Industries
Gym and Field Padding for K-12 Schools
Your padding order has to clear a requisition, a business office, and a summer install window that closes when teachers come back. We quote in a format your PO system accepts, and we ship stock colors in 2 to 3 business days.
- Shipping
- All 48 contiguous states.
- Installation by our own crews
- New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, eastern Pennsylvania, plus the Austin and Houston markets in Texas. Coverage detail
Outside our installation markets we ship the product for installation by you or your contractor. Coverage states are New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, eastern Pennsylvania, the Austin and Houston metros in Texas.
The requisition needs a reason, not a preference
Nobody approves padding because the gym looks better with it. The line gets funded when someone can point at a specific hazard and a specific rule. For most schools that rule is the NFHS basketball requirement: at least 3 feet, preferably 10 feet, of unobstructed space outside the boundary lines, portable backstop bases padded to 7 feet on the court-side surface, and a 9 foot backboard support padded 2 feet back from the backboard face.
Write that into the justification field. It converts a want into a condition your officials can flag during a game, and it gives the business office something to point at if the request gets questioned in a board meeting. Attach a photo of the bare post or wall taken from the sideline, because a photo does more in a requisition packet than a paragraph does. If someone asks what governs the padding itself, send them our wall padding materials and impact standards page rather than trying to summarize the specification in the justification field.
One more thing that saves a round trip: name the vendor correctly the first time. Our legal entity is My Backyard Sports, LLC and Custom Pole Pads is the brand. Business offices that set up the brand name as the payee end up reissuing the PO after the invoice arrives under a different name.
- Cite NFHS clearances and backstop padding rules in the justification, not aesthetics
- Photograph the exposed post or wall from the sideline and attach it to the requisition
- Ask us for the written quote before the requisition is drafted, not after
- Set up My Backyard Sports, LLC as the vendor of record so the invoice matches the PO
Buying against a fiscal year that ends in June
The awkward part of school purchasing is that the money expires before the work is convenient. Funds have to be encumbered before the fiscal year closes, but the gym is not free until the last day of school and it has to be back in service for August practices. That gap is where padding orders die.
The fix is sequencing. Get the quote in spring while the budget line is still open, issue the PO to encumber the funds, and set delivery for the week the building empties. Stock colors generally ship in 2 to 3 business days once the order is confirmed. Custom printed pads take longer because artwork has to be proofed and approved, so those should be quoted and proofed in April or May, not in the second week of June.
If your district requires competing quotes above a dollar threshold, tell us the threshold and we will format ours so it compares line for line against the others: part number, size, color, quantity, freight, and lead time on separate lines. Quotes that bundle everything into one number are the ones purchasing sends back.
- Quote in spring, encumber before year end, deliver after the last day of school
- Send artwork with the PO so proofing does not eat the install window
- Coordinate delivery around gym floor refinishing dates on both sides
- Ask for line-item pricing if your district compares multiple quotes
- Stock colors: 2 to 3 business days. Custom print: build in proof and approval time
One floor, five programs, and nobody owns the pads
School gyms rarely belong to one program. The same floor runs PE at 9am, volleyball at 4pm, rec league at 7pm, and a band concert on Friday. Padding on a shared floor gets bumped by chair carts, pulled at by students, and reinstalled by whoever is on duty that night. Full-length hook and loop closure matters more here than in almost any other building type, because a custodian can pull a pad for a stage setup and put it back in a minute without opening a work order or waiting on the AD.
Before you write the quantity on the requisition, walk the building with the head custodian rather than the coach. The coach knows the two posts by the baseline. The custodian knows the bleacher stanchion that got exposed when the old wood seating came out, the steel post holding up the 1998 addition roofline, the folding partition track post at half court, and the outdoor backstop posts on the practice field that nobody has counted since they were installed. Schools consistently under-order because the walkthrough only covers the main court.
Write down the numbers as you go. Every gym is a different vintage and the posts will not match, so measure each one instead of assuming the second building matches the first, and follow how to measure a post so the sizes come to us in a form we can quote directly. For wall surfaces behind the baskets and along end walls, our gym wall padding options cover the foam-only and plywood-backed choice, which mostly comes down to whether you are mounting to studs or to block.
- Walk the building with the custodian, not just the coach, before setting quantities
- FT75 pole pad for 4 in and 5 in square posts, from $254
- FT78 6x6 pole pad from $307, FT80 6x8 pad and gusset from $436
- Wall pads in 2 ft x 6 ft and 2 ft x 8 ft, foam-only from $152, plywood-backed from $172
- Full-length hook and loop closure so pads go back on without a work order
The mascot is what gets the order signed
Compliance authorizes the spending. School colors decide who gets the order. Once the AD knows the pads are going in, the question becomes whether the gym will look like the school or look like a warehouse. We carry 16 stock vinyl colors including Scarlet, Maroon, Kelly Green, Forest Green, Columbia Blue, Royal Blue, Navy Blue, Purple, Gold, and Black, so most school palettes are covered without a custom print charge.
If you want the mascot or a wordmark on the pads, custom printed pole pads start at $373.99 and the file requirements are laid out on our custom printed pole pads page. The part that is specific to schools is who signs off on the logo. Districts that went through a rebrand often have an approved athletics mark that lives with the communications office and a different, older mark that the booster club still prints on t-shirts. Get the approved file before you order, because a proof approved by a coach does not survive a call from the district office.
Rebrand years have a cheaper path. If the pads themselves are still sound and only the logo is wrong, decals with application start at $119.99, which lets you update the high school, middle school, and elementary gyms in one order instead of replacing serviceable padding. Booster clubs are often willing to fund the printed logo portion when the district funds the padding itself, so quote the two pieces separately if that is how the money is coming in.
- 16 stock colors, no print charge, matched across pole pads and wall pads
- Custom printed pole pads from $373.99, decal and application from $119.99
- Get the district-approved athletics mark before proofing, not the booster club version
- Order all buildings on one PO so the middle school matches the high school
- Split the quote if a booster club is funding the logo and the district is funding the pads
Can you provide a formal quote we can attach to a purchase requisition?
Yes. Send us your post measurements and quantities and we return a written quote with line-item pricing, freight, and lead time. It includes our full business name, My Backyard Sports, LLC, address, phone, and email so your business office can set us up as a vendor without a second email. Tell us if your district needs the quote to stay valid through a specific board meeting date.
Do you accept school purchase orders?
Yes. Email your PO to sales@mybackyardsports.com referencing the quote number. Custom printed pads move to artwork proofing once the PO is received, so send artwork at the same time if you have it. Stock colors generally ship in 2 to 3 business days after the order is confirmed.
Our gym floor is refinished in July. Can padding install around that?
Yes, and it should. Padding work is easier before finish goes down or after it fully cures, so tell us your refinishing dates when you request the quote and we will target delivery around them. If your floor contractor and your padding delivery land in the same week, the floor contractor wins and the pads sit in a hallway.
Can we get school colors and our mascot on the same pads?
Yes. Pick from 16 stock vinyl colors for the field, then add a printed mascot or wordmark. Custom printed pole pads start at $373.99. If you only need a logo added to pads you already own, decals with application start at $119.99, which is usually the better answer in a rebrand year.
Start a quote
Send us the
measurements.
Tell us the post size or the wall run, the colors you need, and whether it lives indoors or out. You will get a written quote back with a real lead time on it.
- A written lead time on every quote
- Purchase orders and W9 on request
- A proof before anything is cut