“All the measured playing quality values fell within the preferred range for natural turf surfaces. Of all the artificial turf surfaces that I have seen or tested it has to be said that this is by the nearest playing characteristics to natural turf particularly because of the cushioning ability and the realistic values for ball roll brought about by the longer pile.”
Dr. Steve Baker, Head, Sports Surface Science (STRI).
Field of dreams about to come true for ESU
Jul 11, 2008
The Pocono Record
by Mike Kuhns
Here's a sign of the times: All 11 of East Stroudsburg University's football games this fall will be played on artificial surfaces.
"Way back when Rutgers and Princeton started in 1869 they didn't envision the game being played on this stuff," said ESU football coach Denny Douds. "I thought the best they could do with artificial surface was cut it up and use it for doormats."
That was then. In 2008, ESU is just another in a growing list of high schools and universities making the switch from grass to turf. ESU is in the middle of a $1.7 million restoration project of two athletic fields on campus.
Whitenight Field is nearing completion of its face-lift, while the sod in Eiler-Martin Stadium has been removed. FieldTurf is being installed on both fields.
One of the biggest proponents of FieldTurf is Douds, the veteran coach who, along with most players and coaches, cursed artificial turf during its infancy decades ago.
"I was probably the biggest anti-artificial turf guy all around from the standpoint that it just wasn't conducive to the health and welfare of the kids who played on it," Douds said.
But now it seems, after strides have been made to make it safer, high schools and universities across the country either have it or are installing it. Of the 16 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference schools, 14 have some form of turf. Only Cheyney and Shippensburg still play football on grass.
West Chester installed turf prior to the 2007 season, while Bloomsburg and Lock Haven are undergoing turf projects on their campuses. Lock Haven had turf, but is installing new turf this summer.
Of ESU's 11 football games this year — six home and five road games — all are on turf.
ESU opens Aug. 28 by hosting Virginia Union at 7:30 p.m. The Warrior men's soccer team will kick off the day with a 4 p.m. game against Lincoln in Eiler-Martin Stadium.
"I think it's kind of exciting," Douds said of the doubleheader. "It'll also show a lot of people around here what the versatility of that field is and how many different uses it will have at the university."
The university used a $300,000 state grant to help foot the bill and the student activity association kicked in $150,000 for the project.
The turf installation is the third of a four-phase project at Eiler-Martin Stadium. ESU installed a new all-weather track two years ago and last summer installed lights as phase two.
The artificial surface is the third phase, while Douds said the university has plans to build new locker rooms under the stadium seats and refurbish the press/president's box as part of a fourth phase.
The surface in the stadium is expected to be completed by early August in time for the start of ESU's football camp Aug. 9. The grass sod has been ripped off and soon crews will unroll the turf.
Machines stitch the turf together and then about 450 tons of sand are spread over the surface of the field. Then about 30,000 ground tires are mixed in by a machine with a revolving brush, working the sand and rubber into the surface.
The University of Nebraska was the first to install FieldTurf in 1999, and locally, Giants Stadium features the surface.
Douds said he expects his team to practice and scrimmage on the new surface prior to the season and plans to practice on it Thursdays and Fridays during the year. The field will be shared by the football and men's and women's soccer teams.
FieldTurf acts and feels like real grass proponents say. It has give and bounce, something Astroturf of the 1970s didn't. The old turf, like that at Philadelphia's old Veteran's Stadium, was hard and had no give.
Knee injuries ended numerous careers on the old artificial surfaces, while Douds said studies have shown FieldTurf is safer than grass.
Douds also said that mud is no longer an issue on rainy days, a definite positive for a team that likes to throw the football as much as ESU does. But, does the surface get slippery when wet?
"No, it doesn't," Douds said. "That was a question I asked and no one would come out and say it's slippery."The following material was derived from foreign sources and is only available in its original language.
