Sports Invention May Help Schools During Great Recession

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Sports Invention May Help Schools During Great Recession

Published on: June 3rd, 2010 12:21am by: creativebeing

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The Great Recession as many are calling it, is extracting a heavy toll on schools, recreation and park districts, and municipalities throughout the country. Due to the lack of funding many sports programs are in serious jeopardy especially in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. A new invention, however, may prove to be the answer for those government entities looking to be able to continue to offer equal opportunity and equal access regardless of economic background, race, or gender.

(OPENPRESS) June 3, 2010 -- Known as the "SportaFence", the invention is a portable fence device that allows athletic facilities to become multi-use sporting facilities in the flash of an eye. In other words, sports fields which were previously limited to just a single use-say a baseball field for example-can now be utilized as several different types of sports fields without a lot of added expense.

"I invented the SportaFence in order to give kids equal opportunity regardless of their economic background or gender," says Gary Siewert inventor of the device. "With the SportaFence the sports field that is just a one-use field can now be used for baseball, girl's softball, and soccer or football all in the span of one day. This takes the limitations off of those areas which have limited space for the limited funds to enjoy sports the way they were meant to be played."

The SportaFence device is basically a series of interconnected panels which are able to be easily moved due to the wheel system built into each panel. The basic panel unit which is 5'X10' in length, raises off the ground when the wheels are lowered into place. The panels can be moved individually or together in groups, and as a result, a field can be transformed from one kind of field to another very, very quickly. An example of just how quickly the device can be set up and moved can be seen at www.sportafence.com.

" In the past, park districts, school districts, cities and municipalities were all stuck with having to purchase or fund large amounts of land and construction projects in order to accommodate everyone as to their sporting needs and interests," says Siewert. " This means if you were unfortunate enough to live in an area that was economically disadvantaged or poorly funded you were out of luck if you were hoping to have a nice sports facility to play in. Now, the SportaFence changes all that. You don't need a lot of land in order to have a really nice facility. In fact, a field not a whole lot bigger than a football or soccer field can now host anything from girl's softball to football to baseball."

The workability and advantages of this kind of invention has already gained national attention. The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, just recently installed two SportaFence outfield fence devices for a national collegiate girls softball tournament televised by ESPN. According to Siewert, he has received inquiries from across the country about his new invention and there are sure to be orders flooding in as the device becomes well known.

Siewert, who has been an athlete all of his life, is co-owner of a fencing company in Sacramento, California. His fencing company, S & S Fencing Company,Inc. (www.fencing-contractors.com), has a long history of building sports facilities throughout California. Due to his knowledge of how a baseball or softball diamond should be built, the creation of the SportaFence was a natural for Siewert.

"I know what it's like personally to not have adequate sports facilities," states Siewert, " and as a father with kids who grew up playing sports I know what it's like to have to play on fields that don't have outfield fences or aren't as nice as they could be. As I say, I'm really hoping this will provide equal opportunity for everyone out there who love sports."

Great Recession or not, devices like the SportaFence open the door to a new evolution in concept and design for sports facilities of the future. In addition to providing one of the few solutions for expensive synthetic fields (which cannot have metal post driven through them), the SportaFence and devices like it will make for much more efficient use of limited resources.