Summer Olympics in Your Community Association Amy Clements, CIRMS, ARM and Jacqueline Cleveland, CMCA, AMS

It’s that time of year. On every news, sports and even some network channels, the ever-familiar arrangement of Bob Costas’ ode to the triumph of the human spirit blares across the airwaves into our homes. The Summer Olympics are coming, and so is the 24-hour deluge of images of athletes at their peak and going for the gold. If you’re like me, you’ll pull up a chair, grab the popcorn, and watch the coverage starting with the trials in winter all the way through the finals in the summer. And, for many of you residing in Washington’s communities, you will be using various sports amenities in which to actually enact your fantasies of being a world class athlete—or at least train like one.

The Dream Team (Basketball) Robinson. Laettner. Ewing. Bird. Pippen. Jordan. Drexler. Malone. Stockton. Mullin. Barkley. Johnson. With Chuck Daly at the helm (and Coach K assisting with World Champion SuperSonic Lenny Wilkens and P.J. Carlesimo), the ‘92 USA Basketball Team is still regarded as one of the most prime group of athletes ever assembled on hardwood. Or ever, for that matter. These fine athletes elevated the sport and their teams here on our home courts to entirely new levels. From Los Angeles to the famed Boston parquet, America embraced its dream team and fell in love with basketball again and for the first time.

Many of our associations have basketball courts, where pickup games and serious community tournaments take place. There are many considerations for the maintenance of a basketball court facility: locker rooms,

equipment, timing equipment and of course, the floor. Anyone who ever played recreational ball knows that a poorly kept floor can ruin the game (or dainty ankles). Karen McDonald of Association Reserves of WA advised me that while recreational gym floors in a setting such as a community association don’t typically need to be fully replaced, they “will need to be periodically resurfaced (sanded and resealed)”.

The same goes for outdoor concrete courts. According to Karen, “[they] don’t typically require total replacement unless there is significant cracking/tree root uplift, however a community should plan for regular cycles of cleaning (usually pressure washing) and restriping/painting the court. Associations should also plan to regularly replace backboard and hoop equipment due to wear and tear and deterioration that will occur from constant exposure to weather elements.” Make sure it is well kept, and your reserve study updated - and use it as a focal point of home team pride!

Fun fact: In 1952, the original parquet floor installed at the Boston Arena in 1946 was moved with the Celtics to Boston Garden. When they tore down the garden, lucky fans got to keep pieces of the action and the history by purchasing pieces of the famed floor. Research revealed some pretty high prices for a piece of the Celtics court - $229 for a 6” x 6” square from one memorabilia seller!

Exercise Rooms In the words of would-be Olympians Hans and Franz, “I Want to Pump…You Up!” One amenity commonly found in our associations is the weight room. Handy to have at home (you’ll use it more, right?) there is much to regard when using these facilities as a resident, and maintaining them as an association.

While you build-up your muscly goodness, remember some of these tips with respect to your training program and exercise room:

 safety of your lift.

  training program.

  community’s exercise room from a licensed vendor.

  maintained and inspected by a licensed contractor.

  unauthorized access.

  16 Community Associations Journal | June 2016 restrooms, seating, sporting