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TCB: Richard,
where are you originally from?
RB: I'm from Etters, Pennsylvania.
TCB: Do you have
a sports background? If yes, what sport? Did you play High School
or College sports?
RB: In High School I played soccer. In college I played football.
I was the Middle Linebacker at Shippensburg University. Today
I'm playing golf.
TCB: The Bio
on your website states, in the mid 80's you introduced the first
sand-filled turf products for tennis and various sports applications
to the marketplace. How did this come about? How did you get
into that field or work?
RB: I started in Chicago
working for the largest distributor of acrylic paint for tennis
in the USA (Emulsified Asphalts). Then I was approached by the
Ritchie Brothers, based out of Wichita Kansas, who had just acquired
the US distributorship for a product named OmniCourt (artificial
grass system) from a Canadian company named OmniSport International
to be the Vice President in charge of tennis development at OmniSport
USA.
TCB: If a tennis
club owner wants to build new outdoor courts, what are the most
important aspects for the decision what kind of surface to install?
RB: Pace of play, type of
surface (all weather/grass/clay/cushion), maintenance, existing
site conditions, drainage, longevity, warranty.
TCB: Do you recommend
the same surface for tennis and Pickleball outdoors? If not,
why not?
RB: For resurfacing over
an existing surface we recommend only our TitanTrax PK System,
as it is the only overlay solution on the market that has a ball
return that meets the APA bounce guidelines. For new construction
we offer the ProBounce system.
TCB: What kind
of aspects go into the decision of building indoor court surfaces?
RB: For indoor surfaces you
are typically looking for a multi-sport system one that has enough
cushion for volleyball/track, but also one that is dense enough
to return energy on the ball bounce. We recommend out TitanTrax
Air system for multi-sport facilities. For tennis the existing
building plays a large role in what type of system would be best.
Indoor facilities that have too much humidity have a tough time
striking a good balance for clay courts, but would be fine for
an all weather system. The cost should weigh into this as well,
and so should downtime.
TCB: Is crack
repair cost effective? When is the resurfacing of a court better
than repairing cracks?
RB: Crack repair systems
can be effective if they are installed correctly, but also have
many limitations. The cracks can always expand outside of those
types of systems as they only cover 3-4 feet. The general rule
with Asphalt/Concrete is that it is going to crack eventually,
could be 2 months could be 5 years. The best things to evaluate
are the cost and benefits an overlay system provides over time.
A typical crack repair + acrylic paints starts around 3.5-5k
dependent on the site, and may need to be done every 2-3 years
to re-fill cracks.
TCB: How are
you selling your services? Do you have a sales team?
RB: We have a dedicated inside
sales staff with previous construction backgrounds that also
train contractors throughout the country on the proper methods
to install our surfaces.
TCB: What kind
of warranty comes with NGI tennis courts?
RB: NGI has a 5 year manufacturers
warranty against cracking… our ProBounce system has a 5
year warranty against dead spots and cracking.
TCB: Thank you,
Richard Burke |
