Fundraising through Crowdfunding for A New Gym Floor

What is Crowdfunding?

Crowdfunding is becoming an increasingly common method of fundraising, it’s time to spread the word about it! So what is crowdfunding? It’s a type of fundraising which usually takes place through the internet on secure websites. It allows for citizens (anywhere in the world) to donate whatever amount they would like if they like the project.

There are many examples of projects that have been fully sponsored by this type of fundraising. Gateway Green, a public works project, fully funded a $100,000 project through crowdfunding. And, Michigan State University raised over $15,000 for its Extreme Makeover: Sparty Edition crowdfunding initiative.

Crowdfunding is a great way to start fundraising for a new gymnasium floor for your basketball, volleyball, and other athletes.

How do I know when it’s a good project?

So, you have a project in mind, but is it the right one? It’s important to pick a project that resonates with people – those people are going to be the ones that push your project to the next level and help it become a reality. Crowdfunding makes it easier for people to market their passions and gain a following.

A new gymnasium floor for a high school basketball team, for example, not only benefits the school, but the students playing on it. Parents, community members, and students have a reason to back a new floor that could benefit everyone.

For a funding goal, start small. These passionate people want to see how they are contributing, and from then on, your crowdfunding can grow.

How do I choose a crowdfunding site?

There are so many crowdfunding websites, how do you know which one to use?Some sites are tailored to one type of project or another.

Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Crowdfunder are all well-known crowdfunding sites. RallyMe, NLAB, and Sportyfunder are a few sites that are built to support the funding of athletes, teams, or other sports initiatives, like a new gymnasium floor.

While selecting a crowdfunding site, it comes down to the terms of use. When looking at each one, consider the following questions:

• Does your project fit into the site requirements?
• Does the site charge a fee?
• Is the fee dependent on your project’s success?
• Will you still receive the donations if your goal is not met?
• What other tools does the site offer to help promote your project?

What do I do once it’s on a crowdfunding site?

Once the site is up, it’s like any other fundraising campaign: promote and spread it! Use word of mouth, social media, local media, press releases, and get the people close to it pumped about it.

It is like other fundraising campaigns – and it may fail in reaching the goal in the allotted time. But, don’t let that discourage you. It could be your best way in finding out what your supporters really want and help future initiatives.

You won’t know until you start; so, go out there and try!

For more in-depth information, check out Mass Appeal in Athletic Business.

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

.

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!

New Partnership to become the “Official Sports Flooring Manufacturer of the Basketball Hall of Fame”

Horner Flooring has an exciting new partnership! We will be partnering with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. In this 5-year agreement, we will provide the MAAC and the Hall of Fame with a Pro-King system, which may be used at several events.

MAAC Commissioner, Rich Ensor, has stated, “Presenting the MAAC and sponsor marks on a playing floor of this quality is tremendous. The joint venture also allows the league’s student-athletes to compete on the highest quality surface…” Horner Flooring is proud to be recognized as one of the highest quality surfaces and will continue to uphold our standards of quality.

How does John L. Doleva, president and CEO of the Naismith Hall of Fame, feel about the partnership? He says, “We are extremely excited and honored to be partnering with Horner Flooring and the MAAC on this new project”. Everyone’s excitement will ensure a good good experience for all partners and the athletes who will be playing on Horner’s Pro-King floors.

Also as a part of this deal, a Horner branded scholarship will be offered by the Hall of Fame for a student who has demonstrated great academic and athletic accomplishments.

To read more about this exciting new partnership, visit maacsports.com. To find out more about the Horner Pro-King floor, visit our Pro-King webpage.

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!

NBA All-Star Roster Announced

Image courtesy of BLKDMNDS

After a lot of guessing, the complete rosters for the 2014 NBA All-Star game have been released!

Representing the East:
Starters:

• Kyrie Irving – Cleveland Cavaliers (Guard)
• Dwyane Wade – Miami Heat (Guard)
• Paul George – Indiana Pacers (Forward)
• LeBron James – Miami Heat (Forward)
• Carmelo Anthony – New York Knicks (Forward)

Reserves:

• DeMar DeRozan – Toronto Raptors (Guard)
• John Wall – Washington Wizards (Guard)
• Roy Hibbert – Indiana Pacers (Frontcourt)
• Paul Millsap – Atlanta Hawks (Frontcourt)
• Joakim Noah – Chicago Bulls (Frontcourt)
• (Wild Card) Joe Johnson – Brooklyn Nets
• (Wild Card) Chris Bosh – Miami Heat

Representing the West:
Starters:

• Stephen Curry – Golden State Warriors (Guard)
• Kobe Bryant – Los Angeles Lakers (Guard)
• Kevin Durant – Oklahoma City Thunder (Forward)
• Blake Griffin – Los Angeles Clippers (Forward)
• Kevin Love – Minnesota Timberwolves (Forward)

Reserves:

• Chris Paul – Los Angeles Clippers (Guard)
• Tony Parker – San Antonio Spurs (Guard)
• Dwight Howard – Houston Rockets (Frontcourt)
• LaMarcus Aldridge – Portland Trail Blazers (Frontcourt)
• Dirk Nowitzki – Dallas Mavericks (Frontcourt)
• (Wild Card) Damain Lillard – Portland Trail Blazers
• (Wild Card) James Harden – Houston Rockets

Synthetic Floor Maintenance

After purchasing a synthetic athletic floor, you want it to last and keep it looking like new for as long as possible. Luckily, there’s plenty of ways to do this! It’s highly recommended that at each entry to the floor, there be a floor mat. This will help catch a lot of the dirt and etcetera before people reach the synthetic floor. There are also daily and weekly/bi-monthly procedures, as well as special procedures for those scuff marks or for gum that got left behind.

Before you clean your floor, take stock of your supplies and equipment. For the following procedures, you’ll need:

• A low rpm scrubber vacuum machine (either a walk behind or rider)
• A gym-style push broom
• Scrub pads
  • Medium light to medium level scrub pad (similar to 3M blue) for regular maintenance
  • Aggressive pad (similar to3M green) for once a year maintenance
• Cleaner (neutral ph detergent)
  • Hillyard Clean Scrub is recommended
• Warm water
• Optional – “Freeze It” brand freeze spray or regular ice cubes

The following items are optional for a CushionCourt system only:

• “Soft Scrub” brand, No-bleach cleaner
• “Mr. Clean Magic Eraser” brand scuff/stain remover

_________________________________________________________________________
Daily Maintenance Procedure:

Dust mop the floor using the push broom or the scrubber vacuum. Don’t use a dust mop treatment.

Weekly or Bi-Monthly Procedure:

1. Mix the cleaner with warm water and put in the scrubber tank
2. Apply to the floor and scrub a section that can be covered in fifteen minutes
   1. Do not vacuum – let the dirt emulsify for the fifteen minutes
3. Start at the beginning of the next section again without vacuuming
4. Return to the previous section and scrub again WHILE vacuuming
5. Repeat steps 3-4 until finished cleaning

Use the blue pad on a regular basis, but use the green pad once a year to remove any access build up.

_________________________________________________________________________
As Required Procedure:

Scuff Marks/Deeper Stains: Use “Mr. Clean Magic Eraser” (for CushionCourt only) according to package instructions.

Gum: Freeze the gum with ice or “Freeze It” brand spray. Once the gum is frozen, gently scrape it off the floor. Repeat as necessary.

Once a year deep cleaning: Use no bleach “Soft Scrub” brand sparingly in front of the vacuum with the green scrubber pad and proceed as you would for the weekly cleaning.

For more questions, contact us at Horner Flooring by visiting our webpage: http://www.hornerflooring.com/contact.html.

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!