Futsal (Five-a-Side Soccer) is typically played on basketball courts in the US. Recently we received a call from a customer asking how to temporarily mark the 20 foot arcs for the goal area. Normally a court marking tape such as the vinyl rubber backed marking tape such as the 3M 471 has been a suitable solution. However in this particular case, the tape backing was causing an adverse reaction to court floor covering. The facility manager suggested they paint/roll the lines using a washable Tempera paint.

The challenge for the customer was how to quickly and accurately apply the paint to the court, especially the 20' arc which is measured from each of the goal posts thus requiring a 10' long line to connect the two 90 degree arcs.

Initially the customer was considering a stencil so that it could be quickly laid out, paint the arc/line, move the stencil and continue the process. The key would be aligning the arc with the touchline. Unfortunately the flexible field stencils used for a turf surface requires additional work for the Futsal court customer as the the flexible stencil material must be held in place with tape or ballast to prevent any "bleed over". This is typically not a issue with applied on turf fields.

Another possible solution is manufacturing a section of the 20' arc from a piece of 4' x 8' 1/8" or 3/16" thick HDPE sheet plastic. Painting the quarter arc becomes a task of using two (or at least one) 20' string lines to align the arc edge from the goal post and then paint, moving across the court. These rigid stencils work are very effective for running track marking operations.

The customer decided that with the resources available he would use 20' string line and a broom stick to establish hash marks and then use a 2" roller brush to connect the dots forming the painted arc.

Tru Mark needs to test whether the DuraStripe Aerosol Chalk, white, product will also work. We are not sure at this time whether the propellant (butane) might affect the floor finish. It works extremely well on synthetic turf surfaces. The aerosol chalk does come in red, blue, and yellow colors. Let us know if you have effectively used this product for court purposes and we'll share with other readers..