faced the Uconn Huskies on Tuesday for the NCAA crown. Although the women's team faced an uphill battle to the top rung, they came up short against Uconn 93-60 in a hard fought battle. 

With a 29-9 season record, the Lady Cards were not expected to make it to the final dance as a 5th seed, but after pounding upsets to Baylor, the victory was close at hand. Although they didn't earn the title, the Lady Cards had an incredible season and pushed beyond all expectations to the final round.

Toadvine Enterprises is proud of the University of Louisville Cardinals and congratulates them on their stellar seasons and Championship title this year.

image credit: Louisville Cardinals 

Each year thousands of people, many of whom are young children, are seriously injured or killed in falls from bleachers. These tragic events occur for a variety of reasons ranging from poor maintenance to a change in code that didn't require stringent rules surrounding guardrails or smaller openings around the footboards. Schools and universities should be held to a standard of care to proactively maintain their equipment, reducing accidents and legal risks by improving safety for students and community members. Here are some suggestions that will help reduce risk and improve safety. 

Inspect bleachers before and after they are used

Inspections should be made every time telescoping bleachers are rolled out and put away to ensure proper working order. Any noted damage or repair should be repaired immediately. 

Regularly Perform Thorough Inspections

Thorough inspections should be conducted on a regular basis, at least once a month, or once a week if they are heavily used. Use a checklist to make sure key components are not overlooked. Checklist can serve as a routine for future inspections and a record of issues and repairs.

Conduct Annual Inspection With a Certified Technician

While you and your staff can regularly inspect bleachers and grandstands, it is also important to have annual inspections performed by a certified technician. If you are considering installing new bleachers, ask the company to include a 10-year annual inspection service in the contract. Send an employee to shadow the inspection to give you insight into what can be done to keep bleachers up to code.

Clean Underneath Bleachers Regularly

Outdoor bleachers can accumulate a lot of debris and trash if not cleaned regularly. Keep the surrounding area free of trash to help reduce risk and improve safety. With indoor bleachers, trash and debris can potentially clog parts and cause operating problems. A powerful blower is helpful to make sure areas are clean underneath after indoor bleachers are used.

Post Safety Signage

Although mandatory, signage is often overlooked on bleachers. Post warning and safety signs to help ensure proper treatment and use of bleachers. 

Train School Staff

Maintenance staff and designated school staff should be trained to properly operate indoor bleachers. There should, however, be a limited amount of people authorized to operate the bleacher system. Teach operators and controllers how to spot issues when operating, so problems can be reported immediately.

Institute a Preventative Maintenance Program

Having a preventative maintenance program in place will allow schools to track and schedule items that are not in immediate need of repair, to be scheduled for maintenance. Using an automated, computer-based system is especially useful as projects can be created and work orders can be tracked.

Toadvine Enterprises offers maintenance services that ensure your stadium seating and bleachers are working as they should be. Learn more here and use the contact form to get in touch with us about our maintenance program. 

Before the first buzzer of the game sounds and players begin to hustle on the court, they have been made keenly aware of the risks that go along with playing organized sports. Just as those risks are legitimate, schools and sporting facility managers are becoming even more alert to risk off the court. Great attention has been brought lately to the risk involved to spectators and fans sitting on the sidelines. More focus than ever surrounds the liability that sports facility owners and schools face due to faulty or stray equipment and accidents that can occur while attending a sporting event. 

In order to protect your school or facility against devastating injuries or accidents, strong consideration should be paid to obtaining liability insurance. Liability insurance in sports acts like an umbrella protection for everyone involved in the sporting event, including spectators who may get hit by a wayward ball or fall on your property due to an unstable bleacher issue.  

Besides the benefits of providing medical and legal protection if an incident should occur, liability insurance includes sports equipment insurance which gives support for repairs on equipment and facilities that may have been damaged during a game or practice. Facilities can request reimbursement for repairs or purchase brand new machines or equipment. 

The insured can also take advantage of this insurance to request repairs or renovations done on bleachers, fields, sound systems, lights, and food services. Liability insurance also covers repairs, renovations, and replacements on damaged sports equipment and facilities after a fire, flood, or earthquake. 

Insurance is often referred to as one step in the risk management process. By securing liability insurance for your sports facility, you are managing the probability that risk will come your way and taking steps to protect your employees, players, and owners from further damage.

Within the last couple of years, an influx of stories has flooded the sports world, highlighting the potential dangers that stadium seating and bleachers pose to sports fans and onlookers. Just recently 30 NASCAR fans in Orlando, Florida were injured in the stadium as a result of a massive wreck on the track that spilled over to the stadium. Many people affected by this incident are calling the accident “gross negligance.” Although schools and universities aren't equipped with this identical form of stadium seating, the question fans of any spectator sport are beginning to ask themselves is, “are sporting facilities taking action to properly prevent risk?”  

The parents of a 14-year-old cheerleader in Pennsylvania are asking that same question to the Fayette County school board after their daughter was crushed under the school's bleachers and sustained broken bones, nerve damage, and facial injuries. The high schooler was practicing in the school gym with her squad when coaches asked the cheerleaders to push back the bleachers into their storage poisition to gain more practice area. As the group pushed back the bleachers, they collapsed, pining at least two cheerleaders underneath. The parents contend in their lawsuit that school district officials should have known that these bleachers posed a potential hazard. The school system settled with the family for $235,000. 

A $1 million lawsuit was filed on behalf of a five-year-old Tennessee boy who was attending a basketball game and attempting to climb down the steps from the mezzanine level to the bleachers. The boy slipped, slid under the railing and fell approximately 10 feet onto the floor on his head. 

This lawsuit alleges that the irregular height of the steps connecting the bleachers to the mezzanine and the improper design of the railing contributed to the accident. The plaintiffs contend that the equipment was either poorly manufactured or installed at a later time. School officials admitted that other accidents had occurred as a result of using those same steps and agreed to make improvements to their equipment and pay an undisclosed amount to the family of the injured little boy. 

As evidenced by these events, stadium seating maintenance and inspection is critical. Without it, serious, even fatal injuries can occur costing your school thousands of dollars and creating years of suffering for unsuspecting patrons. 

Toadvine Enterprises is happy to introduce our maintenance and safety inspection program, Vine and Branch, an inspection program for all indoor and outdoor seating equipment.  

Using certified technicians, we can provide the annually-required maintenance inspection on all seating equipment and yearly contracts. Keep your maintenance records up-to-date and prevent the tragedies and liability that can occur when you don't. Fill out our Maintenance and Safety Interest form and we will get back with you quickly to discuss your needs.

“We can meet all of your sporting equipment, installation and equipment inspection, repair and maintenance needs.”

Toadvine Enterprises, Inc. is excited about serving the Tennessee sports market. Toadvine has been serving Kentucky for 32 years and is now able to bring its full line of Porter and Gill sports equipment products to all of Tennessee, Southern Ohio, and Indiana. Toadvine Enterprises will take your requirement for sporting facilities, stand alone equipment purchases, and ongoing support through inspection, repair, and maintenance, and provide you with conceptual design, build, and installation solutions.

Porter and Gill Sports is the largest manufacturer of sporting facilities equipment in the United States. Porter and Gill athletics provides sporting equipment ranging from basketball goals, volleyball systems, soccer goals, field goal posts, everything track and field, wall padding, floor covers, field hockey goals, PE equipment, and much more. Porter has helped revolutionize the sport facilities world with its quality products and competitive prices. 

With its knowledge and expertise in the sports equipment industry, Toadvine Enterprises will assist you in any sports facility project, no matter the size. Whether the job is for a university or elementary school, Toadvine can handle the job and help give recommendations that will best suit your facility.  

Toadvine Enterprises has helped both communities and schools create and maintain their sporting equipment and athletic facilities. The expertise and knowledge of our sales teams regarding gymnasiums and football stadiums, along with product knowledge of track and field equipment, will help deliver the best solutions to meet your needs.

Toadvine can serve you where you are. If you want to ask us a question, get a quote, or discuss a specific piece of equipment, a call to our sales department can address your needs. You can also go to our website and have a conversation with us. Please call us at 1-877-211-6925. 

During the months of March and April, Toadvine will be offering an additional 5-10% discount on products from Porter and Gill Athletics! Feel free to call and speak to a representative about any Porter and Gill product or to receive a free quote! 

A massive crowd of thousands has gathered. Spectators fill the coliseum as a collective roar of excitement fills the air. Athletes from around the world have come together in Athens for the first modern Olympic Games. Only the finest have been chosen, those at the top of their game.

All focus has shifted to the track and field events. Those with lightning speed skill and unprecedented agility will come out on top. The year is 1896. The wooden hurdles are set in place and embedded in the ground. Perfect jumping ability and running skill moves the winner through the first ever 110-meter hurdle event at a record time of 17.6 seconds. 

More than 100 years later, Aries Merritt utilizes his running ability to sprint, hurdle, and sprint again, maintaining steady momentum and keeping a steady center of gravity to clear 10 hurdles in the 110 meter race at a new record time of 12.8 seconds.

Just as progression has been made in the skill of talented athletes, progress has also been made in the design, make up, and functionality of competitive hurdles. Ancient wooden hurdles have since been replaced by L-shaped frames with integrated counter balances which allow hurdles to fall over with pressure and eliminate the risk of injury. More durable materials are used, along with features that allow the hurdle to be adjusted to different heights. If you are searching for track and field equipment options, here are a few hurdles offered by Toadvine Enterprises that will exceed your technological expectations and leap you into competitive excellence. 

• Gill Continuum Automatic Hurdle – This is considered the safest, fastest and most unobtrusive hurdle available for use in any competitive arena. 

• National Aluminum Hurdle – Made of aircraft aluminum, this high-tech hurdle is adjustable to 5 different heights. 

• Elite High School Hurdle – Constructed of aluminum tube construction, this hurdle has welded support for extreme durability 

• Gill Essentials Hurdle – The most economical hurdle made with no pull-over technology, this no frills equipment is perfect for a start up high school track and field team.

Toadvine Enterprises supplies sporting equipment of all kinds to schools and facilites in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Ohio. Contact us for more information about our Track and Field equipment. 

Selecting the right basketball goal can be a slam-dunk if you know what you are looking for before you start shopping. It's also helpful to know what options are available when putting together a complete package for your basketball facility.

The most widely used basketball goal in the industry for indoor basketball is the center strut rectangular glass backboard. This type of a goal is mounted to the ceiling in the center of the goal with a 3 or 4-point support attachment. Ceilings with heights from 25-60 feet can be accommodated with this goal. Since its inception in the 1950s, the center strut backboard has been improved upon and made more strong and durable over the years. It is constructed with a tubular steel brace and one-half inch tempered glass. The steel mounted plate on the support attachment creates incredible backboard strength and prevents backboard damage. This goal is made for all types of sporting audiences including, elementary, high school, college, church and recreational players. Generally, this 72x42 inch goal weighs approximately 240 pounds. 

To add to the aesthetically pleasing look of the center strut backboard, the addition of LED lights can magnify the experience of your sporting event. LED lights are neatly contained and mounted inside the backboard perimeter. The lights are designed cleanly so that they do not block the view from behind the goal or interfere with play.

These lights are used in conjunction with a light synchronizer that connects the LED lights to the facility shot clock, main scoreboard and power supplies. Lights turn off and on with a signal sent from the scoreboard or shot clock to indicate when each period of playing time ends. They also illuminate when the game clock display is zero or when the end of game horn or the shot clock horn sounds. These timing system enhancers are also helpful to officials who can more easily determine validity of last minute shots at the buzzer.

Having a state-of-the-art basketball goal can certainly enhance the overall experience of your school fans, as they can be more visually involved in the specific timing of the game. If you want to know whether these basketball backboard items will meet your school’s needs contact Toadvine, your sporting equipment provider for Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Ohio.

You have probably heard it said, "It's not how you start, but it's how you finish." Tell that to track athletes and they will all agree the start is just as important as the finish. If runners can improve their start times, they have just improved their chances of winning. Toadvine Enterprises carries several products that are designed just for that.

A couple of products that will help with explosive starts are the Power Sprinter, the Dynamic Trainer, and the Pop Belt. The Power Sprinter is the only arm and leg resistance running backpedal device on the market. It is great because it doesn't require a partner. It builds strength in the arms and helps with arm technique, while simultaneously creating resistance to the legs at the ankles. 

The Dynamic Trainer has more variety and is not limited to helping athletes with their starts. You can also use this trainer for lateral work and jumps. It not only provides resistance, but is also designed to help runners improve their start through better acceleration mechanics.

Lastly, we are highlighting the Pop Belt which features break-away technology. When an athlete breaks out of the blocks using this device, they do not experience the overload and slowing from traditional resistance like the other devices create. When the trainer creates resistance it is only for a moment until the athlete breaks free through the force of their start. The resistance is not sustained because the cord breaks from the trainer once the break-away limit is reached. 

If you believe the start matters as much as the finish, then you should be training with the best equipment designed with the start in mind. It is all about coming out of the blocks explosively.