For Overland Park sports lovers, there’s something new (and gigantic!) to celebrate. You can see that reason for excitement from a distance, too.
Welcome to the AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk, a state-of-the-art venue that is expected to attract 3.8 million annual visitors with first-rate amenities and experiences for both athletes and fans. Anchoring the venue is a 420,000-square-foot multi-sport complex dedicated to amateur and youth sports, family-focused events, entertainment, and more.
Part of that multi-sport complex is one of the biggest projects we’ve ever had the honor to work on. It clocks in at a staggering 67,000 square feet and was carefully selected to deliver safe, enjoyable play for future generations of athletes.
This is the story of our partnership with Overland Park’s celebrated venue and a respected dealer—and how the right sports flooring will contribute to the facility’s ongoing success.
Selecting the Right Sports Floor for a Sizeable Space
At the start of this project, Action Floors and dealer-partner Great American Hardwood Flooring were expecting to tackle maple hardwood projects totaling 30,000 square feet. That’s a pretty “healthy” project size—for reference, most hardwood courts are around 10,000 square feet. We were stunned and excited when Bluhawk requested to increase the area to 67,000 square feet. To help you visualize that size, consider that an NBA court is 4,700 square feet, while a football field is 57,600.
Venues the size of AdventHealth Sports Park have what facility managers call “their own weather system.” In other words, the amount of enclosed space and the presence of large crowds can contribute to highly variable conditions that need to be skillfully managed. Diverse conditions can include fluctuations in temperature and humidity, which cause boards to expand and contract. This movement greatly impacts the performance and longevity of hardwood sports flooring.
Movement of the hardwood is especially a concern with larger venues. As Matt Lyman, our West Coast Sales Representative, said about large projects, hundreds of boards all expanding and contracting have an additive effect and result in a lot of movement.
To ensure the AdventHealth Sports Park’s hardwood courts would hold up even in variable environments, the team chose the Action AnchorFlex floor system.
Selecting a System to Stand Up to Varied Temperatures and Humidity
Anchored for Strength Amid Flexing
The Action AnchorFlex system is what we call an anchored resilient floor; anchored resilient floors have a subfloor that is anchored to the concrete slab.
The slots for these anchors give the entire flooring system the room to expand (or, hence the name, flex) and contract as wood naturally does without adversely affecting the integrity, performance, or appearance of the system.
Expansion Spacing Provides Extra Wiggle Room
There’s another practice that adds to the floor’s ability to perform in fluctuating environments. The Maple Flooring Manufacturers Association adopts a standard practice of creating a 128th-inch space between every floorboard. These little gaps (called expansion spacing) are created via the strategically placed bumps on each side of the board.
The Power of Proper Preparation
Timing and planning are key when it comes to a large construction project, and the team needed to be careful about when hardwood was introduced to the space. The new venue’s HVAC system needed to be up, working, and ideally balanced before bringing the maple in. Then, the maple rested and adjusted to the environment before installation began.
Additionally, the concrete slab under the floor needed to be installed flawlessly. If a slab is not clean, dry, flat, and smooth, the added hardwood flooring system won’t perform the way it’s supposed to.
If you’re on the cusp of tackling a hardwood flooring project, check out our blog post that outlines the steps of successfully going from “concrete to court.” It’ll give you an accurate idea of what to expect as your facility is prepped for a new court.
Instilling Confidence in Young Athletes
Action AnchorFlex offers many benefits, including consistent shock absorption that maximizes playability and reduces the risk of injuries. The floor mitigates vibration and is characterized by superior dimensional stability and strength.
More importantly for AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk, their court offers accuracy that helps younger players feel confident.
As Matt Lyman explains, bodies react according to what we expect to experience from a flooring surface. Your body will respond differently stepping on a snowbank vs. jumping from gravel vs. pivoting on concrete. When a hardwood court is stable, accurate, and uniform, athletes will have consistent, predictable interactions with the surface. They’ll feel comfortable, be able to develop their core skills, learn new things, and focus on their teammates and technique instead of the court.
The Importance of a “Great” Dealer-Partner Relationship
Though the project was big, Action Floors and Great American Hardwood Flooring were able to knock it out in less than a summer. This efficient installation was a result of a long relationship with Great American. Matt spoke fondly of working with Great American as far back as 2007, complimenting their transparency in communication and collaborative nature. Tim Bally, their estimator and lead on this project, is a second-generation expert at his family-owned business. How cool is that?
We’re incredibly thankful for our dealer-partners like Great American, who leverage years of experience and expertise to ensure all systems are installed correctly and according to each customer’s timeline. Our dealers do it right and do it once, making the process easier on the customer—and helping them enjoy their surface with no headaches post-install.
A Special Shout Out to the Team
“Pride” doesn’t quite cut it when we talk about our sales reps. Matt Lyman, the rep on this project, grew up installing sports floors as part of his own family business. Matt’s family business was actually one of our dealer-partners, so he has been working with our flooring systems for decades. He joined Action Floors in 2007, becoming another member of our tenured team.
Tim Bally joins us in feeling grateful for being part of a project that’s sure to have a storied history in Overland Park:
“This was a very successful project that we are proud of and honored to have been a part of. AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk is an amazing facility, one of the nation’s most unique and expansive multi-use sports facilities.”
To the Action Floors family and dealer network—thank you for bringing your passion, knowledge, and skills to the job every day.
Find a Top-Performance Sports System for Any Size of Project
Big or small—from 800-square-foot personal home gyms to hefty collegiate projects—we’re here to help you choose the ideal sports flooring solution to give your athletes decades (up to a century!) of fun, safe play. From there, we’ll set you up with a dealer-partner you can trust to install your system right the first time, every time you work with them.
Let’s kick off your sports flooring journey today.
If you’re in the Overland Park area, head to the AdventHealth Sports Park at Bluhawk to see what sports enthusiasts are up to in Kansas.
