Hello Lads, I am trying to build an indoor facility in Noblesville, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. I am seeking input from players as to what they like or dislike about indoor pitches. Thanks, Mike
Good luck, The place I play has several nice features, consitant upkeep, nice glass walls and a bar behind one of the walls, so you can sit and watch after you play. Good scoreboard, nice soundsystem with music pumped in while we play and most importantly this time of year Air conditioning. On the downside the water supply near the benches when we play is really bad. Otherwise a nice facility. www.offthewallindoorsoccer.com is his site not sure if you can tell much from there.
I don't think it really needs to be that fancy. A lot of the "indoor" soccer places around here are actually outdoors. They don't have roofs, air conditioning, heating, etc. Just a field to play on, and it is still popular. Of course since you want to build one in Indiana you'll probably want an indoor place to play in the winter. I've heard of places using old warehouses, you might want to give one of those a look.
I have never liked the astroturf surface. I'm not sure a playing surface from SportCourt would be much better. Good luck!
Thanks for the tips lads. I agree Enforcer, turf is awful. I have a surgically repaired right knee and shoulder do to the infamous "turf monster". I am looking at a product called astro-play. It is kind of like fake rubber grass. Anyone play on this stuff before?
If it is what i think you are talking about it is like rubber blades that are around 2 inches long and play like grass indoors, Then it plays great in all of my experiences. It feels natural with the movement of the ball, and your joints dont hurt after play.
What the hell, I suppose I can give these guys a free plug. www.astroplay.com Has anyone had an experience on this stuff that was not positive. What about long term maintenance? Also lads, what are you opinions of video systems? Would you sit in a lounge area with refreshments if you could watch a tape of the match you just played? Last thing, music during the match; Good or bad?
The place I mentioned above had planned to tape the matches and reshow them but the logistics of one camera or two trying to catch all the action did not work out so he quickly quit. It sounds like a nice idea but no one really cared. We have more fun watching the other games afterwards from the bar or sidelines through the glass walls. As far as the turf...I do not like the astro turf either but have not had any problems yet. You do not have alot of choices when running an indoor facility. The university of Nebraska installed a new type of turf for football called Field Turf. I think one of the WUSA teams plays on it as well i think in Boston. The Turf has longer strands or fake grass then tiny rubber pellets worked into it. They claim it has reduced injuries and plays very close to real grass. Check out the website it has info on uses for Soccer. www.fieldturf.com I am not sure that you can roll it up which you can with Astroturf, you might want to for roller hockey or something to help suplement income.
Re: Re: What are the best features of an indoor facility? Would you absolutely "have" to have turf? If you just used a bare floor, you might save some money. I played at an indoor arena once that was an old skating rink with a wood floor (we also had a wood floor in our college gym). We used the "fuzzy" indoor ball, which I hate (screws up my depth perception; it bounces like a superball). Anyway, a bare floor seemed to work well. And, if you played (get ready for the shameless plug) futsal, you wouldn't have to worry about boards or turf. . Not only that, but you might could squeeze in more courts, depending on the size. Just a thought. Either way, it seems to me you'd have less upkeep cost with a bare floor as opposed to turf, but then, I've never played on turf, so I don't know. Comments?
Friendly Turf = Safe-Play Like many on this issue, I dislike astro-turf. The Chicago Fire currently plays their home games at NCC in Naperville, IL. Though the field is smaller than most MLS pitches and has artificial turf, I believe its better than plain astro-turf. I think it's called Safe-Play and is very similar to the stuff mentioned on an earlier post, in that it has longer blades of grass-like material and crushed rubber tire embedded into the turf. I played indoor when I lived in Houston and that was like the material your outside floor mat was made of ............. awful! Good luck with your facility. Fireman451
Re: Re: Re: What are the best features of an indoor facility? I have been considering Futsal as an alternative, but this is a scary proposition. I don't feel I know enough about Futsal to run a facility. I heard there is a league down in Seymour, and am going to go check it out. I think one of two things would happen were I to open a Futsal Gym. 1. People would prefer it to indoor arena ball with dasher boards. -or- 2. Nobody would play and I would end up pennyless. I plan on speaking to owners of other facilites here in town and ask them why they opted for the "hockey rink" rather than a futsal court. P.S. I have been to the Futsal website; informative. Now can you explain why there is a second penalty spot?
Re: Re: Re: Re: What are the best features of an indoor facility? The second penalty spot is where kicks are taken after a team commits five fouls in a half. It's a regular direct free kick, but it is taken from that spot, and no wall is allowed. The 'keeper is allowed to move around more than if it were a PK. What you might think about is perhaps building a walled arena, and then trying futsal to see how it would work. You can fit a futsal court inside the rink, and for starters, make the goals out of plastic pipe or 2x4s (with a 4x4 base); metal goals could be bought later if it went over well. Mark the lines with tape, or marble dust if you have a turf surface (you could vacuum or sweep it up). If futsal does go over, your walled rink will keep the ball from getting away too far when it goes out of bounds. If not, you still have the rink and you haven't lost that much. But I think once people play futsal, they will like it a lot. Most people I know who have played it do.
This is the United States. We don't play futsal here. If I were you I wouldn't have a futsal place because as you said nobody would come.
I agree don't waste your time on futsal, the youth teams that will play on it all winter are the bread and butter. They will want turf of some kind and are used to nice indoor places. Don;t cheap out by not laying some type of carpet or they will not come I am afraid. They are your bread and butter.
I beg to differ. We DO play futsal here, it's just not as popular, yet. The US was, at one time, a world power, finishing in the top 3 at three of the indoor World Cups. Granted, there are only pockets of popularity for now. But the game will grow, especially when people see how expensive the turf and boards version is (mind you, I like that version as well), and that futsal can be played on any basketball court, indoors or out (you can play futsal on turf as well). That's why I suggested mikester build a walled arena, but try futsal to see how it would fly (have a tournament or something, rather than a league). He'd always have the other to fall back on. Just watch a good futsal match, or play it yourself. You may not prefer it to what we have already, but you might like it anyway. Don't poo-poo it with out having experienced it.
I'm not really poo-pooing it, I'm just saying that if it was my money I would stick to traditional indoor soccer.
And you'd probably be wise to do so, for the time being. But we've already had one indoor facility close in my area this year, and the newest one (to my knowledge), while not futsal, does not use boards. It does have turf, however.
The indoor facility where I play in Louisville, KY has turf and it sucks. It rips the skin off your legs when you slide like a cheese grater. I've never played on the rubber carpert mentioned above but I'd love to try. They don't play music but there is a bar area. The music isn't really that big a deal to me because I would probably just tune it out during the game anyway. The bar area would be nice if they'd keep it staffed, the refs are also the counter attendees. It would be nice to watch a video of the game but I wouldn't waste money on it in the beginning, you can always add that. Like someone else posted, we're content to sit and watch whoever plays after us. Probably two of the biggest amenities needed are air conditioning and competent, fair refs. This place tries to save money by under staffing and not maintaining the facility. The wall and roof nets have holes, two of the four doors don't work and there's no air conditioning so it's like an oven in there. However, I've been paying to play there for 6 years. One idea I've had would be to brand the facility as a "soccer community". You could install a big projection TV screen to show soccer matches like the World Cup. I don't know about Indianapolis, but there really aren't any soccer friendly bars in Louisville. my 2¢
I thought of something else that you should consider. I've always wished that there were locker room and shower facilities where I play indoor soccer. There are so many times that I go straight from work and I have to change in a frikcin bathroom stall. And on weekends it would be nice to shower after a game and then go out without having to drive all the way home.
My turf of choice is made my Turf Technologies. www.turftechnologies.net. There seem to be several products out there... but I like this one the best. It changes the game a little from classic indoor, but its much easier on the joints and the rug burns.
The best feature of an indoor facility is having fans show up to see a game. So far Milwaukee and Baltimore are the only ones who have this feature - maybe it will change in the near future.
The do Make a astroturf Carper that is a better quality & its a shorter Pile , and tigher weave , but its extremly expensive . but will worth the price