Throughout sports, having synthetic turf or natural grass fields has been an ongoing debate for what has stretched across several years. Even high school sports have become a part of this debate as Millard South has decided to move on from natural grass on the south practice field to now a synthetic turf field and has also decided to update Buell Stadium with a new synthetic turf field.
“The big reason that we are doing this is because the grass is becoming harder to maintain,” Activities Director Steve Throne said. “Growing grass is becoming too difficult because of how much we use it. One of the other reasons is that there are lower level football games held there but there is no seating for spectators. So those games will be moved to Buell and the Varsity team will practice [at the South field] while they are playing. Also, it gives a place for other activities to go such as band, ROTC and some P.E. classes.”
“I think it will be really good for us when the football team is on the main field,” senior band member Austin Landmark said. “Whenever football was out on the main field we usually had to go over to the grass field which wasn’t as even which made it really hard to learn the fundamentals, so having the turf will be a big help.”
To go along with the difficulty of upkeep, one of the other reasons that the south field is being converted is to take pressure off of the field at Buell Stadium, which is getting redone this fall. Prior to the south field being redone, Buell served as the district site for most outdoor activities including soccer and football games, marching band competitions and other competitions in addition to being a practice facility for these activities.
“We want to be able to use the south field more,” Throne said. “The reason is that if we put turf on that field, we can take some pressure off of Buell as the district field and that turf which we will also have to replace this summer.”
“I believe that the turf is better especially for marching,” Landmark said. “It’s more even and has a better surface so it will work better for our style of marching.”
Many activities will benefit from the change being made as they will have more space and activities will be more likely to be able to continue even after bad weather.
“One of the big groups benefiting will be band and football,” Throne said. “There will be no conflict as now they can both practice at the same time because it frees up space for both activities. Also, it will help activities that take place in the community, such as football and soccer, because they won’t have to cancel every time it rains.”
“I think that we will likely default to using the south field more during the summer especially with band camp,” Landmark said. “This way we don’t have to worry about leaving when the football team shows up or having to split the field with them so we won’t have to worry about wasting time moving around so I think it will be beneficial in that aspect.”
However, to go along with these benefits, some injuries are commonly associated with synthetic turf such as injuries to the ankle or knee.
“The problem with the grass was that when it was wet the surface would become uneven and cause injuries so from that I think the surface of the turf will be better from that standpoint,” Throne said. “Injuries can always happen in athletics but I think it will be a smoother surface and protect the kids knees and ankles a little better [than grass].”
Overall, there will be big changes coming to the athletic fields but the fields are projected to be ready for fall athletics and activities. The turf for the south athletic field is projected to be finished in June and the turf replacement for Buell Stadium is projected to be finished in July.
