How to Build a Cover Over Existing Sports Courts

Covering your sports court protects it from weather conditions like extreme heat or heavy rain. It also protects athletes and spectators from the potential dangers of UV rays. Having a court cover means you can use your basketball court, tennis court, or other sporting facilities no matter what the weather conditions are.

You can also include amenities like fans, lighting, and solar panels. These features are especially useful if you want to optimise the usability of your sports courts. For example, you may want to include covered outdoor learning areas or community meeting spaces.

If you have outdoor sports facilities, we can provide a wide range of shade structures to protect your courts. We also have the necessary expertise to secure site access and complete construction in a cost-effective way while protecting your sports floor. We will look at this in more detail, starting with why it’s so important to ensure your sports courts are properly maintained and protected.

Why maintaining sports courts is important

There are numerous reasons why protecting and maintaining sports courts is essential. These reasons are as follows,

• Ensuring the court is safe. Regularly maintaining and protecting your sports courts helps prevent damage. Also, if there are any cracks or slippery surfaces, you can quickly identify them, reducing the risk of injury to athletes.
• Making sure the performance of your sports courts is optimised.
• Enhancing the appearance of your facilities and making them more appealing to athletes and other users.
• Preventing damage. Adhering to a regular maintenance schedule allows you to identify issues quickly, making necessary repairs less costly. We can help prevent damage by creating shade for your court without affecting the surface.
• Ensuring that weather protection is maintained.
• Optimising player satisfaction. Approximately 90% of Australian adults participate in sports at least once annually, and they expect a positive experience when they play. A well-maintained court assists with this experience.

How to protect your sports court when building a cover

Given how essential it is to protect your court, for the reasons we have discussed, covering it makes sense. We will work with you to create the cover you need while maintaining the integrity of your court surface where possible.

To make this happen, we follow a process,

1. 1. Consider the proposed structure's measurements and weight. This allows us to decide what machinery will be needed during the construction process and how we can protect the court surface while using the machinery.  
   2. Consider which is the best method of protecting the court surface. For example, we can use timber boards or specialist decking for the machines to drive on.
   3. If boarding does not seem like a good option, look at other means of protecting the court. One process we sometimes use is to build a roof on the ground and lift it into place with cranes. Doing this minimises the use of machinery on the court surface, with only smaller machines needed, if at all.
      

In some cases, if the court surface is old, it does not make economic sense to spend extra money to protect it. We will always be honest with you if this is the case. We will advise you that investing in a new court surface as part of the construction process may be the best idea.

Our cover creation process enhances the comfort, appearance, and usability of your courts. Athletes, spectators, and other users are protected from the sun, and your court surfaces are better maintained. If you want to cover your existing sports court, contact us about your requirements, and we will be happy to discuss your design requirements.