The Ultimate Holiday Gift Guide for Sports & Recreation Enthusiasts

September 18, 2026

Most sports gifts get used for a season. The ones that really last are the ones that help you keep playing year-round. The SportScreen turns the space you already have into a year-round training area, giving hockey, baseball, soccer, lacrosse, and golf a place to actually get used.

The best gift on this list is a space, not a thing

Think about what actually gets used in a house. A stick gets used. A net in the garage gets used until the car needs the garage back, and then it lives against a wall for the rest of the winter. 

 

That is the thinking behind a retractable screen. It comes down, the space becomes a rink or a batting cage or a golf simulator, and then it rolls up and the garage goes back to being a garage. Nobody has to give up a room permanently for the gift to earn its keep.

 

It also means one gift can serve several people. A parent’s golf practice and a kid’s shooting reps can share the same wall on the same weekend, and the targets swap over in seconds.

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Start here: who are you buying for

They play The gift Why it works
Hockey Hockey SportScreen or the Shooting Pad Bundle Turns your driveway into a place you can safely play and shoot real pucks, then rolls away
Baseball Baseball SportScreen A backstop for throwing and hitting drills without chasing balls down the street
Soccer Soccer SportScreen A rebound surface and target in one, so solo practice keeps its rhythm
Lacrosse Lacrosse SportScreen Wall ball without the wall damage, practice stickhandling, shooting & passing
Golf Vanish LITE or the Vanish Series A roll up golf simulator enclosure. It retracts, so the room keeps its day job
Golf Parlour Series A freestanding golf simulator enclosure that gives you a designated golf space
More than one sport Multi-Sport Bundle One screen, three targets of your choice, so everyone gets to play their sport

For the hockey player

Ice time is expensive & limited and your driveway, well, it's free. The gap between those two facts is where this gift lives.

 

The Hockey SportScreen is a retractable roll-up tarp in 10 ft and 16 ft widths (custom options available), with a hand crank or remote control, and a red hockey target included. It mounts across a garage door opening, absorbs the shot so the door never takes one, and rolls up when the space is needed for something else.

 

If you are currently shooting off bare concrete, the SportScreen Shooting Pad Bundle is the better choice — it pairs the tarp with a synthetic ice surface so the puck actually slides and the blade survives the winter. 

For the baseball player

Winter is when arm strength and mechanics quietly disappear. A backstop at home is what keeps the off-season from being a full stop.

 

The Baseball SportScreen uses the same retractable roll-up design in 10 ft and 16 ft widths, hand crank or remote, with a strike-zone target. It catches the ball rather than letting it find a neighbour’s fence, which is what makes solo repetition practical in a driveway.

Best for a player who wants pitching and throwing reps without needing a partner, a cage, or a trip anywhere.

For the soccer player

Solo soccer practice breaks down for one reason: the ball ends up three gardens away and the session becomes a walk.

 

The Soccer SportScreen works as a rebound surface and a target at once, in 10 ft and 16 ft widths with a hand crank or remote. Shots come back without needing to chase the ball, footwork drills keep their tempo, and the screen rolls up when the driveway is needed for a car.

 

A good fit for a player working on striking and first touch between team sessions.

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For the lacrosse player

Wall ball is the most valuable solo drill in lacrosse and the one most likely to get someone told off, because most walls are not built to be hit repeatedly.

 

The Lacrosse SportScreen is a retractable rebounder in 10 ft and 16 ft widths, hand crank or remote, with aiming points on the target. It gives a consistent rebound without the wall damage, and it comes down when the session is over.

 

Best for a player who wants reps on both hands without needing anyone else there.

For the golfer

Before we get into it, one thing worth being straight about: a golf simulator is more than just for golf! At The SportScreen we specialize in the enclosure only, you can browse our list of verified resellers who bundle our SportScereen golf enclosures with the tech and turf.

 

We have 3 enclosure options for your setup!

The Vanish LITE Hybrid-Retractable Golf Enclosure comes in LITE 9, 11 and 13. The impact screen and rear membrane roll up while the side curtains pin back on a track, and it mounts to a single surface using two mounting points — which is why it works in small spaces or rooms with high ceilings where there is only realisticly one surface to fix to. 

 

The Vanish Series is a fully retractable golf sim enclosure that retracts fully overhead and reaches wider sizes. It comes in 5 standard sizes and has custom width and custom depth options available. Perfect as a garage golf sim or for multi-purpose spaces. Golf then store it away and get your space back. Try our Vanish Series FREE sim builder to see how a Vanish Series will fit in your space!

 

The Parlour Series is a freestanding golf enclosure and is fixed. The right answer when the space is dedicated to golf and never needs to convert back.

 

Not sure which model to choose? Need help sizing your space? Talk to our team.

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TRY VANISH 3D SIM BUILDER

For the Family

The SportScreen is about more than just sports—it makes spaces designed to bring the whole family together. From hockey, baseball, soccer, and lacrosse to golf and beyond, our products help parents create a safe, comfortable environment where kids can stay active, practice their skills, and enjoy the sports they love without having to play on the streets. Whether it’s a child working on their shot, siblings competing in a friendly game, or parents and friends joining in, The SportScreen makes movement and play a shared experience. 

 

With a SportScreen golf simulator enclosure, that versatility extends even further: transform your space into a place to practice your swing, watch movies and big games on the screen, play games with the family, entertain friends, practice yoga, exercise, and more. It’s not just about adding sports to your home—it’s about creating a flexible, social space that supports an active lifestyle and brings people together.

A man in a grey t-shirt and black pants swings a golf club inside an indoor driving range, with a large screen behind him showing a golf course and a golf ball on the green turf mat. A family sits on a black leather couch in a home theater watching a movie. The room features a green turf floor, a black projector mounted on the ceiling, and a large white screen displaying the word 'UNIVERSE'.

WATCH MOVIES WITH THE FAMILY & GET YOUR GOLF PRACTICE IN!

A SAFE PLACE FOR THE FAMILY TO PLAY TOGETHER

The SportScreen Targets

Cover all your bases with a multi-sport setup. Families and athletes love the flexibility to switch between sports and change up the targets, keeping training exciting, engaging, and versatile.

 

All targets attach with Velcro and are interchangeable. Swap the targets and the same screen serves a different player. The SportScreen has Velcro on both sides allowing you to attach targets to either side of the screen. Play from both sides, inside or outside your garage. 

The targets, and who each one is for

Target Made for Good to know
Red Hockey Target Hockey The target included with a standard Hockey SportScreen
Black Hockey Target Hockey Different goalie stance, harder to hit targets with smaller holes
Baseball Target Baseball Strike-zone aiming for pitching and throwing work
Soccer Target Soccer Corner aiming for shooting and passing drills
Lacrosse Target Lacrosse Aiming points for shooting reps

For a household with more than one sport

This is the most common situation and the easiest to get wrong by buying three separate things.

The SportScreen Multi-Sport Bundle includes three targets of your choice — mix and match hockey, baseball, soccer and lacrosse — on one screen, in 10 ft or 16 ft widths with a hand crank or remote. 

 

If your opening falls between the standard sizes, the Custom SportScreen is built to width ranges from 8 ft to 18 ft with your choice of target. 

Three things to check before you buy

  1. Measure your space! Make sure you have adequate mounting width and height. If you need to mount The SportScreen higher we offer 2ft extensions. 
  2. Ceiling height. For golf enclosures, nine feet is the minimum and ten is more comfortable. Be sure to look over the dimensional diagrams provided for each enclosure model or contact our team!
  3. Confirm your mounting surface. Do you have ceiling joists, wall studs, a header above a garage door, or back wall only? This decides which system fits, if needed we offer Versatile Mounting Brackets which can help with mounting and achieving additional clearance off of ceiling or walls. 

If you cannot check any of these without spoiling the surprise, a SportScreen Gift Card genuinely is the better gift. Sizing is the thing that decides whether this gets used, and it is worth getting right.

10ft SportScreen Dimensions

16ft SportScreen Dimensions

Common questions

What is a good gift for an athlete who already has all the equipment?

Usually somewhere to use it rather than more of it. A retractable screen mounted across a garage opening turns an existing space into a practice space and rolls away afterwards, which is the part most homes are missing.

Can one screen be used for more than one sport?

Yes. Targets attach with Velcro and are interchangeable across hockey, baseball, soccer and lacrosse, so a single screen can serve several players. The Multi-Sport Bundle is built around that idea and includes three targets of your choice.

Is a golf simulator enclosure a complete simulator?

No. The enclosure is the screen, frame and containment. With a golf enclosure only you essentially have a home driving range. A working golf simulator also needs a launch monitor, projector, hitting mat and a computer or tablet, bought separately.

What if they already own a SportScreen?

An extra target is the natural add-on — a second one lets two players use the same screen without swapping every turn. A shooting pad is the other upgrade to improve the play experience.

What if I do not know their room measurements?

Buy the gift card and size it together afterwards. Sizing is the part that most affects whether the gift actually gets used, and guessing it is the one mistake that is hard to undo.

Is this only useful in winter?

No — and that is rather the point of a retractable system. It comes down when someone wants to use it and rolls up when the space is needed for something else, in any season.

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