All About Wall Mats
Sometimes it is important to put padding or protective foam mats on the walls. The basketball court at the YMCA I used to go to was regulation size but there was almost no space between the court and the concrete walls and abuttments. Without wall matting, it could be almost suicidal to take a fast run for the ball in the direction of one of the walls or metal abuttments.
In that case, mats were hung to about 7 feet in height along all of the walls. The metal posts were covered in permanent vinyl coated foam rubber to absorb the impact of players crashing into them. The pads had been custom made to conform to the shape of the post and were thick enough to cushion against injury.
The hanging mats did double duty as floor mats when the gym was being used for floor work such as stretching or yoga. After the workout, they were easily hung back on the wall for a solid barrier.
I have seen the same type of thing used in a couple of baseball parks where the outfield fence is covered in a foam pad to prevent injury to an outfielder who runs into it when running down a ball. Most football stadiums have foam padding wrapped around the base of the goal-post upright to prevent injury to players who might run into it.
Interestingly, the day care center my kids occasionally went to as youngsters had colourful wall mats on all of the walls of the activity room. With the way the children would run around after each other sometimes it was easy to see that the crash protection of the mats was tested often. They were fastened to the walls with velcro strips and were also joined by velcro to the mat beside it. Full of high density foam, the pads also were made of fire-retardant fabric.
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