Assistant Principal 

Sharon Lomas 

Assistant Principal

Footwear Guidelines for New Gymnasium

Our new gym is opening on the 15th of December and we now have additional guidelines for students in 2024 that will be playing on the courts regarding their footwear.

Preferred:

• Non-marking indoor court shoes/sneakers.

Acceptable:

• Non-marking sports footwear – usually sports footwear that have a lighter coloured sole. 

Prohibited:

• Marking sports footwear – usually sports footwear with a black sole, please check your shoes!
• Non-sports footwear – including but not limited to casual street shoes, work boots, any heeled shoes.

We appreciate everyone adhering to these guidelines to help our community maintain our fantastic new playing surfaces. What are non-marking shoes? If you are like most people, you probably don’t think much about whether your shoes are leaving marks when you are walking around or playing sports. In fact, non-marking shoes might sound like they wouldn’t be necessary at all. Non marking shoes are shoes that do not leave marks on the floor. Black scuff marks on the floor are caused by shoes with black rubber soles and hard leather. Non marking shoe soles are materials that prevent scuffing the floor. 

Non-Marking Shoes Difference:

A non-marking shoe should not leave marks on your floors, while a regular shoe might. Typically, a non-marking shoe will:

• Not have a black sole
• Have a soft sole

Most non-marking shoes will have a white or light-coloured sole that will be less likely to leave dark marks. They will also be soft-soled. Hard sole shoes are stiff and tend to often leave scuff marks, while soft-soled shoes cause a minimal amount of friction while still having some traction and grip. 

How to test whether your current shoes are non-marking:

So, let’s say you already have a pair of shoes and you want to see if they are non-marking. There are a couple of ways to test out your shoes to make sure they won’t mark up an indoor court.

1. The Fingernail Test

• Press a fingernail or semi-sharp object into the sole of your shoe
• Non-marking shoe soles will dent, and will shortly fill out again

1. The Paper Test

• Rub or draw with the sole of the shoe on a piece of white paper
• A non-marking shoe shouldn’t scuff or leave marks on the paper

As you can see, it is relatively easy to figure out if a shoe is non-marking or not with things you have lying around the house (or even just your fingernail!).