NCAA® Partners with UPS and Connor Sports® on Recycle to the Final Four™ Program

SOURCE: Connor Sports

Indianapolis, Indiana (PRWEB) January 08, 2015 --The NCAA today announced Recycle to the Final Four, a new joint sustainability initiative with UPS and Connor Sports for the 2015 Men’s Final Four in partnership with Indianapolis area elementary schools.

The program will gather recycled products from each school and help create needed flooring elements for Connor Sports to be used in the production of the Official Court of the NCAA for the 2015 NCAA Men’s Final Four® in Indianapolis. The selected schools in Indianapolis will compete for the largest amount of #5 recycled products to be a part of the sustainability efforts in support of the championships.

The schools selected to participate have pledged to either integrate Recycle to the Final Four into their existing recycling programs or use Recycle to the Final Four as a platform to begin a school recycling program. Each school will be provided with an official recycling bin that will be monitored weekly and shipped to a recycling facility near the Connor Sports manufacturing mill in Amasa, Mich. The final products will be used as part of the sub-structure for the official court that will be installed at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

“The Recycle to the Final Four initiative provides the NCAA, UPS and Connor Sports with a national platform to protect the environment and support sustainability during one of our most visible NCAA championships—the Men’s Final Four,” said Keith Martin, managing director of championships and alliances. “Working in conjunction with schools in the Indianapolis also provides an educational platform to teach youth the importance of recycling and how it can have a positive impact in the community.”

The NCAA Men’s Final Four will be April 4 and 6.

“Connor Sports is extremely pleased to partner with the NCAA, the Final Four Local Organizing Committee and K-12 schools in Indianapolis for this first-ever joint men’s and women’s Recycle to the Final Four sustainability initiative,” said Jason Gasperich, Connor Sports Director of Sustainability. “Sustainability has been and always will be a main theme of Connor Sports and the recycled products will be used in the manufacturing process of the Official Court for the NCAA Men’s Final Four and will provide a fun educational experience for the school students.”

About the NCAA
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 460,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 54,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA championships in Divisions I, II and III sports. Visit http://www.ncaa.org and http://www.ncaa.com for more details about the Association, its goals and members and corporate partnerships that help support programs for student-athletes.

About Connor Sport Court International | www.connorsports.com
More athletic events are played on Connor Sport Court International surfaces than on any other sports flooring in the world. Founded in 1872, Connor Sport Court International has established themselves as the standard for professional and collegiate sports. Hardwood used in the courts is from a renewable resource, with the U.S. growing six times more hardwood than is harvested each year. Sport Court® is a registered trade mark of Connor Sport Court International. Since 1974, it has identified the original and authentic modular sport surface, continuously improved and patented to provide the highest levels of quality and performance. Connor Sport Court International is proud to be the only sports surfacing company in the world that is independently audited and verified as “Zero Waste” and fully ISO 9001:2008 certified.

NCAA, Final Four, Recycle to the Final Four, Tourney Town and Women’s Final Four are trademarks of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.