ben from your description, i would had chosen robbin mat too. If one know what he/she want, one can do better than certified products. eg. I know many people owning VERY EXPENSIVE home theater system that aren't THX certified
wooden floors are adequate Unless one is playing in professional sports. (like the NBA). I have played wood, concrete, dirt, teraflex on concrete, the floors on GG and UBC. In my less-than-humble opinion , dirt and concrete are a little tough on the knees. Wood is by and large good enough for all amature sports. I would love to try out Yonex .
nice chatting with you samkool. SmashCity held a "sampler" event on Saturday. they asked a few badminton friends to invite their friends to try out the facility. little did they know, one friend invite another, who in turn invite another, in the end, almost the whole badminton community in the bay area showed up. SmashCity has a spacious facility, they have 12 courts with ample amount of free spaces around the courts. the ceiling is of decent height and lighting is bright. the flooring is professional. good grip and decent shock absorption and rebounce. i didn't play long enough to judge if my knees like it or not. there are still a little bit of work to be done before they can officially open, but badminton fans should look forward to yet another top quality facility. i hope i can answer samkool's question as i talked to the owners while i was there. they haven't decided on the queuing system yet. nor have they decided on the membership/drop-in cost. i took many pics while i was there. i will post them as soon as i have finish sorting them.
Yucks, is that all?? I am doing my utmost not to go green with envy :crying: (so jealous). That place looks really great. Congratulations
Comparison of 4 Bay Area Badminton Gyms Great job on the assessment and pics, Kwun! I agree with you that Smash City has excellent flooring - I played for about an hour and didn't feel sore at all afterwards (maybe one hour is not long enough). More important, the flooring's good grip is vital to minimizing injuries. Another HUGE PLUS is the spaciousness between and around courts, which will lend itself to a much more comfortable and safer playing environment. I didn't realize the design's thoughtfulness until I saw your pics, i.e., courts around pillars seem to have even more spacing! The ceiling height is really quite high - more than adequate for most players. I doubt my birdie will ever hit the ceiling (so now you know I'm not a pro ). The lighting is just right - bright enough yet not blinding. If there's one bone I can pick it would be the facility's closeness to many big trucks, around which it might be a little dangerous to maneuver. But then if one goes after hours this would be moot. All in all, I must say I was pleasantly surprised by the excellence of the gym. Of course, there are still some important unknowns such as the queuing sustem and fees. I hope the owners will choose sensible solutions. Here's my take on all four gyms. 5 is most favorable and 1 is least favorable: Bintang UBC GGBC Smash City Flooring 1 3 4 5 Spacing around courts 3 3 3 5 Ceiling height 2 4 5 4 Lighting 1 3 3 5 Queuing system 2 5 1 ? Color scheme 1 3 4 5 Coaching quality 2 5 3 1 Fees 5 4 3 ? Parking 4 4 3 4 How would you rate them?
Comparison is good but...... Like real estate the most three major key factors are Location Location and Location !!
Isn't location depending on different individual? For me, Bintang is closest and UBC is last. But for someone living in Frement, the order will be completely reversed.
I think it is unfair to rate Bintang the way you have. Although I myself am a gym hopper, I still give props to Bintang for being the first dedicated badminton gym. And because they were the first, the pioneer, the prototype, however you want to call it, it was difficult for them to put in tons of money when they didn't know what the turnout would have been. On the other hand, the new clubs face much less uncertainty and so they only have to worry about ways to make their club the best possible. If Bintang had not been the first, then UBC, GGBC, Smash City likely would not have come along (and this goes back to the first Bintang, the one in Mountain View). Besides the flooring at Bintang, I feel that everything else about it is great. Phu makes the atmosphere very friendly for people of all ages and levels. I actually like the lighting better than all the others, because you don't lose the bird like you do with the super bright metal halides. But that's just my opinion. And I agree with all the others that location is one of the biggest factors.
noticed that the lights are not place directly above the court but instead above court boundaries. the large concrete area in the first pic will be the main sitting area, it will be covered when finished (my guess is carpet). the other fenced area partially shown in the second pic is a workout area with gym equipment. what i didn't show is the office/pro shop area. it occupies the remaining corner. what is a real pity is that right above the office area is this terrace. it would be PERFECT if they could use it as a dining area/coffee shop. setup some chairs/tables there so patrons can get a bite and relax between games. but unfortunately they are not able to provide disabled access to the area so they could only use it as storage. the top view pics i took was taken from there. there are also uncovered areas of concrete at the perimeter of the gym. they will probably be covered when the gym is done. apparently they only had the floor laid a week before the event last saturday.
Just go to each respective thread for that gym and there will be a link to the site which contains their address or there address in that thread.
Absolutely agree with wooden_racket's point on Bintang! Maybe because it is the first gym, I still like it best over there, very homie.
