Sports like basketball, badminton, volleyball and table tennis
require a special kind of wooden flooring, which have to match the
Deutsches Institut for Normung (DIN) Standards. Moldrup
Flooring Systems P Ltd, is a manufacturer and supplier of wooden
flooring systems, with an accredition to the World Squash Federation
(WSF), which also conform to the DIN Standards. Chennaibest
speaks to Moldrup's Regional Manager, Srinivasan Vaidyanathan,
about the DIN standards and about their sports flooring, which
have been laid at Le Royal Meridien and Madras Race Club
in Chennai. Moldrup, is the leading player in the Indian market
for this segment.
Speaking
about the WSF accreditation, Srinivasan says, "The accreditation
by WSF will apply to all installations where the Moldrup 22 mm
Hevea Squash Flooring has been supplied and installed either
by Moldrup or any of our agents and associates throughout the world,
in accordance with the standard specifications published by Moldrup".
The Deutsches Institut for Normung (DIN) standard is the most recognised
international standard and it serves as a specifying guide for planners,
architects and stadium officials. DIN was the first to recognise
the interaction between the two dynamic systems - the athlete and
the sports surface. According to Srinivasan says "Today
when anybody plans to choose a sports floor, he pays close attention
to the dynamic aspect of the surface. In the past as far as
sports flooring was concerned, the priority was on factors such
as usage, logistics of installation and budget. Though these
are still given priority, equal or more priority is given nowadays
to aspects of comfort, safety and performance of athletes.
If today you see a gymnast perform a triple somersault or more slams
or rebounds in a NBA league encounter, it is because of the use
of resilient and shock absorbing values of sports flooring used
in the respective stadia".
But
is it enough to take into consideration just the comfort and safety
aspects while leaving aside the technical aspect of the game, like
the way the floor responds to the ball in basketball or friction
in a dance floor? "Yes, these are also taken into consideration.
The three aspects that I spoke about earlier are balanced with the
technical characteristics of for example, ball response while dribbling
the basketball. It is a well known fact that bio-mechanical
and bio-medical implication of player or surface interactions have
been given quite a lot of attention since the early 70's".
Srinivasan Vaidyanathan while speaking about DIN resilience sports
floors, says "The Deutsches Institut for Normung is a
specialist body, which studies the performance and safety of sports
systems as they pertain to various sports. To understand about
DIN we need to know something about the different floor types. There
are basically three floor types, which are used to categorise sports
surfaces. They are Area-elastic floors, Point-elastic floors
and a combination of both".
To
rate the overall comfort, safety and performance for sports flooring,
the following criteria are laid down by DIN. The flooring is tested
for shock absorption, standard vertical deformation, deflective
indentation, sliding characteristics, ball reflection or bounce
and rolling test load. According to the DIN Standards, the technical
characteristics for sports flooring are slotted into three main
classifications - sports function, protective function and material-technical
function. Sports functions are characteristics that enhance the
athletic performance, like surface friction and ball bounce measurements.
Protective function includes the primary function of shock absorption
and also the properties to reduce impact forces on the athlete while
performing and chance of injury during a fall. Material-technical
classification refers to the ability of the sports surface to ensure
the efficiency of both the sports and protective functions. Simply
put, this means the ability of the floor to show good performance
and maintain good playing characteristics while under force, such
as rolling loads. "These are the main factors to be taken into
consideration and inspected when going in for sports flooring",
says Srinivasan.
DIFFERENT
FLOOR TYPES
An Area-elastic floor is a resilient multi-layered
system, comprising of, an elastic underlayment, an intermediate
rigid load distribution place and an upper wear surface,
from the ground upwards. Due to its rigid construction
an Area-elastic floor rates high in foot stability,
sliding characteristics and rolling loads. The deflection
caused by impact forces on this kind of floor is much
wider than the loaded area, so the name Area-elastic.
Point-elastic floor comprises of a resilient
soft surface positioned over various rigid substrates.
With a higher resilience level, the Point-elastic floor
provides a more protective surface. This resilience
is good only to some extent, as certain performace criteria
like foot stability can be compromised by high resilience.
The deflection on Point-elastic floor is confined to
the area directly under and immediately surrounding
the loaded area or point of loading, hence the name.
Combined systems typically comprises, an elastic
layer, load distribution plates and a soft upper wear
surface, from the ground upwards. The performance of
Area-elastic floors and the protective function of Point-elastic
floors are balanced, such that this Combined system
merges the best of both Area-elastic and Point-elastic
systems.
Address: Moldrup Systems P Ltd, 38/5, Foxen Street, Perambur,
Chennai 600 011. Phone: 557 1200 Fax: 5571084 Mobile: 98410 86185 E-mail:moldrup@satyam.net.in
Speaking
about the WSF accreditation, Srinivasan says, "The accreditation
by WSF will apply to all installations where the Moldrup 22 mm
Hevea Squash Flooring has been supplied and installed either
by Moldrup or any of our agents and associates throughout the world,
in accordance with the standard specifications published by Moldrup".
But
is it enough to take into consideration just the comfort and safety
aspects while leaving aside the technical aspect of the game, like
the way the floor responds to the ball in basketball or friction
in a dance floor? "Yes, these are also taken into consideration.
The three aspects that I spoke about earlier are balanced with the
technical characteristics of for example, ball response while dribbling
the basketball. It is a well known fact that bio-mechanical
and bio-medical implication of player or surface interactions have
been given quite a lot of attention since the early 70's".
To
rate the overall comfort, safety and performance for sports flooring,
the following criteria are laid down by DIN. The flooring is tested
for shock absorption, standard vertical deformation, deflective
indentation, sliding characteristics, ball reflection or bounce
and rolling test load. According to the DIN Standards, the technical
characteristics for sports flooring are slotted into three main
classifications - sports function, protective function and material-technical
function. Sports functions are characteristics that enhance the
athletic performance, like surface friction and ball bounce measurements.
Protective function includes the primary function of shock absorption
and also the properties to reduce impact forces on the athlete while
performing and chance of injury during a fall. Material-technical
classification refers to the ability of the sports surface to ensure
the efficiency of both the sports and protective functions. Simply
put, this means the ability of the floor to show good performance
and maintain good playing characteristics while under force, such
as rolling loads. "These are the main factors to be taken into
consideration and inspected when going in for sports flooring",
says Srinivasan.
