Handrails for Recreational Facilities

At recreational centers, you will have a wide variety of goers ranging from the elderly to small children, along with those with mobility disabilities. Having the right handrails, both ADA-compliant handrails and standard railingd will allow safe and easy access for all who attend your center. 

In this article, we’ll discuss the various areas throughout your rec center where you can incorporate handrails that will improve both the safety and comfort for visitors to your facility. 

Handrails for Handicap Access

Let’s start at the first part of your rec center, the entrance. 

First things first, your recreational facility must be ADA-compliant. This means that everyone has safe and equal access to your building. This pertains to both ramps and stairs that access your facility. 

A few basic ADA codes to keep in mind when looking to purchase or install railing are: 

• Handrails must be between 34 inches and 38 inches tall. 
• Handrails must be on BOTH sides of the ramp and/or stairs. 
• There must be a smooth and continuous grip throughout the handrail. 

Check out our full ADA Handrail Guide to learn more about the various requirements 

All this being said, it is imperative that you have handrails that meet ADA requirements not just for the law’s sake, but so that everyone who visits your rec center is able to do so safely and easily. 

We offer ADA-compliant handrail kits for both ramps and stairs that can be purchased online or you can speak with a project specialist to design a custom handrail solution. 

Handrails for Senior Centers 

As mentioned in the opening of this article, recreational centers see a wide variety of visitors and one of the main demographics is the elderly. Whether they are going for a workout, going to play pickleball (we’ll discuss more on that later), or just looking for a place to meet with friends, the elderly make great guests at rec centers. 

Now, as one gets up in age it becomes more difficult to use stairs or access certain parts of buildings. We’ve already discussed ADA compliance for the entrance and those types of railings will greatly help the elderly access your facility. Next, you’ll want to start looking at various areas throughout your facility that you may have looked over. 

A couple of areas are queue lines, thresholds, and bathrooms. 

Queue lines are focused on the front desk or other areas where you may have a line of people waiting. 

Thresholds are transitions from one room to another that may only be a step, but that one step could be difficult for some users. 

Bathrooms are places where railing for certain stalls or showers for people can make it easier to access and move about safely. 

Railing for Pickleball Courts

I mentioned it in the last section, so let’s discuss pickleball. Pickleball is the fastest-growing recreational sport in the country, and recreational facilities are no stranger to it with their implementation of new courts. 

Most pickleball court layouts have guardrails that separate courts or groupings of courts. With our modular pipe and fittings, you can create a custom layout of guardrails/fences with the use of infill panels to prevent balls and people from spilling over into other courts. 

Additionally, you may have or want to have an observation area for your pickleball courts. We had a customer have this exact project where our project specialists were able to come up with a unique pickleball court guardrail to keep people safe while relaxing and viewing the games. 

Basketball Court Fencing

Sticking with the sports theme, basketball is a common activity within recreational facilities. 

Whether your court is inside or outdoors, having the proper fencing around the court will allow for a safe enclosure where you won’t have to worry about the ball flying errantly or people colliding into spectators. 

Handrails for Walking Paths

Keeping in line with indoor courts, your rec center may have indoor tracks or even outdoor walking paths for people. 

Along these paths, you may want handrails to assist people while they walk and help prevent people from going off the path. 

These railings can help guide users along your designated paths, assist visitors with nature steps, or prevent walkers from tumbling into water. 

Outdoor Playground Railing

Finally, let’s look at some additional recreational facility railing. 

If your rec center has a playground or children’s play area. Having ramps and stairs protected with railing is crucial to allowing a safe and easily accessible area. 

For these areas, you’ll want railing that is ADA-compliant as mentioned in the beginning of this article. Because these types of areas are frequented by children, having a railing with a mid-rail is ideal because children tend to be shorter than the ADA height requirements for railing. 

Additionally, if you have outdoor areas where people can congregate or eat lunch, handrails will assist people on the walking paths, or guardrails can be used to surround the area to help corral individuals. 

In Review

There are multiple areas throughout recreational facilities that both require railing or could benefit from having one. 

If you are looking to outfit parts of your rec center with ADA-compliant handrails, browse our ADA Handrail Kits or speak with a project specialist to start designing your railing today.