State-Farm All-Star Saturday Results

Did you tune into the All-Star events this past Saturday? Read on for full results!

• Foot Locker Three-Point Contest:
  • Overall Winner: Marco Belinelli of San Antonio for the West
    • The East Winner: Bradley Beal with 21 vs. Kyrie Irving with 16
    • The West Winner: Belinelli with 19 vs. Damian Lillard with 18
    • Final Round: Three tie breaker rounds with a final score of 24 for Belinelli, an event-high score.

Belinelli shooting a 3-pointer (Photo from CBS sports)

• Taco Bell Skills Challenge:
  • Overall Winner: Damian Lillard of Portland (for the second year straight) for the West
  • First Round:
    • Lillard and Trey Burke beat Goran Dragic or Phoenix and Reggie Jackson of Oklahoma City to represent the West
    • Michael Carter-Williams and Victor Oladipo beat Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee and DeMar DeRozan of Toronto to represent the East
  • Final Round
    • The West Team edged out the East Team by a tenth of a second for a winning time of 45.2 seconds to dribble around obstacles, pass, and shoot from medium and close range

• Sprite Slam Dunk Contest:
  • Overall Winner: East Team with John Wall of Washington, Paul George of Indiana, and Terrence Ross of Toronto.
    • Freestyle Round: East Team: 3, West Team: 0
    • Battle One: Terrence Ross: 2, Damian Lillard: 1
    • Battle Two: Paul George: 3, Harrison Barnes: 0
    • Battle Three: John Wall: 3, Ben McLemore: 0
  • John Wall was named the Sprite Slam Dunker of the night.

John Wall dunking (Photo from CBS sports)

• Sears Shooting Stars:
  • Overall Winner: East with Team Bosh with Chris Bosh, Dominique Wilkins, and Swin Cash (WNBA)
  • First Round:
    • Team Bosh beat Team Hardaway with Tim Hardaway Jr., Tim Hardaway Sr., and Elena Delle Donne (WNBA) to represent the East
    • Team Durant with Kevin Durant, Karl Malone, and Skylar Diggins (WNBA) beat Team Curry with Stephen Curry, Dell Curry, and Becky Hammon (WNBA) to represent the West
  • Final Round, East vs. West:
    • Team Bosh: 31.4 seconds
    • Team Durant: 43.6 seconds

For complete details of the NBA-All Star weekend, check out the NBA’s website.

For more information on Horner Flooring, the manufacturer of the NBA All-Star floor, visit hornerflooring.com.

NBA All-Star Game Results

Did you tune into the NBA All-Star game this past weekend? Read on for full results!

All-Star Game:

The East won with a final score of 163 to 155, ending it’s three year losing streak with the highest scoring All-Star game yet (the highest All-Star score was previously 155 points for the West in 2003). The game’s MVP was Kyrie Irving, who scored 31 points and made 14 assists. An All-Star record was made by Carmelo Anthony, who made eight 3-pointers and scored 30 points.

The West scored 44 points in the first quarter and 45 in the second for a total of 89 points in the first half, another All-Star record. However, the East brought their score up in the second half as Irving helped the East get 87 points.

Photo courtesy of SIKIDS.com

On a more musical note, Magic Johnson encouraged the All-Stars to sing “Happy Birthday” to Bill Russell, a Hall-of-Famer and a great NBA champion, at the All-Star game. Russell turned 80. What a way to spend your birthday!

Photo courtesy of SIKIDS.com

For complete details of the NBA-All Star weekend, check out the NBA’s website.

For more information on Horner Flooring, the manufacturer of the NBA All-Star floor, visit hornerflooring.com.

State Farm All-Star Saturday, 2014

There will be some changes to the State Farm All-Star Saturday Night this year!

The NBA All-Star game will be played this Sunday, February 16th. This Saturday will be the State Farm All-Star night. The State Farm night, like the game, challenges the East and the West to compete against each other.

What does the winner get? Money for charities. After the night is over, a total of $500,000 will be given to worthy causes. Now that’s something to cheer for!

There will still be four challenges (each winner gets $100,000 for their conference’s charity, with the runner up collecting $25,000 for their charity). Each challenge team will have a current NBA and current WNBA player, as well as an NBA legend. The four challenges are:

• Taco Bell Skills Challenge
  • Damian Lillard will become the first player to participate in three events, the other two being the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest and the Sprite Slam Dunk
  • What’s new: it will be a relay race this year

• Foot Locker Three-Point Contest
  • Players will have one minute to make as many three point shots as they can to advance
  • What’s new: a full rack of “money balls” will be in play (which count double) and can be placed at any of the five shooting positions

• Sprite Slam Dunk
  • The reining champion, Terrence Ross, will compete again
  • What’s new: the winner will be the best conference, not an individual player

• Sears Shooting Stars
  • For one West team, the NBA player will be Stephen Curry, the NBA legend will be his father, Dell Curry, and the WNBA player will be Becky Hammon

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For full details of the challenges and the full rules, visit the State Farm All-Star Saturday Night webpage. For more information on the changes, visit NBA’s Hangtime Blog.

Want to show your support for the East or West Conference or an individual All-Star? Get your NBA All-Star gear from NBA.com!

Horner Flooring and the NBA Overcome Hurricane Sandy

Horner Flooring and creative associates’ Innovative Show Design and Knight Hardwood Flooring joined in a collaborative effort to design, manufacture and install a beautiful new basketball surface that serves as the flooring for new NBA-TV studio floor. Horner  manufactured the Maple wood floor that simulates an actual NBA half-court. Half of the studio is used for the reporter’s desk and the other half of the 90’-55’ space is the basketball demonstration area.

NBA-TV, owned by Turner Television, wanted a demonstration area that was a replica of what the NBA players play on complete with a regulation NBA-Spalding goal. They desired assurances that there’d be no concerns that when current and or ex-players demonstrated nuances of the game being viewed they’d do so on a surface that was totally safe and would allow depiction of an actual re-creation of what was taking place during the game.

Justin Garrone, Project Manager and Artistic Designer for Innovative Design in Orlando, Florida was commissioned to design and light the Turner studio site. He directed a team of Chris Runnels, Nate Mitchell and Mark Dowling to conceive a spectacular set. After researching the industry his choice for flooring was Horner.  In Justin’s words, “Horner was the perfect partner…an outstanding choice.”

When it came to the installation, Horner called on their long time dealer in the Atlanta area, Knight Hardwood Flooring.  Owner Franklin Knight put a top notch crew in place, one that included an associate of his, Finishing Touches. They were able to complete the job that was projected to take two weeks in less than 7 days. Franklin felt that “the entire operation went as smoothly as it could possibly go.”  He was delighted to be a part of it.

For more information on Horner’s hardwood floors, visit our website!

Hardwood Athletic Floors – Water Damage

Anyone responsible for maintaining a hardwood athletic floor has heard of it or experienced it: water damage. Whether it’s from a leak in the roof, fire sprinklers that went off, rainwater or snow from an open exterior door, a burst pipe, or something worse, no one wants to see water damage. While water damage isn’t likely to happen to most floors, it does happen and it’s important to be prepared for it in order to minimize the damage.

There are three basic steps to follow.

1. Control the source of the water (close the exterior door, seal off the burst pipe, shut off the fire sprinklers, etc.)
2. Remove as much surface water as possible from the floor (use towels to mop up as much excess water as possible)
3. Call a local hardwood flooring contractor to assess the floor and assist

Image from Athletic Business

Most of the time damage is done because no one noticed the problem soon enough or didn’t know what to do when they did notice the damage. Once the water reaches the sub-floor, the floor has a significantly smaller chance of being rescued. This is where finish comes into play. If a floor has several coats of finish on it, it has a higher chance of survival because the water can’t seep in as easily. The type of floor system also affects the amount of damage. For example, typical floating systems recover better than nailed-in systems because floating systems hold better to the sub-floor, where as once a nailed-in floor starts to come up, it loses it’s attachment to the sub-floor.

So you’ve got water damage and you’ve followed the three above steps. What happens now? The floor may be able to be dehumidified. If the floor is able to be dehumidified, it may simply need to be sanded down and refinished. If the floor isn’t able to be dehumidified, it may need to be replaced. The most important factor when dealing with a water damaged floor is time. It needs to be addressed ASAP and can take time to dry out and return to normal.

Grants for a New Athletic Floor

While fundraising for a new hardwood athletic floor, make sure to consider all your options. Many organizations and foundations offer grants that you may be eligible for. Keep in mind that the grant writing and selection process can be very detailed and lengthy, so make sure to plan ahead and do your research!

See if your community or local communities have available grants. Look for ones that fund renovation or capital projects with an interest in fitness or athletics, or educational facilities in particular if that’s you. Ask around in your community to see if there are Small Recreation Community Grants.

Check your state for any grants offered. The Grantsmanship Center is a great resource with a database that lists foundations by state, including the level of funding offered. This service is free, so take advantage of it! Simply click on your state and explore the possibilities.

Also consider applying for the Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant, which is a nationwide grant program which focuses on community-building and facility-enhancing projects. The grant is only for public schools or public parents associations, so if you’re looking for a new gymnasium floor for your school, check it out.

The government can also be a financial help when it comes to grants. Check out Grants.gov or the U.S. Department of Education grant!

For more information on fundraising for a hardwood athletic floor, visit our FREE fundraising eBook!

Fundraising with Product Sales

When deciding upon a product sale fundraiser (such as selling frozen-pizza-making-kits or selling scented candles), focus on the following four characteristics:

• Product Type
  • Make sure you select a good product for your community or area. If you’re selling to a family community with small children, maybe open-flame candles aren’t the best product. Maybe a pizza-making-kit would be a better choice, as it could be a family activity and relive the stress parents may feel over planning dinner.
• Brand recognition
  • It’s easier to get someone to support a cause when they know the brand name. Using a brand name product may  also assure your organization that you are following an established fundraising plan set up by the company.
• Quality
  • It’s much easier to sell a quality product than a poor quality product. Remember your goal is to make a profit, but the supporter’s goal is to get something they actually want and will use.
• Customer Service
  • Make sure whatever product you decide upon is sold by a company that has excellent customer service, with a step-by-step guide to their fundraising process

For more information on fundraising for a hardwood athletic floor, visit our FREE fundraising eBook!

Fundraising: Walk-A-Thon

Another large scale event that could boost fundraising efforts for your new hardwood athletic floor is a walk-a-thon.

Consider having students sign up to walk a certain distance or for a certain period of time and find a sponsor (or two or three!) who will pay a small amount of money for every half-mile or half hour that the student walks. Consider holding the event on your current athletic floor to increase motivation for the new one. This is also a great opportunity for the youth to participate in the fundraising efforts so they can have a sense of pride for the new floor.

You could also consider inviting community members to sign up to walk. They can sponsor themselves or find another sponsor. This will help get the community further involved and help them feel as if they are included.

To make the event a bit more fun, consider having breaks during the walk for dancing or fun little games, such as a corn-hole toss or ladder ball. Consider offering small prizes for these fun game breaks, such as each win will earn you a ticket. You could have these tickets represent several things.

• A prize table
  • You could have a booth or table set up with dollar-store prizes as well as a few “big ticket” items. Set a ticket cost to each item, such as five tickets for a stuffed animal, etc. Have participants choose their prizes based on their wins!
• A concession stand
  • Also consider having a concession stand to further raise funds for your organization. If people are walking, they’re likely to get thirsty or want a snack. You could have each ticket represent a dollar or $.50 toward an item.
• A raffle
  • You could hold a raffle at the end of the walk-a-thon with the tickets (have each winner put their name and contact information on their tickets). The winner could receive a cash prize, an athletic clothing item with the school’s name or logo, or a designated seat or bench in the stands when the new athletic floor is built.

Want to consider another large scale event? See our blog post about a basketball tournament! For more information on fundraising for a hardwood athletic floor, visit our FREE fundraising eBook!

Fundraising Event: Basketball Tournament

A fundraising event that could bring in a lot of revenue and community involvement is a basketball or volleyball game or tournament. Consider:

• Alumni Team vs HS Varsity Team
• Parent Team vs Alumni Team
• HS Varsity Team vs Parent Team

For a basketball tournament or game, consider including a small dunk contest or a free throw contest (perhaps with an audience vote) to increase entertainment for the spectators.

• Ask the players to volunteer their time
• Charge admission
• Keep concession stand open (to increase fundraising efforts during the game)
• Ask businesses to match an amount raised by the community for the game
• Ask for sponsors of the game or of a player, in return the sponsor will get their name in the program

A successful example of this fundraiser is Laurel High School. Their goal was to raise $5,000 to $7,000. They ended up raising over $48,000. Read their story!

For more information on fundraising for a hardwood athletic floor, visit our FREE fundraising eBook!

Horner Flooring in Canada

Check out this great article, Almost game time for Island Storm, published by the Journal Pioneer. It talks about the new hardwood athletic floor purchased from Horner Flooring. The floor will be used at Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown, Canada for the National Basketball League of Canada home opener this Saturday.

The Horner floor system was chosen partially for the “ease to install and remove it”. The floor will be put in less than 21 hours after a hockey game, in the same arena. It’s this type of versatility that makes Horner Flooring an industry leader.

Photo courtesy of Eastlink Centre Charlottetown

When the coach of the Island Storm, Joe Salerno, saw the floor he said, “I think it will be one of the nicest floors in the league. It is an NBA-calibre floor”. Comments like these really inspire Horner Flooring to continue to offer quality athletic floors and allow us to take a special pride in our work.