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Field Turfs suck


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1 minute ago, Irishman said:

Soooo, national studies are better than our players' safety? Hard sell to the kids who lost the rest of their careers. 

National studies tell us natural grass IS safer. Just because you claim at your school it hasn’t been doesn’t mean it isn’t. How about you tell all the many more players that have been injured on turf that it’s safer than grass just because you think it has been at your specific school. 

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1 minute ago, scarab527 said:

National studies tell us natural grass IS safer. Just because you claim at your school it hasn’t been doesn’t mean it isn’t. How about you tell all the many more players that have been injured on turf that it’s safer than grass just because you think it has been at your specific school. 

In ideal settings, sure, I have no problem saying grass is better, but there are/were a LOT of fields like the one we had. I pointed to our program as an example. I am willing to bet they are plenty of stories very similar. To clarify my point, the turf field has been MUCH safer than the grass field in the condition it was in. And, I am betting there are a lot schools who could also make that claim. 

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7 hours ago, FCGriz said:

Roncalli lost their soccer field when they built the Fine Arts wing.  Due to ADA regulations, it was going to cost over $1.5 million to build a new grass soccer stadium.  Instead Roncalli saved over $700,000 by placing field turf on the football field.  Now that facility is used nearly every day all year round - band practices, football practices & games, soccer practices & games, lacrosse practices & games, early season baseball practices, early season softball practices, CYO football games, K-2 flag football games, Scecina football game rentals, IHSAA football playoff game rentals, professional ultimate disc game rentals, graduation ceremonies, etc.    

This is another advantage to Field Turf!

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29 minutes ago, DumfriesYMCA said:

Some people are arguing about getting back to old school football

others are arguing about tax dollars 

others are arguing about player safety 

 

yeahhhh….we are a bit all over the place lol

We haven't heard from any officials who have first-hand knowledge of the different types of fields in multiple locations. 

Wonder what their thoughts are?

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49 minutes ago, gonzoron said:

We haven't heard from any officials who have first-hand knowledge of the different types of fields in multiple locations. 

Wonder what their thoughts are?

Field Turf err day of the week, and Sunday too.

Grass sux now that I have seen the FUTURE!   I have come to abhor grass fields for multiple reasons...weather being the least of it.  

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Our field was, and still is, grass.  Takes a lot of work, and water, especially in TX.  Probably 3/4 of the schools we played in reg season were also grass.  My boys didn't have a problem with it, liked the cushion of grass up to about mid-season, and absolutely loved playing on grass in the rain.

Once playoffs rolled around the kids looked forward to playing on turf at the bigger schools stadiums (TX is all neutral sites post season).  Said they felt faster and could make cuts better.  Also liked being able to wear their "white out" away uni's.

Pros and cons to both.  Turf has it's advantages but the old-schooler in me says football should be played outdoors on grass, no matter what level (HS/NCAA/NFL).

When I was playing, and when my kids were, the team student managers washed the uniforms.  

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8 hours ago, FCGriz said:

Roncalli lost their soccer field when they built the Fine Arts wing.  Due to ADA regulations, it was going to cost over $1.5 million to build a new grass soccer stadium.  Instead Roncalli saved over $700,000 by placing field turf on the football field.  Now that facility is used nearly every day all year round - band practices, football practices & games, soccer practices & games, lacrosse practices & games, early season baseball practices, early season softball practices, CYO football games, K-2 flag football games, Scecina football game rentals, IHSAA football playoff game rentals, professional ultimate disc game rentals, graduation ceremonies, etc.    

We have our own grass soccer field at New Palestine, but when we replaced our grass football field - which had major drainage problems on one end and was basically a mess by October every year - with turf, the field went from being in use about 15 times a year (5 varsity, 5 JV and 5 freshman games) to one that's used about 250 days a year. Football practices on it, soccer teams both practice on it when football isn't using it, baseball holds offseason workouts there (softball did, too, until a new turf softball diamond was built a couple years ago, as a building expansion encroached on the old softball field), marching band practices on it every Thursday night and Saturday mornings when there's no JV football, PE classes use it, junior high plays one game a year there, local soccer clubs rent it for practices and games. And also, if we've had any rain that might cause the soccer field to get chewed up, they can easily move a game to the turf football field. It's not ideal - soccer doesn't play well on turf because the ball runs like crazy and the sidelines are very narrow - but it's a really solid solution that allows the field to get a LOT of use. 

4 minutes ago, Bonecrusher said:

Our field was, and still is, grass.  Takes a lot of work, and water, especially in TX.  Probably 3/4 of the schools we played in reg season were also grass.  My boys didn't have a problem with it, liked the cushion of grass up to about mid-season, and absolutely loved playing on grass in the rain.

Once playoffs rolled around the kids looked forward to playing on turf at the bigger schools stadiums (TX is all neutral sites post season).  Said they felt faster and could make cuts better.  Also liked being able to wear their "white out" away uni's.

Pros and cons to both.  Turf has it's advantages but the old-schooler in me says football should be played outdoors on grass, no matter what level (HS/NCAA/NFL).

When I was playing, and when my kids were, the team student managers washed the uniforms.  

Being in TX helps - you don't quite have the harsh late-fall weather we have. By the time October rolls around, the field is largely concrete here in Indiana because the ground hardens and the grass begins to die. 

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2 minutes ago, crimsonace1 said:

We have our own grass soccer field at New Palestine, but when we replaced our grass football field - which had major drainage problems on one end and was basically a mess by October every year - with turf, the field went from being in use about 15 times a year (5 varsity, 5 JV and 5 freshman games) to one that's used about 250 days a year. Football practices on it, soccer teams both practice on it when football isn't using it, baseball holds offseason workouts there (softball did, too, until a new turf softball diamond was built a couple years ago, as a building expansion encroached on the old softball field), marching band practices on it every Thursday night and Saturday mornings when there's no JV football, PE classes use it, junior high plays one game a year there, local soccer clubs rent it for practices and games. And also, if we've had any rain that might cause the soccer field to get chewed up, they can easily move a game to the turf football field. It's not ideal - soccer doesn't play well on turf because the ball runs like crazy and the sidelines are very narrow - but it's a really solid solution that allows the field to get a LOT of use. 

Being in TX helps - you don't quite have the harsh late-fall weather we have. By the time October rolls around, the field is largely concrete here in Indiana because the ground hardens and the grass begins to die. 

I remember, I played on it in the 80's.  Def nice not having the harsh fall/winter weather.

This year has been difficult for grass fields.  Extreme drought conditions in central TX nearly all summer and water rationing in my area.  I'd hate to see the high school's water bill!

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17 hours ago, foxbat said:

When did carpet come into the mix with concrete?  Most Catholic school kids probably recall that there really wasn't a true "playground" for recess in elementary school.  After the cars dropped off kids in the morning, the parking lot became the playground.  To make matters worse at our school, the school uniform required hard-soled shoes unless your class was on "gym day" ... then you were allowed to wear tennis shoes.  You learned very quickly how to make cuts on concrete and oil slicks when you were playing and how to control your body to keep from ending up on that concrete surface.  And God forbid it had rained before recess.  Acrobatic catches are all the rage on ESPN, but try making those on concrete. :classic_smile:

My comment was tongue in cheek since essentially that's what you had with the old RCA dome turf and many of the "Astroturf" fields prior to Fieldturf.

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3 minutes ago, BDGiant93 said:

My comment was tongue in cheek since essentially that's what you had with the old RCA dome turf and many of the "Astroturf" fields prior to Fieldturf.

I know.  I quite recall the idea of Astroturf growing up in Houston.  A lot of people had that stuff in their screened backyard porches right on top of the concrete with no padding ... which seemed to be the exact same way it was administered on early turf fields.

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15 hours ago, Bonecrusher said:

Our field was, and still is, grass.  Takes a lot of work, and water, especially in TX.  Probably 3/4 of the schools we played in reg season were also grass.  My boys didn't have a problem with it, liked the cushion of grass up to about mid-season, and absolutely loved playing on grass in the rain.

Once playoffs rolled around the kids looked forward to playing on turf at the bigger schools stadiums (TX is all neutral sites post season).  Said they felt faster and could make cuts better.  Also liked being able to wear their "white out" away uni's.

Pros and cons to both.  Turf has it's advantages but the old-schooler in me says football should be played outdoors on grass, no matter what level (HS/NCAA/NFL).

When I was playing, and when my kids were, the team student managers washed the uniforms.  

There is a MAJOR difference in the financial layout that can be expensed for grass upkeep at these levels.... HS being most likely to be a total mess and unplayable at some points during a season.  

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I played Indiana HS football in the 80's.  Yes, the condition of the field at the end of the season was def not as good as the start, but I don't remember our field or competitors fields being dangerous/unplayable parcels of ground.  All of a sudden it's almost akin to child abuse to have the kids play on grass in Nov/Dec?  Can't remember anyone ever complaining about the game fields or even the practice fields, for that matter.  Also don't remember an inordinate amount of foot/ankle/leg injuries late in the season vs. early on.  They conditions were what they were.  We were just happy to be out there knocking the crap out of each other.

Probably because we didn't have anything else, we didn't know what we were missing.  Now with continuously more schools being turf, I can see how a grass field in late season might not look as attractive to those used to turf, and yes a good turf field keeps the game more consistent in bad weather conditions, I'll admit that.

This curmudgeon still prefers grass and no one's changing my mind.  I know I'm stuck in the past on this, sorry.

I think if we had cried about deteriorating field conditions when I played, the coaches would have told us to HTFU.

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I have a vivid memory of working a game many years ago on a field that had been invaded by moles. They had used rollers to flatten it out. But still, at one end of the field you had to step very gingerly, or risk turning an ankle. It was so bad, we wrote it up to the IHSAA.

Don’t see that on field turf! 

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54 minutes ago, Bonecrusher said:

I played Indiana HS football in the 80's.  Yes, the condition of the field at the end of the season was def not as good as the start, but I don't remember our field or competitors fields being dangerous/unplayable parcels of ground.  All of a sudden it's almost akin to child abuse to have the kids play on grass in Nov/Dec?  Can't remember anyone ever complaining about the game fields or even the practice fields, for that matter.  Also don't remember an inordinate amount of foot/ankle/leg injuries late in the season vs. early on.  They conditions were what they were.  We were just happy to be out there knocking the crap out of each other.

Probably because we didn't have anything else, we didn't know what we were missing.  Now with continuously more schools being turf, I can see how a grass field in late season might not look as attractive to those used to turf, and yes a good turf field keeps the game more consistent in bad weather conditions, I'll admit that.

This curmudgeon still prefers grass and no one's changing my mind.  I know I'm stuck in the past on this, sorry.

I think if we had cried about deteriorating field conditions when I played, the coaches would have told us to HTFU.

There weren't 'options' for types of fields that could be used. 

Hell, back in the day, you had to hand crank the engine to start it...."Those were the good old days! Who needs this darned electric start thingamajig?"  

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10 minutes ago, Yuccaguy said:

There weren't 'options' for types of fields that could be used. 

Hell, back in the day, you had to hand crank the engine to start it...."Those were the good old days! Who needs this darned electric start thingamajig?"  

And who needs these newfangled hard helmets? Let's bring back the leather ones!

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1 hour ago, Bonecrusher said:

I played Indiana HS football in the 80's.  Yes, the condition of the field at the end of the season was def not as good as the start, but I don't remember our field or competitors fields being dangerous/unplayable parcels of ground.  All of a sudden it's almost akin to child abuse to have the kids play on grass in Nov/Dec?  Can't remember anyone ever complaining about the game fields or even the practice fields, for that matter.  Also don't remember an inordinate amount of foot/ankle/leg injuries late in the season vs. early on.  They conditions were what they were.  We were just happy to be out there knocking the crap out of each other.

Probably because we didn't have anything else, we didn't know what we were missing.  Now with continuously more schools being turf, I can see how a grass field in late season might not look as attractive to those used to turf, and yes a good turf field keeps the game more consistent in bad weather conditions, I'll admit that.

This curmudgeon still prefers grass and no one's changing my mind.  I know I'm stuck in the past on this, sorry.

I think if we had cried about deteriorating field conditions when I played, the coaches would have told us to HTFU.

My practice field in Houston was a converted Brahma pasture that still had artifacts of the previous occupants.

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29 minutes ago, Bobref said:

Back in the day at St. Edward our practice field was where they parked the cars for the varsity game on Friday nights.

Ran into that a couple of seasons when Pioneer would come to town or the season that LCC and West Lafayette resumed play and the youth programs practice field became overflow parking.  Now it's a tennis court and the youth practice on the strip between Field 51 ... a youth baseball field ... and the varsity practice field or sometimes directly in left field of Field 51.

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