Toadvine Blog

We are excited to be hitting the ground running in 2016 here at Toadvine Enterprises. We have several employees who have taken on new roles with additional responsibilities and we even have added a few new team members, including myself. So excitement is in the air around our company as we prepare for a successful 2016 to attain our mission of delivering outstanding value to our customers as a total solutions provider of spectator seating and athletic equipment.

In 2016, we are working on further developing our culture at Toadvine Enterprises. As a part of this new initiative, we have started a campaign called "Cheerful Givers." Our "Cheerful Givers" program will be something that we will be focusing on throughout the year to give our employees a chance to extend a helping hand and give back to our community. It is important as a business not to forget your responsibility to help out the community that supports you.

Our first Cheerful Givers event took place during the Christmas season. It consisted of each team member receiving $50 from Toadvine at our company Christmas event in early December. Each employee was simply tasked with helping out someone in need during the Christmas holiday.

At our 2016 kick-off meeting  in January, we had each member of the Toadvine team share their stories of what they did with the $50. As we went around the room, it was rewarding to hear about people's lives that were touched in some small way at least for one day or for one Christmas season. We had several members of the team match the $50 company contribution with money out of their own pockets to purchase presents for children of underprivileged families for Christmas morning. One employee took his daughter to a shelter and let her give the money to a girl of similar age, and he said it turned into a great teaching moment for his daughter.  We had another team member buy a $200 Walmart gift card for a family who had their house destroyed in a tornado just before Christmas. We had an employee pay for the groceries of a family that was behind them without saying a word.  One of our employees even bought a friend who is suffering from a grim cancer diagnosis a book on the Christian's view of cancer in hopes that it would help him come to some closure with his diagnosis and his relationship with God.

 So whether we gave to families in need, made a child's Christmas special, surprised an un-expecting mother in line behind us at the grocery store, or tried to help a friend come to closure with the life that they have left on this earth, the initiative was to "act" and make someone's Christmas holiday just a little bit better. Hopefully, we accomplished our mission.

Look for more "Cheerful Givers" stories in 2016!

Jordan Farley

Over the past few months, we have been able to attend some awesome events in the area! If you are a school or school vendor in the Kentucky-Ohio-Tennessee tri-state area, you need to check out these associations and plan to attend their events in 2016!

Tennessee School Board Annual Convention

The Tennessee School Boards Association was created with the goal of assisting Tennessee school boards in effectively governing school districts.

On their website, they have a detailed list of the ways that they plan to realize this goal in 2016. Some of those ways include seeking 100% membership of all school boards in Tennessee, providing professional development opportunities for all employees, providing each school board member a TSBA calendar of activities and events, reviewing and revising roles and responsibilities for TSBA staff to meet the changing needs of school boards and maintaining e-mail addresses of all board members and superintendents.

Their convention is one of the largest education meetings in Tennessee where public school advocates and board members come together from across the nation to showcase successful student achievement programs and discuss new trends and innovations in education.

There's no doubt that you will benefit from being a part of this organization. If you are ever in need of something for your school, TSBA is able to connect you with the right professionals to handle your concern.

At Toadvine Enterprises, we are happy to provide all of the sports facility needs to Tennessee schools! Please contact us if you have any questions about athletic equipment, seating or scoreboards! Someone from our staff with respond to you within 24 hours!

Ohio School Board Trade Show

Every year Toadvine attends the Ohio School Board Trade Show to network with people and discuss new ways of how we can better serve the school children in our area.

We met some awesome people this year, learned some really cool new industry trends and gave away a free cooler!

The Ohio School Board Trade Show is one of the biggest--if not THE biggest--school trade shows in the U.S. If you are a school or vendor in the area, or even on this side of the country, you should definitely consider attending this event next year!

They are all about coming up with practical solutions to help school district teams improve student learning and achievement. The event aims to bring excellence to the education experience as a whole, including sports, arts and health. 

It is also a great opportunity to network with people in your industry! We met some awesome architects this year who we hope to partner with to do business in the future.

As we said before, please don't hesitate to reach out to us if your school needs a new stadium. Contact us here! And we hope to see you at these events next year!

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We are so excited for the 26th annual Kentucky Plant Management's Conference in Lexington. As the only conference in Kentucky dedicated to educational facilities, Toadvine takes part in this event to stay up to date with state regulations and codes for Kentucky schools and to learn about state of the art technology to bring back for our customers.

For 23 years, the Kentucky Plant Management Association (KPMA) has partnered with the community with the goal of providing Kentucky students with a school environment that will enable them to excel.

Often times, facility managers feel overwhelmed with everything that goes along with not only the maintenance of a school facility, but keeping the school up-to-date with the latest equipment and technology as well.

At this conference, you can come together under one roof with all of the businesses and suppliers that it takes to run a school facility and learn strategies for managing your resources to keep your facility in optimum shape!

You will also hear the latest in federal and state regulations as well as requirements and codes for school facilities so that you will not have to pay the penalty for failing to meet the standards.

Event Details

• Workshops are given on facilities management issues with awesome strategies, tips and training for building management.
• Round table discussions are held where you can participate in addressing the challenges and issues that come with managing a facility
• A trade show displays over 115 products for school maintenance & operations.
• October 20-23, 2015 at the Embassy Suites Hotel 1801 Newtown Pike Lexington, Ky.

If you are a school facilities manager, we urge you to come and be empowered by this event! If you are a business that makes products or services for school facilities, don't miss your opportunity to connect with over 300 school facility attendees!

Visit the Kentucky Plant Management Association to register for the conference or to learn more.

UK has had a great start to the season, winning 3 out of 4 home games so far. The weekend before last, the Cats beat their first ranked opponent since 2010, Missouri (ranked 25th), and this past weekend they beat EKU. A win is a win right?

We have to wonder if the success could be due in part to the renovated stadium that we helped complete in September before the start of the season.

In a recent Business First article, Tom Jurich, the director and president of athletics for the University of Louisville, talks about the importance of having state of the art facilities in order to recruit the best athletes to your school. And both Kentucky and Louisville definitely have some great players this year!

We also believe that fans are a huge part of the success of a team. A new state of the art stadium helps to boost the morale of not only the players, but the fans as well. We are sure that the new $110-million renovation will keep the Commonwealth Stadium full of Cats fans the entire season!

So what exactly did we do to the stadium?

1. Toadvine Enterprises was responsible for adding the blue backrests to all of the lower bowl seats, which makes them a lot more comfortable! Trust us--we've tried them out.
2. We were also responsible for closing in the in-zone around the recruiting platform with box seats for hosting large parties or impressing business clients. We highly encourage you to buy tickets in this section!

The complete renovation includes a complete makeover of the outside of the stadium, giving it a more modern look, as well as a revamped concourse and concessions area that has been widened to give the stadium a more open feel.

Check out our pictures below and be sure to come out and support the Cats and see the new and improved Commonwealth Stadium for yourself! The next home game is November 28, against Auburn.

In a recent Business First article, Tom Jurich, the director and president of athletics for the University of Louisville, talks about the importance of having state of the art facilities in order to recruit the best athletes to your school.

A couple of weeks ago he announced his plan to expand the Cardinal stadium by 10,000 seats. The new design will mimic NFL stadiums, namely the Seattle Seahawks' CenturyLink Field and the Dallas Cowboys' AT&T Stadium. Locker rooms, training rooms and meeting rooms will be revamped as well in this $55 million renovation.

A member of the University of Louisville Board of Trustees, Jonathan Blue, expressed his support for the project by saying, "Today, sports is an arms race, especially in recruiting, and we must have top-notch facilities in order to bring top-notch athletes to this university."

Jurich is also thinking about the fans. He is putting together a committee to find out what fans are wanting to see in the new stadium, and a new team entrance is being built so that fans can cheer on their team as they emerge from the locker room at the start of the game and at halftime.

Whether you are the athletic director for a small high school or president of athletics for a D1 university, your players depend on you to keep their stadiums and equipment in optimum shape. It truly does affect performance and team morale. Similarly, the fans are affected by the way you maintain the equipment, seating areas, scoreboards, etc.

At Toadvine, we provide the best of the best in athletic equipment and would love to help you step up and prepare your stadium for the team you represent. Contact us here and receive a 24 hour guaranteed response or visit our website to check out some work we have done.

Toadvine Enterprises and Vine & Branch introduce a maintenance and safety inspection program for all of our customers' indoor and outdoor seating and equipment. Installing bleacher or stadium seating is only the start of upgrading your field, court, or venue. It provides a facelift for your space as well as an upgrade in safety.

We take pride in designing functional, safe, and aesthetically pleasing seating, but maintaining those high standards is a big piece to the puzzle. Bleachers should be maintained annually to ensure they remain safe for the wear and tear of large crowds. Often, bleacher maintenance goes overlooked and can cause serious accidents that your school or venue could be held responsible for.

Annual bleacher maintenance is essential and annual inspections are often required by most insurance companies to maintain the standards required for the policy and code. We are fully staffed and can arrange bleacher maintenance at your earliest convenience.

When we think of Little Leauge, often we think of kids picking dandelions in the outfield, running to third base from home, or just an overall endearing lack of understanding for the game. Little League is cute, not competitive... at least the way we remember it. But nowadays, Little League is the real deal, and with the Little League World Series just around the corner, we wanted to take a minute and talk about how the program has evolved over the years.

The game has become increasingly more competitive. Even as early as 6 years old, kids start to take the All-American sport seriously. We're now seeing harder throws, consistent batting, and an overall exciting game to watch (especially for parents!). Don't get us wrong, there are still kids who like to twirl in the outfield and play in the dirt, but when All-Star time rolls around and tournaments begin, it's all business.

Team sports are known to encourage healthy social and problem-solving capabilities at an early age. The advantage of Little League encouraging kids to be so passionate about the game, is that they work hard to play. There is winning and losing, and although loss can be difficult for kids, it teaches good sportsmanship. Teams still line up after every game to greet one another with a "good game," and you can see kids bonding with each other and developing comradery.

We know that team sports can be expensive for parents, but there are tricks to save money on the rising costs and ways to get your kid involved. Right now, the games are leading up to the National and International Little League World Series, and the teams have their chance to show off all the hard work they have put in this year. If you are thinking about signing your kid up for Little League, go to Littleleague.org for more information.

Here at Toadvine, it is our goal to make sure your athletic needs are met. From the bleachers to the locker room, we've got you covered. We like to focus on things like maintaining your equipment, getting the most sports fun for your buck, and keeping your team in tiptop shape. Today, though, we want to talk about how we can help you wrap up your spring season and get ready for the fall.

With sports like baseball, softball, lacrosse, and tennis wrapping up, now is a great time to do maintenance on your seating and bleachers. Our maintenance and safety arm of the business, Vine and Branch LLC, can do a full-service inspection of your seating and bleachers to make sure they are up-to-date and safe for use next season. Your fan's safety is one of our biggest concerns, schedule your yearly inspection today.

As fall approaches, we can help you prepare for the football, soccer, basketball, and volleyball seasons. We offer a wide variety of indoor and outdoor scoreboards, including the industry's newest and most technologically advanced scoreboards manufactured by Nevco. Our other fall products include basketball systems, accessories, padding, and volleyball equipment. For any of these products, or additional equipment you may need, contact our insides sales team to get a quote.

Our outside sales team can help you with custom projects. No project is too small or too big. We've done everything from The University of Louisville's baseball stadium to Eastern High School's football bleachers. Your project is just as important to us as it is to you and we want to make sure it is done correctly from start to finish. To get your project started schedule a facility visit.

We service and sell products in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, and Ohio. We also sell some products outside of that region. Visit our website to find out more.

A while back, Toadvine had the pleasure of contributing seating to UofL's Baseball field, the Jim Patterson Stadium. Last week, those seats were filled by 6,010 fans cheering on the Cards in their determining game for the Super Regionals. While the Cards fell to Cal State Fullerton for a loss, they put up a good fight including a home run by Will Smith that tied the game in the fourth inning. The game went into 11 innings and ended with controversy and emotion. The Cards lost 4-3. The controversy arose when a tough call was made in the last inning. The call took over four brutal minutes to dispute and was a game changer for the Cards. The team fell short of their dreams and their goals last week, and it was heartbreaking to watch after such a strong season. 

Still, no matter the outcome, the Cards are determined to come back next year. If they keep playing the way they did last week, Super Regionals 2016 is definitely an attainable goal!

Josh Rogers with the SNAG!!! #RoadToOmaha #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/QaQ7vPVtYx

— NCAA Baseball (@NCAACWS) June 9, 2015

Do you want to dunk in style like UofL's Montrezl Harrell or do you need something more moveable so that you can nail that dunk with less risk of injury? Whatever your preference, Toadvine has a basketball goal to fit your needs. You can select from a vast array of goals and backboards ranging from adjustable height to fold up systems. We also carry classic goals and more advanced goals like the Torq-Flex series with shock absorber mechanisms. 

TORQ-FLEX(R) 180 Goal is the ultimate moveable goal. From the front of the rim it allows for 180 degree movement. As opposed to your standard break away rims, this goal allows for lateral flexing which can be a huge plus for injury reduction during dunks. High-tensile steel torsion rods allow for the goal to pivot in all directions.

You can also get the TORQ-FLEX without the 180 feature (00256-500) for both indoor or outdoor use (00255-H00). Every goal includes the orange powder-coat, anti-whip net, and mounting hardware. Select from the following TORQ-FLEX goals or create your own combination:

TORQ-FLEX 180 GOAL 
TORQ-FLEX GOAL 
ULTRA-FLEX GOAL (5" x 4"-4 1/2" Centers)
ULTRA-FLEX GOAL (5" x 5" Centers)
POWR-FLEX GOAL 
TORQ-FLEX OUTDOOR GOAL 
HEAVY-DUTY PLAYGROUND GOAL 
REAR-MOUNT REPLACEMENT GOAL 
SUPER GOAL
DOUBLE RIM PLAYGROUND GOAL 

If you have questions about any of the products we carry, just let us know. We will be happy to help you decide which products will serve you best.