Wrestling mats in schools and CEGEPs: who does what, and when
The custodian washes the gym. The coach washes the mat, when there is time. In between, nobody looks underneath.
By Mat Maintenance Agency · Published September 5, 2026
In a high school or CEGEP, the wrestling mat is shared between sports and stored rolled up between seasons, often in a damp room. The split that works: custodial staff for the gymnasium, the team for surface disinfection after every practice, and a deep clean of the rolls before the season, mid-season and before championships, with a written report for the administration.
The shared gymnasium problem
The wrestling mat comes out for practice and goes back rolled up to the storage room. It shares the gym with basketball, shoes, the room’s dust. Between seasons it stays rolled for months, sometimes damp, in a room with no ventilation. That is where mould and odours settle, and why the September smell is recognisable in every gymnasium.
Who does what
The usual confusion is believing that washing the gym covers the mat. It does not touch it.
- Custodial service: the gym floor and locker rooms, not the mat
- Coach and athletes: surface disinfection after every practice, mat rolled up dry only
- Administration or athletic director: the deep-clean calendar and the supplier
- Supplier: stitching, tape, underside, subfloor, written report
The season calendar
Between passes, surface disinfection after every practice remains the rule, and the mat is never rolled up damp.
- Before the season: full reset of the rolls, tape removed and put back after drying, stitching checked
- Mid-season: second, shorter pass
- Before championships: reset
- End of season: clean, dry fully, store rolled up dry in a ventilated room
The infections specific to school wrestling
The outbreak the CDC documented among Arizona high school wrestlers in 2014 involved impetigo and herpes simplex. The measures adopted: exclude visible uncovered lesions, disinfect mats between matches, provide hand sanitiser. A school program that applies these three measures in training, not only at tournaments, avoids most of it.
What the administration can show parents
A written, dated visit report with photos, the name of the disinfectant and its DIN, and the season calendar. Parents do not ask for perfection; they ask that someone takes care of it and can prove it.
What gym owners ask us
Do you work during class hours?
No, outside class hours, with the checks and documents the institution requires.
Can the mat be treated in its storage room?
Yes, unrolled in the gym or treated in the room if space allows, then dried fully before being rolled up.
What about a roll that smells of mould?
Unroll, vacuum, steam on both faces, registered disinfectant, forced drying. If the foam is affected deep down, the roll needs replacing.
An outbreak costs more than a cleaning.
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