Game-changing coating technology

By Emma Peterson. 

The right court coating is key to players safety, strategy and success. 

Whether you’re playing professionally or recreationally, athletes know that not every court or field is built the same. The right playing surface is a crucial factor to each sport as it affects the player’s safety and strategies. In this episode of CoatingsCast, Heidi J. Ellsworth speaks to Tom Magner from California Sports Surfaces about how they use liquid-applied products to elevate athletes’ experience on the court. 

Tom is the director of product management for sports services at ICP Group, which is the umbrella company for California Sports Services. While based in the U.S., the company exports to over 50 countries. Tom elaborated that he works to keep an eye on all of the markets around the globe to see what is needed next when it comes to technology. This type of proactivity is something that has served California Sports Surfaces well over the years, as Tom explained, “We did a number of firsts. We were the first ones to have a primer specifically for it. First one to invent a line paint specifically for athletic courts, including some of the technologies we continue to work on today.” 

The technology operating under the surface of these coatings includes everything from the texture the athletes play on to the solar reflectivity and the color interaction. A great example of how this plays out in the real world is in the tennis sector. The use of blue and purple court coatings is something that is recent, beginning around 25 years ago. Before that, every court was a combo of red and green or green on green. Tom explained what drove this shift away from that, saying, “We were at the forefront with some of the testing that found that the tennis ball shows up better with a purple background. And that was the first purple court that came to be in the late nineties. And then the U.S. Open switched to a blue court and now you've got all kinds of colors.” 

Read the transcript, Listen to the full conversation or Watch the webinar for more information about California Sports Surfaces’ and the game-changing technology they provide.